The Board of Supervisors finally voted on the county's new redistricting lines today.
Although they didn't pick the exact map that the redistricting committee recommended, they picked a variation of it – map 21c, which was submitted yesterday by the office of Supervisor Bill Campbell, who represents the third district.
After voting on other issues, including postponing a decision on whether to spend $150,000 to produce a PBS environmental show, the board focused on redistricting. The public comment on the issue started around 11:30 and lasted more than an hour.
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Two groups — Latinos and Vietnamese-Americans — were well represented during the public comment period.
A majority of the Latino speakers made the same plea: don't split Santa Ana.
And most of the Vietnamese-Americans asked the board to put Fountain Valley into the first supervisorial district, which is represented by Janet Nguyen.
And most of the Vietnamese-Americans asked the board to put Fountain Valley into the first supervisorial district, which is represented by Janet Nguyen.
Richard Ramirez, one of the speakers, told the board he's concerned that the redistricting process has somewhat dismissed Latinos. “The Latino voice, perhaps, is not being taken as seriously as it should be. The Latino voice in the county is not being heard.” Chairman Campbell then thanked Ramirez for his comment, but called him Mr. Rodriguez. Earlier, he thanked Guadalupe Gomez for speaking, but called him Mr. Lopez.
After the public comments concluded, each supervisor shared their brief thoughts on the redistricting process. Then, Supervisor Shawn Nelson, who represents the fourth district, moved to have map 21, which his district proposed, create the county's new lines. But, when that map didn't get enough votes, he, along with all of the supervisors except for John Moorlach, voted in support of map 21c.
The map splits four cities — Anaheim, Irvine, Fountain Valley and Buena Park — and has a population spread among districts of about four percent. Chairman Campbell's letter to the board of supervisors explaining the map and the map itself are on the county's website.
After the board voted, ending a months-long process, the crowd erupted into applause. But, it's not quite over yet, because, the supervisors still have to hold a second public hearing on the topic on Sept. 6.
