A plan is moving forward in the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to add four new supervisors, which would mean dividing the current districts in half, but the benefit is that it would allow for diversification of representation, which would benefit the Latino and Asian communities.
The proposal, which is being fast-tracked to be placed on the November ballot, has the backing of Supervisors Hilda Solis, Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn.
Those who voted against the plan because they disagreed with some parts of it were Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Kathryn Barger.
If approved, the Board of Supervisors will have nine districts instead of the current five by 2032, following the redistricting process, to give ethnic groups more political power, particularly those in unincorporated areas of the county.
For a long time, there has been a desire to promote a new district for Latinos. It is incredible that when 49% of the population is Latino in the county, we only have one representative on the Board of Supervisors, in the person of Supervisor Hilda Solis, who by the way has been the voice that has been constantly advocating for more Latino representation.
In order for this measure to appear on the ballot, there must be a final vote by the Board of Supervisors by August 9.
We will see if the “five little queens” (three white, one Latina and one African-American), as the five female members of the Board of Supervisors are known, due to the great political power they have in representing districts with more than two million people, come to an agreement and push forward this reform project.
But this change cannot be taken for granted. The final say will be made by the voters, who are not always in favor of fattening the bureaucracy and having more politicians. At least eight times since 1926 they have rejected plans to expand the Board of Supervisors. The most recent was at the beginning of the decade, in 2000, when 64% of voters rejected increasing the number of supervisors to nine.
More councillors?
In the City of Los Angeles, council members voted in June to form a new citizens commission to look into whether to expand the size of the council, reduce the number of boards and make other changes.
Several council members, including Council Speaker Paul Krekorian, are seeking to put a measure on the ballot to let voters decide whether they want to increase the number of council members.
According to Krekorian, who will be out of his job on the City Council at the end of the year, the city has almost the same number of districts as it did a century ago, when it did not have the four million inhabitants it has today.
But by reducing the size of each municipal district, Krekorian says, the Council would be more effective in responding to its constituents, and the influence of money and even corruption would be reduced.
There are groups proposing up to 29 councillors for the Municipal Council. What madness!
What’s up with Latinos?
What is happening with Latinos? The question arises because in none of the races for governor or lieutenant governor in 2026 do we see any Latinos. For lieutenant governor, the Democrats have already signed up, the former mayor of Stockton and anti-poverty leader considered a rising Democratic star, Michael Tubbs, the treasurer Fiona Ma and the senator for South Los Angeles, Steven Bradford. And Latinos are conspicuous by their absence. We are more than 40% in the state, and no one dares to. Perhaps the name of former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has come up, but no one steps forward.