Long Beach has announced the first nine members of a new commission that will take on the politically fraught task of drawing City Council District boundaries following this year’s Census count.
Community activists, particularly in the Cambodian community, have called for boundaries that would allow marginalized communities to be more concentrated in certain areas to help them gain representation on the City Council.
Cambodian leaders, among others, were critical in supporting the charter amendment in 2018 that established the new Independent Redistricting Commission, which took the task of redrawing boundaries away from the elected City Council.
The first nine members—one from each Council District area—were picked at random from a pool of 23 qualified applicants that were vetted by the city’s new Ethics Commission, also created in 2018 by a new charter amendment.
The nine members will select the remaining four commissioners and two alternates from the same pool of applicants.
The initial list includes one Cambodian, Sevly Snguon, who is representing the 9th Council District. Snguon said it was a little disappointing to be the lone Cambodian and hoped decisions would be made that benefit all groups that have been historically under-represented.
“I understand our historical and political context, how we fled as refugees and how coming to Long Beach around that time was really hard for us,” Snguon said, “and how I’ve seen our community just grow over the years and finally step into our power.”
Proponents of the charter amendment conceived of a commission that would racially represent the city, however officials said in May that a disproportionate number of applicants were from the eastern council districts, and mostly older and White.
In comparison, the city’s majority ethnic/racial group is Latinx, which makes up 42% of the population, according to the last Census. White residents make up 28% population, and Black and Asian residents each comprise about 13%.
In addition to one Cambodian, the commission includes four White members, three Latinx members and one Black member.
The new members are:
- Council District 1, Eric R. Oates
- Council District 2, Ryan Giffen
- Council District 3, Thomas J. Cooper
- Council District 4, Nicole Lopez
- Council District 5, Sharon Diggs-Jackson
- Council District 6, Alejandra Gutierrez
- Council District 7, Frank A. Gutierrez
- Council District 8, Marissa Martinez
- Council District 9, Sevly Snguon
Cambodians and allies in Long Beach have pushed for a more unified political voice in a community that is currently divided between the 4th and 6th council districts. The Cambodian community has never had a representative on the City Council, though Suely Saro from District 6 is in a runoff with incumbent Dee Andrews in the Nov. 3 election to represent the Central Long Beach area, where the majority of Cambodia Town is located.
But Snguon said, after analyzing the city’s Census data, that other groups such as Latinx and Black communities can’t be neglected either.
Attorney Marc Coleman, one of the early leaders in the redistricting campaign, said the commission was important to take politics out of the decision-making.
“This is the fair process that we wanted,” he said.
When asked if he’s happy how the commission has turned out: “I’ll let you know after I see the lines.”
The criteria for the six remaining members will be “the applicant’s relevant analytical skills, familiarity with the city’s neighborhoods and communities, ability to be impartial, and apparent ability to work cooperatively with other commissioners,” according to the charter amendment. The charter also states the commission should “reasonably reflect the City’s diversity,” but that no quotas, formulas or ratios should be applied to achieve this.
The Independent Redistricting Commission will begin participating in training meetings in December, and the redistricting process will start in 2021 after the release of the 2020 Census data, according to a city announcement.