Los Angeles City Charter

There is no issue that more dramatically highlights the politics of race than the drawing of legislative lines. Create one large City Council district in South-Central Los Angeles and black representation could shrink from three council members to one; divide that area into five districts and representation could leap from three to five. The same is true for East Los Angeles and Latinos or Silver Lake and Armenians, one of the city's larger minority groups all but invisible at City Hall.

Los Angeles' appointed charter commission, one of two groups trying to rewrite the city's constitution and wrestling with a host of important problems such as whether to give more power to the mayor, released a 30-page summary of its key recommendations Wednesday, the first step in a process intended to drum up public comment on the document in coming months.

The appointed Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission on Wednesday will review for public comment a draft set of charter recommendations. Other topics to be discussed during the meeting will be the pension and retirement systems for city employees, and the possible role of Proposition 5 review for the Civil Service Commission and the Employee Relations Board. The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. in the 15th-floor boardroom of the Department of Water and Power, 111 N. Hope St., Los Angeles.

The appointed City Charter Reform Commission meets today at 1 p.m. to discuss its draft recommendations for changes to the city's charter. The commission is scheduled to approve the draft and open up discussion of the plan for public comment. The meeting will be held in the 15th floor boardroom of the Department of Water and Power building at 111 North Hope St. in downtown Los Angeles.

City Council-related issues will be on the agenda Monday when the the Elected Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission meets at 6 p.m. The commissioners will discuss a report by commission staff on the City Council, including a proposed increase in the number of districts citywide. In addition, the commission will examine and discuss reports on the city budgeting process and the city controller's office.

An influential coalition of business groups has drafted a new map of political Los Angeles, arguing that significant expansion of the City Council would protect and even extend minority representation while improving constituent services, according to documents obtained Friday.

The Elected Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission meets Monday evening at 7. The commission is scheduled to address the controversial topic of neighborhood councils and legislative representation--an issue that has divided business interests and community activists. The commission will also examine and discuss reports on the city budget process and city controller's office. There will be a period for public comment.

City Council-related issues will be on the agenda Monday when the Elected Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission meets at 6 p.m. The commissioners will discuss a report by commission staff on the City Council, including a proposed increase in the number of districts citywide. In addition, the commission will examine and discuss reports on the city budgeting process and the city controller's office. Monday's meeting will be at the Department of Water and Power building's conference center, 111 N.

The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed emergency legislation to give San Fernando Valley activists three extra months to petition for a study and possible ballot initiative on Valley secession from Los Angeles. The additional time would be a godsend to Valley VOTE, the group leading the campaign, which is struggling to collect the 135,000 signatures of registered Valley voters required to trigger the secession study.

A key member of both the elected and appointed charter reform commissions has missed dozens of hearings by both panels, and her chronic absence has deprived Los Angeles' African Americans of their most visible representative in the process that could remake city government.