The University of Southern California has seen one controversy after another. Now it is at the center of a bitter fight over Los Angeles redistricting plans.
On Oct. 18, the city’s Redistricting Commission voted 11 to 10 to move the university out of the 9th District, represented by Councilman Curren Price, and into Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson’s 8th District. The commission reversed itself the following night, voting 11-9 to move USC back into Price’s district. The commission’s final map keeps USC in Price’s district but places the adjacent Exposition Park in Harris-Dawson’s as a compromise.
USC and its neighboring museums and stadiums were shifted from the 8th District into the 9th in 2012. Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson has said they should be returned, calling it a civil rights issue. His appointee on the Redistricting Commission, Valerie Shaw, said the outcome would impact “the future of Black folks in L.A.”
Price was no less adamant. He called the commission’s original vote to move USC a “power grab of monumental proportions.” It would “directly contribute to the decline of a Black and brown community that has been on the rise,” he said.
South LA isn’t the only issue dividing city leaders. Major changes to the districts represented by Nithya Raman, Paul Krekorian, and Bob Blumenfield have elicited frustration. You can read about those proposed changes here.
On Friday, Council President Nury Martinez criticized the commission’s final map, saying it “confused and alienated thousands” and that it would “threaten to widen the divides between communities.”
“While some areas kept their assets and neighborhoods whole, poverty was concentrated in other communities that have already suffered from disinvestment and neglect for generations,” Martinez said.
Commission Chairman Fred Ali — who was appointed by Martinez — shot back, calling her assertions “patently false.” It is not the commission’s job to look out for the political futures of city council members, he said.
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