Redistricting Commissioner Gears Up for Second Round

Culver City resident Andre Parvenu described the experience of scoring a spot on the 14-member California Citizens Redistricting Commission as “winning the lottery.”

“I feel like a salmon that is swimming upstream. It is incredible odds,” Parvenu said about being chosen from a pool of 30,000 applicants. “It is a Darwinian, Herculean task to be a part of this elite group serving the state of California.”

Now that the  of new Assembly, state Senate and congressional district maps have been drawn, he and his fellow commissioners are in the heat of a statewide tour that is composed of three rounds of obtaining public comment from California residents. As he was preparing for an 8 a.m. Friday flight to Fresno for a commissioner meeting, Parvenu took time to speak with Patch about the redrawing process and how it will impact Culver City.

Culver City Patch: Phase two kicked off with a public hearing in Culver City last week. What was your sense of the meeting?

Andre Parvenu: I was pleased with the turnout. People traveled quite a distance to come to the meeting. Some couldn’t speak because there were more than 400 who came, and it could be quite an ordeal for the elderly to stand in line for a long while. But those who couldn’t speak did turn in comment cards.

The majority did not like what we have done. We received the most criticism from communities that were split, but it’s impossible to do this job without splitting some communities. We must comply with the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution regarding the redistricting.

Patch: Can you elaborate on the constitutional criteria you have to adhere to?

Parvenu: We have to create 53 congressional districts, which have to have 702,905 people per district. To have 53 districts of that exact number, there are going to have to be splits along the way. We try to minimize the splits, but it’s impossible to keep some communities whole.

For the state Assembly district, we have to split them into 80 districts of 465,674 people each. That is our target population.

For the state Senate, we need to create 40 districts of 931,349 people each. We are allowed to have a 1 percent deviation. And we must create four Board of Equalization districts of 9,313,489 people each, with 1 percent allowable deviation.

So you see it’s an arduous task, but that’s the No. 1 criteria we go by. Ideally, we can nest two of these Assembly districts into one senatorial district. But it is all very confusing to some residents.

Patch: What do you do with all of the input that you collect from the public? I know that the public comment deadline for the first draft has been extended to June 28.

Parvenu: Once we’re done, we’ll go back to tell our technical consultants—who are with a company called Q2 Data and Research Incorporated—“This is what we heard the second round.” On July 12 we will release the second set of draft maps, though it may be July 14 because a lot of work is involved. These maps will be more firm and less flexible than the first round because Aug. 15 is our deadline that we have to turn them over to the secretary of state and the governor.

After the second release, we have a little time to hear public comment. People can call us, fax us and email us to give us their comment on the maps. On July 28, this is the release of our final set of maps. Then there is a final 14-day notice period. On Aug. 14 we vote on what’s been done, and we turn those maps over to the secretary of state and we will say “job well done.”

Hopefully these maps will be what the people want and not what the politicians want.

Patch: How do you expect Culver City to change in the redistricting process?

Parvenu: I don’t anticipate much change to Culver City specifically, but I do expect there to be changes to the districts that Culver City is in.

Patch: What made you decide to take this on, and on top of your day job?

Parvenu: I’ve always had an interest in civil service. I have a varied background— working with community outreach with the Census Bureau and working with transportation, in addition to my work here in the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. This gave me an opportunity to use all of my skills and my former training in a dynamic way. It’s nice knowing that you're part of history.

Patch: You are a zoning analyst with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. How do your day job and your commission duties work together?

Parvenu: I have a supervisor and a senior planner who have been very understanding with this process. For the time being, it is working out marginally well. I try to get as much done in the office as I can. I am able to wake up early and work late. I wake up at 4:30 in the morning and am reading between 300 to 400 emails a day. I usually won’t go to bed until 1 a.m. All of us commissioners are going through the same thing.

It’s a major lifestyle adjustment.

The public can submit written testimony by email to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov, by fax to 916-651-5711, or by mail to: Citizens Redistricting Commission 901 P Street, Suite 154A Sacramento, CA 95814