Tri-County Area Gets Redistricting Wish

Diamond Bar and Walnut's voices were heard in the final round of congressional redistricting completed and approved during a vote early Friday.

The new redistricting proposal crosses county lines to keep the cities and communities of Diamond Bar, Walnut, Chino Hills, Yorba Linda, Brea, Hacienda Heights, and part of Fullerton within the same congressional district.

Currently, Diamond Bar and Walnut are not in the same congressional district.

The mapping, done for the first time by a 14-member group of California citizens, , along a San Gabriel Valley corridor that extended west and north to Arcadia and Monterey Park.

The Diamond Bar City Council criticized that plan, and urged that regional transportation concerns in the tri-county area justified the commission crossing county boundaries to to craft the area's congressional representation.

The final redistricting proposal approved Friday includes portions of L.A., Orange, and San Bernardino counties.

As the state Senate and Assembly districts crossed county borders in their initial proposals, councilwoman Carol Herrera said in June that she hoped the final congressional proposal would do the same.

The Four Corners Transportation Coalition — a regional group of cities representing area transportation interests, chaired by Herrera — out of concern that it would undo tri-county cooperation and lose representation from an "advocate" for the area's transportation needs.

"One advocate for (the Coalition) was Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) in Congress and (the first proposal) lost that level of continuity," Coalition Chair and Chino Hills councilwoman Gwenn Norton-Perry said in reaction to the initial proposal.

Norton-Perry said that sharing congressional representation across the tri-county area served the area well and that progress on transportation projects — like the Big Fix for the 57/60 interchange — could be lost if the district adhered strictly to county lines.

Statewide, according to an Associated Press report, redistricting experts said the new maps are likely to reduce the influence of Republicans in the state.

Two of the commission's Republican members, Michael Ward of Anaheim and Jodie Filkins Webber of Norco, voted against the new congressional boundaries.

Ward told the AP that he did not think the new citizen-led redistricting group effectively removed special interests and politics from the redistricting process.

"In my opinion, the commission failed to fulfill its mandate to strictly apply the constitutional criteria, consistently apply race and community of interest criteria, and sought to diminish dissenting viewpoints," he told the AP before final votes were taken.

At least nine of the 14 commissioners had to support the new boundaries, including at least three each from Democrats, Republicans and independents. The new Assembly, state Senate and Board of Equalization districts were approved 13-1, with Ward dissenting each time. The congressional maps were approved 12-2.

Maps for the state Senate and state Assembly remained roughly unchanged from the first draft proposals. The new proposals for those bodies consolidates representation around Diamond Bar and Walnut — an area currently represented by Sen. Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) and Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills).

The final maps will be certified on Aug. 15.

Browse current and past versions of maps for Congress, state Senate, Assembly, and the Board of Equalization at the Rose Report's website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.