Redistricting: Moorpark tweaks boundaries of City Council districts; Simi stays the same

Boundaries for City Council districts are staying the same in Simi Valley and are only slightly changing in neighboring Moorpark.

Both towns' City Councils are working on a requirement to use 2020 U.S. Census data to, if needed, redraw their district lines to reflect how local populations have changed. The purpose of the redistricting process is to ensure that the districts remained roughly balanced in population.

Whites will remain a majority in all four of Simi Valley's City Council districts, though only a slight one over Hispanics in one of the districts.

Whites will stay a majority in three of Moorpark's four council districts, while Latino and Hispanics will remain a majority in one of the city's districts.

The process must be completed by April 17 in time for the November elections.

The two cities switched from at-large council elections to by-district elections effective for the November 2020 election under threat of litigation by Malibu-based voting rights attorney Kevin Shenkman. He represented the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, a Latino voter participation group.

The group alleged that the cities' at-large City Council election system was racially polarized, resulting in minority vote dilution in violation of the California Voting Rights Act.

Mayors in both cities are still elected at-large.

What say you? Simi, Moorpark seek public input on redistricting of City Council district boundaries

East Ventura County's third city, Thousand Oaks, doesn't have City Council districts. The five council members are still elected at large, and the mayor is appointed from among them. City Manager Drew Powers said the city was not threatened with the same kind of litigation that Moorpark and Simi Valley were.

Shenkman said Friday he didn't recall why.

The Simi Valley City Council on Jan. 24 introduced an ordinance to stay with the district boundaries that were drawn for the first time effective November 2020. The boundaries were based on 2010 census data.

The ordinance is scheduled to be adopted Feb. 14.

Councilwoman Elaine Litster said Friday that considering the boundaries were only established a few years ago, the council felt there was no need to change them.

"Our demographer went through them, and they're actually very well balanced," she said.

The council's vote was 4-0 with council member Ruth Luevanos abstaining. She said Friday she had concerns that two residents who submitted their own district maps for the council's consideration didn't fully understand how to use the city's map drawing software.

Simi Valley Deputy City Manager Samantha Argabrite said the city held community workshops in October and January demonstrating how to use the software.

Moorpark tweaks boundaries

The Moorpark City Council on Feb. 2 voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance to make just slight changes to the four council districts' boundaries that were also drawn for the first time to become effective in November 2020. Those boundaries, too, were initially based on 2010 census data.

The ordinance is scheduled to be adopted Feb. 16.

"There are minor changes ... needed to rebalance the population growth between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, but nothing drastic," said Moorpark spokesman Brian Chong.

A racial first: County supervisors create two majority Latino districts

Moorpark's population grew from 34,421 to 36,284, according to the census.

Based on 2020 census data, Moorpark's first district in the northeast part of the city town has 9,139 residents; its second district in west Moorpark has 8,911; its third district in the south part of town has 9,064; the city's fourth district downtown has 9,212.

That's a total population deviation — the difference between the most populous and least populous districts — of 3.31%, "which is within the 10% that has been found to be legally acceptable by the courts," a staff report says.

"Depending on how many houses are in each district, you can never get the exact ideal number of people per district," Moorpark City Clerk Ky Spangler said. "In the real world, you can't split the baby that precisely."

Based on the 2020 census data, whites comprise 55% of District One, 61% of District Two, 67% of District Three and 20% of District Four.

Hispanics make up 28% of District One, 18% of District Two, 17% of District Three and 68% of District Four.

Asian Americans comprise 12% of District One, 14% of District Two, 11% of District Three and 2% of District 4.

Blacks are 2% of District One, 3% of District Two, 1% of District 3 and 2% of District 4.

The race percentages in each district do not quite add up to 100%. That is accounted for by "rounding" and tiny numbers of other races, including American Indians and Pacific Islanders, Spangler said.

That applies to the city's districts based on the 2010 census data, as well as Simi Valley's districts based on data from both censuses.

According to 2010 census data, whites comprised 59% of Moorpark's District One, 71% of District Two, 73% of District Three, and 26% of District Four.

Hispanics made up 28% of District One, 15% of District Two, 15% of District Three, and 68% of District Four.

Asian Americans comprised 9% of District One, 11% of District Two, 9% of District Three, and 4% of District Four.

Blacks made up 2% of all four districts.

Simi Valley keeps same boundaries

Simi Valley's population increased from 124,237 to 126,356, according to U.S. Census date.

Based on the 2020 census data, Simi Valley's first district in the northeast part of the city has 32,386 residents; its second district in the southeast has 31,229; the third district in the west has 31,197; the fourth district in the southwest has 31,548.

That's a total population deviation of 3.76%, according to a staff report.

"You can shuffle a deck a hundred times; you'll never get exactly the same number of residents in every district," said Simi Valley City Manager Brian Gabler.

According to the 2020 census data, whites comprise 57% of District One, 53% of District Two, 43% of District Three and 63% of District Four.

Hispanics comprise 22% of District One, 29% of District Two, 42% of District Three and 20% of District Four.

Asian Americans comprise 15% of District One, 12% of District Two, 10% of District Three and 12% of District 4.

Blacks comprise 2% of all four districts.

Based on the 2010 census data, whites comprised 66% of District One, 63% of District Two, 51% of District Three, and 71% of District Four.

Hispanics made up 18% of District One, 23% of District Two, 36% of District Three, and 16% of District Four.

Asian Americans comprised 13% of District One, 10% of District Two, 10% of District Three, and 9% of District Four.

Blacks made up 2% of districts one, two and three and 1% of District Four.

Mike Harris covers the East County cities of Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, as well as transportation countywide. You can contact him at mike.harris@vcstar.com or 805-437-0323.

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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Moorpark City Council districts slightly changed; Simi's stay the same