On the heels of yet another city council corruption scandal, a group of Los Angeles scholars are proposing a series of changes to local government.
The L.A. Governance Reform Project was formed last year, after a leaked recording revealed then City Council President Nury Martinez making racist remarks. The group includes six academics from prominent local institutions.
“The appetite for reform is growing, it’s quite strong, there’s certainly a sense that change needs to happen,” said Sara Sadhwani, Reform Project member and associate professor of politics at Pomona College, on LAist’s public affairs show AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM.
On Thursday, the Reform Project released a series of recommendations on how to better protect city council from future corruption. Here are a few highlights:
Expanding city council
Right now, the L.A. City Council has 15 seats, each representing about 250,000 people. It’s been that way for the past 100 years.
“We’ve heard overwhelmingly that they almost feel like fiefdoms,” Sadhwani said.
The Reform Project wants that number expanded to 25. The idea is for each council member to represent a smaller district, improving constituents’ access and influence.
In other words — increase quantity to increase quality.
Independent redistricting
The push for an independent group to be tasked with redrawing district lines — or redistricting —became a public priority after the leaked recordings, Reform Project member Raphael Sonenshein said on AirTalk.
“One thing everybody in town seems to agree on is that redistricting needs to be taken out of the hands of the city counsel,” said…
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