Can Redistricting Improve California?
Moderated by Jessica Levinson, director of political reform, Center for Governmental Studies
The new maps that will create boundaries for California’s political districts will be certified in August, but will they actually change the state’s political landscape? Many people are counting on California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission to reduce political polarization, but can this experiment in participatory democracy really renew Californian’s trust in Sacramento? Some groups, particularly those representing minority communities, hope that new lines might result in increased representation in the Legislature and Congress. What effects will redistricting have on citizens’ lives? Zócalo invites a panel including Kathay Feng, director of California Common Cause and one of the authors of the 2008 redistricting reform bill; Steven Ochoa, national redistricting coordinator for MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Joe Mathews, senior fellow at the New America Foundation; and Dan Schnur, director of University of Southern California’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics to discuss what redistricting means for California and its people.
Parking $9 w/MOCA validation at the Walt Disney Concert Hall garage, enter from Lower Grand Ave.
