Los Angeles City Council District 15
Encyclopedia
Los Angeles City Council District 15 is one of the electoral districts of the Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
and the only one to keep its boundaries generally the same since the districts were formed in 1925. The 15th District was designed at its origin to represent the Los Angeles Harbor
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles, also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT L.A, is a port complex that occupies of land and water along of waterfront. The port is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately south of downtown...
and Shoestring districts of the city, and over the years it has done so, although its northern boundary has been shifted to the south in keeping with changes in population. It has been the second-most stable in council membership. The seat is vacant, Janice Hahn
Janice Hahn
Janice Kay Hahn is the U.S. Representative from California's 36th congressional district and a member of the Democratic Party. She was previously a Los Angeles City Councilwoman representing the 15th district from 2001 to 2011...
, the most recent holder, having been elected to the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 2011.
Modern
The 15th district encompasses all of the city's southern area and the Port of Los AngelesPort of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles, also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT L.A, is a port complex that occupies of land and water along of waterfront. The port is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately south of downtown...
. This includes the communities and neighborhoods of San Pedro, Wilmington, Vinegar Hill, Harbor City and the Harbor Gateway. Watts borders the district to the northeast.
See official city map outlining District 15.
Historic
A new city charter effective in 1925 replaced the former "at large" voting systemPlurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
for a nine-member council with a district system with a 15-member council. Each district was to be approximately equal in population, based upon the voting in the previous gubernatorial election; thus redistricting was done every four years. (At present, redistricting is done every ten years, based upon the preceding U.S. census results.) The numbering system established in 1925 for City Council districts began with No. 1 in the north of the city, the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, and ended with No. 15 in the south, the Harbor area.
The northern border of the 15th District was set in the following locations in these years:
1925: Slauson Avenue
Slauson Avenue
Slauson Avenue is a major east-west thoroughfare for southern Los Angeles County, California, named for the land developer and Los Angeles Board of Education member J. S. Slauson. It passes through Culver City, Ladera Heights, View Park-Windsor Hills, Baldwin Hills, Inglewood, South Los Angeles,...
.
1928: Manchester Avenue.
1935: Manchester Avenue or 92nd Street, with some parts of South Broadway
Broadway (Los Angeles)
Broadway is a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, that runs from Lincoln Heights on the Eastside, through Chinatown, passing through Central Plaza and the Dragon Gate, the Los Angeles Civic Center, passing the Los Angeles Times building at First Street, and Broadway's historic commercial...
and area detached to District 8
Los Angeles City Council District 8
Los Angeles City Council District 8 is one of the 15 districts of the Los Angeles City Council, covering much of South Los Angeles. The current council member is Bernard C. Parks....
1937: Manchester Avenue.
1940: Irregular line with Manchester Avenue at the highest plane.
1986: Boundary moved south, but district still included part of the Watts area.
1987. San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City, Los Angeles, the shoestring strip of Harbor Gateway and parts of Watts and South Central Los Angeles.
2011: South of Century Boulevard
Century Boulevard
Century Boulevard is a street in South Los Angeles, extending from Wilmington Avenue in the east to the passenger terminals at Los Angeles International Airport in the west ....
on the west edge of the Shoestring, north of the boulevard to the east.
Officeholders
Not only geographically, but also representationally the district has been one of the most stable. There have been only nine council members since 1925 — seven men and two women. None served fewer than four years. The thirty-year incumbency of John S. Gibson, Jr., was the second-longest of any Los Angeles City Council member, after John FerraroJohn Ferraro
John Ferraro was the longest-serving Los Angeles City Council member in the history of the city—thirty-five years, from 1966 until his death in 2001—and the president of the council for fourteen of them...
of the 4th District
Los Angeles City Council District 4
Los Angeles City Council District 4 is one of the 15 districts of the Los Angeles City Council, situated in the center of the city. It is represented by Tom Labonge....
. The officeholders were:
- Charles J. ColdenCharles J. ColdenCharles J. Colden was a 20th century California politician who served in the Los Angeles City Council and the U.S. Congress.Charles J. Colden was a 20th century California politician who served in the Los Angeles City Council and the U.S. Congress.Charles J...
, 1925–29 - A.E. Heming, 1929–33
- F.P. Buyer, 1933–39
- Wilder W. HartleyWilder W. HartleyWilder W. Hartley was a member of the Los Angeles City Council from the Harbor and South Los Angeles districts from 1939 to 1943.-Biography:...
, 1939–43 - George H. MooreGeorge H. MooreGeorge H. Moore , an attorney and a judge who was active in civic affairs of the Los Angeles Harbor region, was district attorney of San Benito County and a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1943 to 1951.-Biography:...
. 1943–51 - John S. Gibson, Jr.John S. Gibson, Jr.John S. Gibson, Jr. was a powerful San Pedro, California, politician who was on the Los Angeles City Council for thirty years between 1951 and 1981. He was the president of the council for sixteen of those years and was acting mayor when the mayor was out of the city...
, 1951–81 - Joan Milke FloresJoan Milke FloresJoan Milke Flores is a former Los Angeles City Hall stenographer who served as Los Angeles City Councilwoman for the 15th district from 1981 to 1993. Flores ran in 1992 as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Representative from California to represent the 36th district. However, she lost to Jane...
, 1981–93 - Rudy SvorinichRudy SvorinichRudy Svorinich, Jr. is a Republican who served on the Los Angeles City Council representing the 15th district. A resident of San Pedro, his diverse district also included the communities of Watts, Wilmington, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, and San Pedro. He was elected to the council in 1993 and...
, 1993–2001 - Janice HahnJanice HahnJanice Kay Hahn is the U.S. Representative from California's 36th congressional district and a member of the Democratic Party. She was previously a Los Angeles City Councilwoman representing the 15th district from 2001 to 2011...
, 2001–11