Resolution regarding increasing the size of the Los Angeles City Council

Whereas the City of Los Angeles is 502.7 square miles; and

Whereas the City of Los Angeles has the lowest per capita representation in the U.S. (266,000:1), resulting from having only 15 City Councilmembers for a city of approximatley 4 million people; and

Whereas the current size of 15 Councilmembers was set in 1925, when the population of Los Angeles was only one million, one quarter of what it is now; and 

Whereas New York City has 51 Councilmembers, with a ratio of 160,000:1; and Chicago has 50, with a ratio of 54,000; and

Whereas in California’s next five most populous cities after Los Angeles, the ratio is approximately: San Diego 150,000:1; San Jose 100,000:1; San Francisco 75,000:1; Fresno 70,000:1; Sacramento 60,000:1; and

Whereas no other state in the U.S. (other than CA) even has State Assembly districts as populous as are the City of Los Angeles City Council districts; and whereas only the states of Florida, New York and Texas have State Assembly districts even half that populous; and

Whereas increasing the number of City Councilmembers would improve LA’s per capita representation and make it easier for City Council elections and local government to reflect the city’s great diversity; and

Whereas a per capita representation similar to San Jose’s (which has half of LA’s population density) would mean a 40-member City Council for LA, while a per capita representation comparable to San Francisco (which has one and a half times LA’s population density) would mean 53 members; 

Therefore the Green Party of Los Angeles County supports a substantial increase in the size of the Los Angeles City Council, with study and consideration of per capita ratios of representation comparable to San Jose and San Francisco, leading to a City Council of up to potentially up to a similar size as Chicago and New York, and with study and consideration of both multi-seat and single-seat districts with ranked choice voting

Approved by consensus, November 12, 2016