Los Angeles City Council District 7 is one of the 15 districts of the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...

. It covers much of the northeastern

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

. On May 16, 2017,

Monica Rodriguez Monica Rodriguez is an American politician in California. She currently serves as a Los Angeles City Council member, and represents the 7th district. The district is located in the San Fernando Valley, and includes the neighborhoods of Pacoima ...

was elected to fill the open seat following the resignation of

Felipe Fuentes Felipe Fuentes (born May 25, 1971) is an American lobbyist and former Democratic politician and businessman from the San Fernando Valley in the U.S. state of California, formerly a member of the Los Angeles City Council from the 7th district. ...

and was sworn in as a council member on July 1, 2017.

District geography

The Seventh District includes the following neighborhoods: *

Sylmar Sylmar is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley and is the northernmost neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles. Historically known for its profusion of sylvan olive orchards, Sylmar can trace its past to the 18th century and th ...

* Mission HIlls *

Pacoima Pacoima (Tongva: ''Pacoinga'') is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Pacoima is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley region of LA. Geography Location Pacoima is bordered by the Los Angeles districts of Mission Hill ...

Sunland-Tujunga Sunland-Tujunga is a Los Angeles city neighborhood within the Crescenta Valley and Verdugo Mountains. Sunland and Tujunga began as separate settlements and today are linked through a single police station, branch library, neighborhood council ...

Lake View Terrace Lake View Terrace is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California.Shadow Hills, Los Angeles, Shadow Hills * La Tuna Canyon * Northern portion of North Hills East The certified Neighborhood Councils whose jurisdictions fall within the City Council District are: Sylmar, Mission Hills, Pacoima, North Hills East, Foothill Trails District, Sunland-Tujunga and very small portions of the Sun Valley Area. The

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

Divisions within the district are the Mission and Foothill divisions. The whole district is covered by the

Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD or LA City Fire) provides emergency medical services, fire cause determination, fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, and technical rescue services to the city of Los Angeles ...

's 12th Battalion in their North Division and contains the following Fire Districts: 7 covering North Hills East, 24 covering Lake View Terrace and part of Tujunga, 74 covering Sunland-Tujunga, 75 covering Mission Hills, 77 covering Shadow Hills and La Tuna Canyon, 91 covering Sylmar, and 98 covering Pacoima. The council district is within the East Valley LADOT Engineering District.

Boundary

The borders of the Council District as of the 2021 ordinance are formed by the following line: starting from the northwest point at the cross between the

I-5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

and the Los Angeles city limit, following that limit into the

region, until the crossing of the Los Angeles and

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

city boundaries near

Mount Lukens Mount Lukens is a mountain peak of the San Gabriel Mountains, in Los Angeles County, Southern California. Geography It is in the Sunland-Tujunga community within the northeast corner of the city of Los Angeles, above the Crescenta Valley. The ...

. The border follows the city boundaries south then to the west until a point near La Tuna Peak in the

Verdugo Mountains The Verdugo Mountains, also known as the Verdugo Hills or simply The Verdugos, are a small, rugged mountain range of the Transverse Ranges system in Los Angeles County, California. Located just south of the western San Gabriel Mountains, the Ver ...

. Starting at this point, the district border separates from the city boundaries and starts to be bound briefly with the second district northwest through

Verdugo Mountain Park Verdugo may refer to: * Verdugo (river), a river in Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain * Verdugo (surname) * Verdugo Mountains, a mountain range in California, United States * Verdugo Park, a park in California, United States * Verdugo Recreation Center, a ...

until moving in a straight line west into Vinedale Street to its intersection with

Glenoaks Boulevard Glenoaks Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, which stretches some 22.4 miles as a north-south thoroughfare in Sylmar at its intersection with Foothill Boulevard to a west-east thoroughfare in Glendale before ending in the S ...

. At this intersection the district begins to be bound with the sixth district. The border follows Glenoaks briefly north then

Sunland Boulevard Sunland Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the Crescenta and San Fernando Valleys. Geography Sunland Boulevard splits off of Foothill Boulevard in the Sunland area of the Crescenta Valley. It runs for about 5 miles (8 kilometers) before ch ...

until turning northwest, separating a residential area in Shadow Hills, Los Angeles, Shadow Hills to the northeast from the

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

landfill in the oppposite side until reaching Wentworth Street, following it northeast until it reaches the

Hansen Dam Municipal Golf Course Hansen may refer to: Places * Cape Hansen, Antarctica * Hansen, Idaho, town in the United States * Hansen, Nebraska, United States * Hansen, Wisconsin, town in the United States * Hansen Township, Ontario, Canada *Hansen, Germany, a small parish in ...

where it splits westward following the golf course's south boundary until splitting to the southwest at Branford Street. The border follows Branford southwest until reaching the I-5 which it then follows northward intil its interchange with the 118. From this interchange it moves southward following the

Pacoima Wash Pacoima Wash, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 16, 2011 is a major tributary of the Tujunga Wash, itself a tributary of the Los Angeles River, in the San Fernan ...

and splitting southward through the Pacoima Spreading Grounds to the intersection with Natick Avenue and Woodman Avenue, following the latter briefly south until its intersection with Lassen Street. The border follows Lassen briefly westward until turning south once again into the Pacoima Wash. It follows the wash until Nordhoff Street, turning into it briefly west until turning south into Noble Avenue, then west again into Rayen Street until reaching the I-405. At this point the border bounds the district with the twelfth district. From Rayen and the 405, the border moves north following the 405 into the I-5 up until it returns to the city limit. The district does not include the City of San Fernando, which lies inside of the boundary. For all the neighborhoods and communities represented, see the officia
City of Los Angeles Map of District 7
showing its boundaries.

Historic locations

A new

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charter ...

effective in 1925 replaced the former

plurality-at-large voting Plurality block voting, also known as plurality-at-large voting, block vote or block voting (BV) is a non- proportional voting system for electing representatives in multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of sea ...

system for a nine-member

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

within a district system, having a 15-member council. Each district was to be approximately equal in population, based upon the voting in the previous gubernatorial election, so redistricting was done every four years. In the present day, redistricting is done every ten years, based upon the preceding U.S. census results.Tina Daunt and Seema Mehta, "Council Districts Drawn to Benefit Valley, Latinos," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 12, 2002
/ref> The numbering system established in 1925 for City Council districts began with No. 1 in the north of the city, in the

, and ended with No. 15 in the south, in the Harbor area. At the beginning, the Seventh District was situated south of

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

. It was moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1956."Council Votes Redistricting After Flare-up Over Changes," ''Los Angeles Times,'' October 24, 1956, page B-1
/ref> 1925: Bounded on the north by Jefferson Boulevard, on the south by Slauson Boulevard, on the west by

Vermont Avenue Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of , is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length betwe ...

and on the east by South Park Avenue. 1926: 46th Street, Jefferson Boulevard, Vermont and Alameda avenues, with district headquarters at 529 West 41st Place. 1928: Same as above, with the addition of the Exposition-Vermont-Vernon-Arlington area. 1932–33: On the east by Alameda Avenue, on the west by

Crenshaw Boulevard Crenshaw Boulevard is a north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, that runs through Crenshaw and other neighborhoods along a 23-mile (37.76 km) route in the west-central part of the city. The street extends between Wilshire Bouleva ...

, on the north by Exposition Boulevard and on the south by Vernon Avenue. 1937: On the west by Crenshaw Boulevard, on the north by Exposition Boulevard, on the east by the city boundary with Vernon and on the south by Vernon Avenue. 1940: Same as above. 1947. It was noted that the district's population was "nearly 50 per cent Negro." 1956: Move to the San Fernando Valley, after Councilman

Don A. Allen Don A. Allen, also known as Don A. Allen, Sr. (May 13, 1900 - August 1, 1983), was a member of the California State Assembly in the 1940s and 1950s and of the Los Angeles City Council between 1947 and 1956. Biography Allen was born on May 13, 1 ...

was elected to the State Assembly. North: City boundary; south: Riverside Drive; east, Coldwater Canyon and Woodman Avenues; west, generally Balboa Boulevard. 1961: Van Nuys, Sepulveda, Granada Hills and Sylmar. 1986: Panorama City, part of Sun Valley and Sylmar. 1993: A 70% Latino and 19% African-American council district that covered "much of the northeast Valley" encompassing "one of Los Angeles's poorest areas" and containing "the shuttered General Motors plant in Van Nuys as well as Blythe Street in

Panorama City Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. Ethnically, more than half of its population was born a ...

, one of the Valley's most drug-infested areas until a police crackdown."
Registered voters were 39% Anglo, 30% Latino and 19% African-American.Scott Harris, "Last Press Release of the Anti-Politician," ''Los Angeles Times,'' July 4, 1993
/ref>

Officeholders

The 7th District has been represented by eleven men and one woman.

Downtown

San Fernando Valley

References

*Note: Most of the ''Los Angeles Times'' links require the use of a library card.

External links

Official Los Angeles City Council District 7 website

City of Los Angeles: Map of District 7
{{Los Angeles LACD07 LACD07 Lake View Terrace, Los Angeles Mission Hills, Los Angeles Pacoima, Los Angeles Sylmar, Los Angeles