Come to a Redistricting Task Force Meeting

We are asking you to attend a Redistricting Task Force meeting:

Wednesday, April 4, beginning at 6 pm, at City Hall, Room 406.

For more detail about this meeting, click here.

Through the advocacy of hundreds of community members, the Redistricting Task Force Map (as of 3-22-2012) has progressed a great deal from where it started and now looks close to our Community Unity Map (pictured above and described below).  We need to keep the pressure, reminding the Task Force of the good work they are doing, and pushing back on new cynical maneuvers from real estate interests.  The April 4 Task Force meetings will literally shape San Francisco's future beyond the next decade.  Please join us at this meeting and tell others!

 

Why Should You Care?

Why do we want you at this meeting, and why should you care?  The short answer is that revised District boundaries could ultimately mean the loss of District elections and the loss of rent control.  Downtown interests (such as the Realtors Association and the Chamber of Commerce) want to make Districts 5 (Haight/Western Addtiion), 6 (South of Market / Tenderloin)  and 9 (Mission / Bernal) the only progressive districts.  This could result in a permanent 8-3 fix for downtown and business interests.  Those who remember the days when Tom Ammiano and Sue Bierman were the only progressive votes on a citywide elected Board of Supervisors know how serious this could be.  A couple of blatant examples of this kind of gerrymandering include a proposal to move Seacliff (a conservative voting bloc) out of District Two (which it shares with the Marina) and into District One (Richmond), or moving the western boundary of D8 to include Twin Peaks.

 

 

What is Redistricting?

How can this happen?  Every ten years, after the Census, as required by section 13.110(d)  of the City Charter, San Francisco is required to revise its Supervisorial districts to take into account changes in population as reflected in the census.  Ideally, each Supervisor represents an equal number of San Franciscans, but a deviation of up to 5% can be allowed if required to preserve neighborhoods and communities of interest.  The 2010 census showed the population of District 6 grew by about 30,000 people, as almost all new residential construction was in that District.  To even out the Districts, the boundaries need to be redrawn to reduce the population in District 6, which means that other Districts have to gain population.

But where the lines are drawn can divide or unite communities, and can significantly impact local politics and city services.  As mentioned above, lines can be drawn to increase or reduce the strength of progressive and conservative voices.

 

The Redistricting Task Force

 

Where the lines are drawn will be determined by the Redistricting Task Force.  The Task Force consists of nine members, three each selected by Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and the Elections Commission.  The Task Force holds public meetings, and, so far, has been responsive to public comment.  The task force has to present a final map by April 15 so that candidates for Supervisor for the Fall 2012 election know their District’s boundaries.  This year there will be an election for Supervisor in every odd-numbered District.

The Redistricting Task Force’s website includes meeting schedules, and draft maps.  Members of the public have been encouraged to try redistricting with a new online tool, ReDraw San Francisco.  Individual district maps may be submitted until March 29.  Citywide maps were due in early March.

The Task Force chose to focus district by district, rather than on the City as a whole.  The Task Force focus on district by district meant that they met over the months in each District, hearing voices from that District, although those outside that District were also welcome and also participated.  It also meant that some districts came last, and that the Task Force put itself in the position of decision-making when district lines conflicted.

The Community Unity Map
 

A major contribution came from a citywide effort involving about 80 community activists and leaders (including HANC members) who took a different approach to redistricting.  They decided to try to create a map that not only honored communities of interest but also looked at how to have many strong districts.  One consideration was how to create/maintain districts that could produce six votes on the Board of Supervisors for key initiatives.  This map is known as the Community Unity Map, and can be found here.

Here are some of the goals of the Community Unity Map:

• D11 should keep the historic relationship between the Excelsior and the OMI up to Holloway Avenue.
• D10 should keep the historic relationship of the waterfront neighborhoods of Viz Valley, Bayview, Potrero and Dogpatch, moving the boundary north to Mission Creek.
• D9 should keep all of Bernal and more of the Mission up to 15th and 16th Streets, and take Portola (which is now only halfway in D9) down to Dwight Street, making it a district with three distinct neighborhoods. D9 should keep both sides of Cesar Chavez along St. Lukes to Guerrero.
• D8 should keep the LGBTQ center, but move part of its northern boundary down to Hermann St., in order to keep the Lower Haight whole, and east to Valencia and San Jose.
• D6 should keep its core of Tenderloin, SoMa, and North Mission (above 15th and 16th Streets), the McCoppin Triangle, Transbay and Treasure Island, by moving the northern boundary with D3 to Geary, the western boundary to Van Ness, and the southern boundary to Mission Creek.
• D5 should extend east to Van Ness as a natural boundary, should keep Japantown’s community institutions as well as Westside Courts and Booker T. Washington along the northern boundary, and should include both the CPMC campus at Post & Van Ness and the massive 55 Laguna (former UC Berkeley extension) development which will have a major impact on Hayes Valley and Lower Haight.
• D3 can expand south a little bit, to Geary, though losing a bit of Russian Hill, west of Taylor.
• D1 rather than gaining population with Sea Cliff, could move east for a few blocks along Geary.

These are really not radical changes from existing boundaries, but the changes do try to keep communities together, and try to keep key institutions within districts where they are likely to have the greatest impact, such as keeping the LGBTQ center in D8, moving 55 Laguna into D5, keeping St. Luke’s Hospital in D9, and keeping Transbay and Treasure Island in D6. The Community Unity map keeps all proposed districts within 5% margin of target population (legal requirement), and keeps District 4 and 11 as majority Asian populations.

District 5 Issues

Here in District 5, we have had to look at all four major borders and consider trade-offs, both because of what we prefer, and also because adjacent districts need populations added.  Some particularly key issues are:

Northern boundary - include/reunite key Japanese-American and African-American communities?

Western boundary - how much of the Inner Sunset to keep?

Southern boundaries - upper Cole Valley, north of 17th?  Reunite the historic Western Addition, including 55 Laguna, the former UC Extension site now planned for about 300 market-rate rentals, 50 below market rentals, and 100 extremely low income LGBT seniors.

Make Your Voice Heard!

Make your voice heard!  We need you to speak up at this Task Force meeting!  In person is best, and if not possible, please write expressing your opinions.

Contact the Task Force at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Contact Tes Welborn at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for talking points.