Dear Mayor and Council members,
I think the reasons for you to be involved in district boundary drawing and discussion are more important than the possible perception that your involvement now could be seen as “putting your thumb on the scale.”
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When the five of you, and you alone, choose the final map, you will be jumping on the scale with both feet.
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One way you can communicate your values to our residents is by drawing your own map and indicating your view of communities of interest in our city.
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It is one thing to say that you represent all of your constituents, and another to actually understand those tribes. You all live north of Dunne Avenue in homes you own—mostly single-family homes.
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You have professional occupations, do not appear to be food-insecure (in a good way), and do not qualify for Clipper Senior discount.
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The one Redistricting Criteria presented by National Demographics Corporation that I disagree with is Criteria 6: “District borders shall be designed, insofar as this does not conflict with Federal or State law, to respect the choices of the voters by avoiding the pairing of current Councilmembers.”
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If the goal of the exercise is to empower communities of interest, then where council members live now is irrelevant.
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We are dividing the city for an election that will occur in 2018. With no incumbent for mayor, will any council members choose to run for a different office or no office at all? And having a council member up in 2020 in the same district as a member up in 2018 causes no conflict in 2018.
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As you know well, the city itself does not have orderly boundaries. The Census Blocks also vary wildly in shape and sizes. You can draw on the paper map and leave population balancing to NDC. If you use any of the NDC tools, you may find it difficult to balance populations and create “contiguous territory in as compact form as possible” [Redistricting Criteria 3].
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Trying the tools yourself will give you a sense of what kind of effort a resident might expend to participate in this exercise.
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I have submitted two concept maps. One divides the city into four geographical quarters, so that South City gets representation. The other defines an extended Priority Development Area (transit, high-density housing and jobs) along the Monterey Corridor and three surrounding districts.
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Thank you for your consideration.
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Doug Muirhead
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Morgan Hill
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For more information about the Morgan Hill City Council election districting process, visit the website drawmh.org.
