County threatened in new state maps

Ukiah Daily Journal (CA) - Thursday, July 7, 2011
Jim Mastin

What allows any diverse culture to thrive are the many connections within its communities of interest. Whether we're talking about a transportation, economic, political, geographic or communications link it's necessary that there be a strong local cohesion of elements in order to survive. 

Currently in California there is a mandated effort underway to redistrict our congressional and state legislative districts. The California Citizens Redistricting Commission (www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov) and their staff have been working long, hard hours and unfortunately I feel that they have lost their way as it relates to our North Coast. Our communities of interest are broad and deep and deserve to remain politically connected and thereby relevant. 

Recent maps released by the Commission indicate that they are willing to sacrifice our relevancy for the sake of a numbers game. The first map released has the new 1st Congressional District running from the Golden Gate to the Oregon border and putting Lake and Napa Counties into a district that includes the Sierra foothills. It also left Del Norte in the 4th Senatorial District. There is no road that connects them through the rugged Cascade Mountain Range to any community in the rest of the 4th District. We are not playing Sudoku. These are not acceptable solutions. 

Since term limits reshaped the political landscape of California, rural areas such as our North Coast have seen their ability to affect their future minimized. The current redistricting maps would reinforce our marginalization in Sacramento and now in Washington D.C. Our main transportation corridor is Highway 101, and with few serious east-west routes it serves as a 24/7 unifying link for the North Coast. We must insist that it remain as a central feature of our community of interest. We must also demand that Napa and Lake Counties remain a part of our political culture.While much of Sonoma and Marin Counties have common interests, Mendocino County and Marin are not politically compatible. Marin and parts of Sonoma, Napa and Solano Counties should be combined to form a single congressional district, while Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake and parts of Napa and Sonoma Counties should form a second. This would maintain our current representation of two districts representing half of our embattled California coastline rather than reducing it to one. 

Our State Senate district lines are proposed to include all of Marin County and most of Sonoma County, but eliminate Santa Rosa. I suggest that we have more in common with Santa Rosa than we do with San Rafael and that all of Sonoma County should stay within the 2nd Senate District. 

To many my suggestions may sound like "leave it the way it is," and I wouldn't disagree with them. In order to be effective leaders our legislators need to represent us as a community of interest. Within that community it's not only OK, but also necessary to disagree on issues and to work them out in a manner that best suits us. The first redistricting maps will change the politics of the North Coast from a conservatively progressive, agricultural based struggling economy that is trying to protect and restore its fragile environment to one that is overshadowed by the more populous and wealthier Marin County with its issues, problems and solutions far different than ours. 

It's not too late to make your voice heard. Please contact the Commission and state your case for keeping the North Coast comprised of communities of interest that reflect our rural values. 

Jim Mastin is a Ukiah resident.