RESIDENTS PROTEST REDISTRICTING Letter decries plan to split Penasquitos

San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, September 10, 2011
Hailey Persinger

Representatives of Rancho Peñasquitos' Asian-Pacific Islander community have put their dissatisfaction with last month's San Diego City Council redistricting decisions into writing. 

In a letter to redistricting commissioners and San Diego County's Asian & Pacific American Coalition last week, residents of what has been District 1 appealed to city officials to avoid characterizations of their neighborhoods based on race. 

The grassroots Asian & Pacific American Coalition applauded the city's redistricting commission in late August for approving maps that moved Park Village, in southern Rancho Peñasquitos, into the new council District 6 to create a district primarily populated by Asian-Americans. The district includes Mira Mesa, Miramar West, Kearny Mesa and Clairemont. 

The plans place the rest of Rancho Peñasquitos in District 5, which includes Rancho Bernardo, Black Mountain Ranch, Torrey Highland, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Sabre Springs, Scripps Ranch and Rancho Encantada. 

The coalition disagreed with the Rancho Peñasquitos split, but noted the new maps marked a move toward giving Asian-Americans a greater chance for representation at City Hall. Critics said the plan placed too much emphasis on residents' ethnicity instead of on their shared priorities. 

"Our common goals and interests are not specific to any ethnicity," residents Bradlee Chang and Jagadish Nayak said in the letter. "They are specific to our neighborhoods. ... We choose the common interests of our neighborhood and community before ethnicity." 

Redistricting happens every 10 years to adjust voting boundaries to match new census figures. Coalition members could not be reached for comment.