Supervisor district lines cross white and hispanic districts
San Diego Examiner (CA) - Monday, September 12, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, the Board of Supervisors will consider approving a redistricting plan that makes District 1 a hispanic and black majority district. Their vote will prove whether San Diego County will be a voter's melting pot.
The ACLU suggested the county take a different approach to the districting plan after the Board approved its Plan 5-7 at its August 2 meeting that did not have a hispanic and african-american majority district. They claimed the plan would fail the Voting Rights Act test.
The Board sent staff back to the drawing table to work on a plan that took up suggestions laid out in a plan and map the ACLU submitted but stayed in line with Plan 5-7. The staff came up with two plans, A and B, that each created a majority district for the two ethnicities.
Plan B was selected at a public hearing on Tuesday, September 6, last week. District 4 crossed the 20 percent line for the two ethnicities. The district that has a large part of downtown and the urban southeast will also have Skyline, Lomita, and North Bay Terraces.
In District 1, hispanics and african-americans count for more than 51 percent but under 52 percent of residents. The large block is the hispanics from places like National City, Chula Vista, and San Ysidro who together make up around 43 percent.
Small adjustments were made to the District 4 boundary line in southeast San Diego in the proposed Plan B to keep Oak Park, Emerald Hills, and Valencia Park all in one piece in District 4. The revised plan gets the supervisor support count on Tuesday. The Voter Registrar approved the plan last Thursday.
No one took the opportunity to create two districts that have hispanics in the ethnic majority group. Though it has been suggested that a second majority district would fix the shortage of Hispanics on the five member Board. Hispanics are one-third of the county citizens.
In addition, Coronado and City Heights will not be out of place. Residents from both communities convinced the board they belong in their old districts, 1 and 4.
To read earlier articles in Breaking Light of Truth on Mondays, read
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