Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sacramento Bee: City redistricting process criticized as final decision nears

Sacramento councilwoman, union leader bash remap panel's work

Published: Wednesday, Jul. 27, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
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A Sacramento city councilwoman and an influential labor union boss Tuesday night lobbed heavy criticism at a council-appointed advisory committee charged with recommending new boundaries for the city's eight council districts.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said "there is a taint" on the Redistricting Citizens Advisory Committee after it was revealed that one of the four maps the panel recommended for the council's consideration was submitted anonymously by a committee member.

A few minutes later, Bill Camp, the head of the Central Labor Council who served on the committee and was appointed by Sheedy, said the committee had been "conned" and "lied to," and that the anonymous map "poisoned" the process.

"There is no honesty in these plans," Camp said, frequently raising his voice during a two-minute address to the council. "It was a scam."

For his part, Steve Hansen said he offered to place his name on the map but was told by city staff that it wasn't necessary.

Hansen – appointed to the committee by Councilman Jay Schenirer – also charged that some council members had submitted maps "through proxies" and that many council members "are afraid of what redistricting brings."

Sheedy and Councilman Steve Cohn then submitted their own maps, both of which were received warmly by other council members. The City Council makes the final decision on the new boundaries, which are drawn every 10 years with the new census figures.

Mayor Kevin Johnson repeated his previous stance that the council should accept one of the maps submitted by the advisory committee.

Hansen criticized Sheedy's map for sharing several similarities with a map that Camp had submitted to the redistricting committee – a map that was rejected by a majority of the advisory panel. That proposal calls for, among other things, lumping the so-called Fab 40s neighborhood of east Sacramento with Tahoe Park and other neighborhoods on the southeast side of the city, and combining most of east Sacramento with South Natomas.

Cohn's map also would lead to significant changes to the current boundaries.

Most notably, Cohn's east Sacramento district would be combined with South Natomas and the planned downtown railyard development, but lose midtown.

Other changes in Cohn's proposal include combining Land Park, downtown and midtown into one district; uniting the Pocket and Greenhaven neighborhoods; and placing North Natomas into its own district.
The 15-member committee included some of the council's most trusted allies and many who operate in politically connected circles. Over the course of several weeks, the committee explored 37 maps submitted by community groups and individuals, eventually settling on four maps to recommend to the council.

Common themes emerged from those maps. Most, if not all, of the downtown/midtown grid was consolidated into a single district in the maps. But two of the maps also drew two council members into the same district, essentially shoving lawmakers out of office. Neither of those maps is likely to be accepted.

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