Morgan Hill – The meeting of 11 minds – Santa Clara County’s
Citizens Redistricting Commission – was in full swing Thursday
night for its first public hearing to work through tweaking the
county’s supervisorial districts. It’s a subject that’s addressed
once every 10 years when the Census results are released. The
historical reason for the Census is to ensure voting districts
throughout the U.S. are balanced with
”
one vote, one voice,
”
and Santa Clara County’s five districts is no exception.
Morgan Hill – The meeting of 11 minds – Santa Clara County’s Citizens Redistricting Commission – was in full swing Thursday night for its first public hearing to work through tweaking the county’s supervisorial districts. It’s a subject that’s addressed once every 10 years when the Census results are released. The historical reason for the Census is to ensure voting districts throughout the U.S. are balanced with “one vote, one voice,” and Santa Clara County’s five districts is no exception.
The commission looked at two proposed maps Thursday with the running theme: let’s move Sunnyvale into one district. The city’s elected officials have requested the commission do so, since the city of 140,000 people has been split for at least the last 10 years. How would it affect South County’s sprawling District 1?
In two ways possibly. The town west of Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, could move into District 1 keeping it with Los Gatos a similar town demographically. District 1 Supervisor Mike Wasserman resides in Los Gatos and formerly served as their mayor and councilman.
If Monte Sereno isn’t tacked onto District 1, a section of about 1,600 people in South San Jose near Cambrian Park would be added.
Either way, the commission recognized in front of fewer than 10 residents in the audience at the Community and Cultural Center that South County was likely going to be the leader in growth in the county over the next 10 years. Thus, District 1 could see its population for the next decade remain slightly smaller than other districts in the county based on that expectation – that in 2020 it would swell by more percentage points than San Jose proper and its surrounding cities. Keeping District 1 at the low end of the population count would hopefully restrain how dramatically the boundaries would have to move in 2020.
The next public meeting is scheduled for Thursday at the Sunnyvale Library, 665 West Olive Ave.
Wilson pointed at the map on the overhead large projector screen to where District 1 used to reach – dozens of miles north of where the lines are drawn now. It will continue to shrink geographically as the population increases.
The 12.9 percent increase in population in Morgan Hill – and 17 percent in Gilroy – is dictating the shift.
“We want to keep the communities of interest together and minimize the dissolution of votes or over-compacting of ethnic communities. You don’t want to fragment communities so their voices are swallowed up in the bigger majority,” said Wilson on April 1. Redrawing must be completed by Nov. 1 of a census year. The commission is looking at a May 19 deadline to recommend a map or a few maps to the county board of supervisors who will cast a vote no later than Sept. 30.
Supervisor Mike Wasserman, who was elected in November, likely won’t see much of a change to the district that encompasses Gilroy, San Martin, Morgan Hill, Los Gatos and neighborhoods in South San Jose and the Evergreen area, except for the possible Monte Sereno addition. The commission must make sure each of the five districts maintain the same number of residents – 356,000 – with a 5 percent cushion available above and below that standard. District 1 is the largest in geographic area and with the 2010 results has 354,681 residents, but the commission aims to bring is as near to 356,000 as possible. To do that, 1,647 need to be added, (1,781,642 live in the county up 5.9 percent since 2000).
Keeping the figure per district as near to 356,000 as possible will help come the 2020 Census, Wilson said, “so there’s room to expand and districts have a better chance of remaining intact.”
Greg Bazhaw from the Santa Clara County Planning Department is heading the technical side of the process and will be at meetings to create maps for the commission. With special software he is able to input changes and automatically generate variations of maps as quickly as the commission can devise them. Wilson said the commission will have some maps to show Thursday and encourages the public to bring their comments and concerns.
In District 1, the breakdown is: 45 percent White, non-Hispanic; 18.2 percent Asian; 2.3 percent Black; 0.3 percent American Indian or Alaska Native; 0.3 percent Islander; 0.2 some other race non-Hispanic; 3.2 percent two or more races; 30.1 percent Hispanic or Latino. District 1 has the third-largest White population and second largest Hispanic population in the county.
The census itself is conducted, according to Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, every 10 years for the purpose of “apportioning the United States House of Representatives.” The first was taken in 1790. California’s Voters First Act mandated the convening of a state Citizen’s Redistricting Commission to redraw the legislative boundaries for the state.
The county has actually been convening such a commission since 1991, Erickson said and was the first county in the state to do so, “in the interest of keeping it transparent.”
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All meetings are open to the public from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
– April 14: Sunnyvale Library, 665 West Olive Ave., Sunnyvale
– April 21: Mountain View City Hall, 500 Castro St., Mountain View
– May 5: County Government Center, 70 W. Hedding St., Lower Level Conference Room, San Jose
– May 19: County Government Center, 70 W. Hedding St., Board Chambers, San Jose
