Hi David:
I wonder how many City of Minneapolis Republicans favor a Minneapolis and
St Paul district. This will dilute Urban interests in our congressional
delegation in favor of suburban interests. So I agree with you on this one.
Did folks see the Minneapolis Mayor speaking in favor of the University of
Minnesota last night at a committee hearing on the subject. It was nice to
see Sayles Belton, Arne Carlson, and Norm Coleman on the same page on
something.
Eva
Eva Young
Central Neighborhood
Minneapolis
David Brauer writes:
The big story yesterday was the Census, with the small but novel population
increases for St. Paul and Minneapolis, mostly from immigration and minority
population gains.
A secondary city story is the one I want to talk about: what will happen to
Minneapolis in Congressional redistricting? Will Minneapolis remain the
heart of a Congressional District, or it be combined with St. Paul into one
"city" district.
To stir the pot, let me make the case contrary to Minneapolis's interests --
for combination. The two Cities only merit one district. If raw numbers are
any indication, 45 percent of Minnesotans now live in the 'burbs. Roughly
13.6 percent of the state's population lives in the two central cities
(670,000 of 4.9 million, nearly a perfect one-eighth or one of 8
Congressional districts). Just by math, the two cities should have one
district, the suburbs four, and outstate 3.
Now, I'm not saying I agree with this. A small but significant problem is
that because the two central cities grew, we have 56,000 more people than
the optimal size of a district - 614,000 - meaning some part of one of the
cities needs to be lopped off. (Thanks, immigrants, for moving here and
making it tough to combine Minneapolis and St. Paul. You have thrown a
good-sized boulder in the "tight communities of interest model" that
Republicans are touting for a Twin Cities district.)
As a DFLer, I also don't really want to change things. It's cool having
three safe Democratic districts (Minneapolis's 5th, St. Paul's 4th, and NW's
8th) in what has become a competitive state. But that's not really fair, is
it? Of course, I don't want to sell Republican conniving short: they clearly
want to cram as many DFLers and minorities in one district to create their
own safe havens.
But if the Republicans are going to argue Minneapolis and St. Paul should be
together, maybe we should force them into their own tight box with
"communities of interest" that hop the river.
For example, in those new suburban districts: does St. Louis Park have that
much in common with Eden Prairie? Don't think so. If we city folk have to
swallow a Minneapolis-St. Paul district, let's create one or two "inner-ring
districts" - maybe stretching from Richfield to St. Louis Park to Brooklyn
Center around to Inver Grove Heights - all older 'burbs with aging
populations and infrastructure. You could then create a farther-out
"beltway" of McMansion 'burbs like Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Woodbury that
would reflect that step-up in class and noveau riche. Would Republicans be
willing to accept the same cramming-together of safe Republican turf - even
safer than Jim Ramstad's current 3rd district - as the price to get a
Minneapolis-St. Paul district?
If you go with the city district and then ever-widening "beltway" districts,
the DFL would dominate the city district and probably win the inner-ring
district. Depending upon where you draw the belts, at least one of the two
"second-tier" districts would be competitive, and the outer tier would of
course be GOP. God only knows what the three Greater Minnesota districts
would be - I'll leave that to the statewide list.
I don't want to get too far off on the state stuff - I bring up the city +
"class beltway" idea as the price of smooshing my fair city with St. Paul.
Counterintuitive to my specific interests, probably - but at least an
intellectually honest plan? You tell me.
I also realize a compelling case can be made that inner-ring 'burbs next to
the two cities are more alike, so modifying the current design makes the
most sense. But I'll let others make that case.
David Brauer
Kingfield - Ward 10
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