Re: [Mpls] Mpls and redistricting
Sorry for forgettin to sign off on the just prior message John Ferman Harriet Avenue Kingfield Neighborhood Minneapolis Ward 10 Pct 10 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Mpls and redistricting (w/ City Council addendum)
Terrell asks: Can you draw a district that is entirely within Hennepin County and have Minneapolis left over? Yes. According to the 2000 Census, Hennepin County has 1.116 million people, Minneapolis 382,000. The "non-central-city" Hennepin County population is 734,000 people - 120,000 more than needed for an optimal Congressional district. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 Numbers (and decorum) nerd ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Mpls and redistricting
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 ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Mpls and redistricting
I suspect the redistricting fight will end up in the courts, as happened in 1981 and 1991. A review of the court records will disclose what sort of guides the court would approve in redistricting. Guide No. 1 - natural geographic delineations - Minnesota has two: the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Guide No. 2 - first level governmental boundaries - these would be County and city of the first class boundaries. Guide No. 3 - lesser governmental boundaries - that is, towns (a suburb is a town) and townships. The operating rule is that a district boundary may not cross any of the guidelines without compelling reason. The later three words would, of course, define the court fights. One can get a head start of what the districts must resemble. We have 8 US House seats and the state has 4 geographic corners. Thus, starting from each corner one would append counties until the requisite 1/8th of the population is accounted for. The rules do not require an exact 1/8, however. It will be fun to watch the feather fly on this one. 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 ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls John Ferman Harriet Avenue Kingfield Neighborhood Minneapolis Ward
Re: [Mpls] Mpls and redistricting)
--- David Brauer [EMAIL PROTECTED] asks: 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. A few rambling comments: Here in Seward neighborhood, we traditionally have wanted to be split into two wards. The neighborhood is large enough that both council members have to pay attention to us (this is how Seward got the funding for the historic preservation of Milwaukee Avenue). There is a major perceived boundary between Minneapolis and St.Paul. For example, in the nonprofit world, if you want funding from a St. Paul funding source (corporation or foundation) you can NOT be located west of the Minneapolis/St. Paul boundary (just ask KFAI--even though they have a transmitter in St. Paul, their address/studio in Mpls and they were turned down for funding specifically for that reason). Also, there seems to be more of a sense of community between south Minneapolis and Richfield or Maplewood and East St. Paul then there is between SE and NE mpls and St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul. In addition to the "rules" about physical and political boundaries, I would propose another one. Change the boundaries as little as possible. People get very confused as to who represents them now. I would argue that part of this confusion is because of the significant boundary changes we have every 10 years for legislative and congressional districts. On the other side, in the 1950's (and maybe before), Minneapolis was split into two congressional districts. One south, including southern suburbs and one north, including northern suburbs. . sheldon mainsseward neighborhoodminneapolis [EMAIL PROTECTED] the shameless agitator in the electronic town square yes, i really am running for library board. check http://www.shamelessagitator.org for details. ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
