I did not vote for the 4-1-02 draft redistricting plan, as I explained last evening at the Redistricting Commission meeting, because I observed some features in the last-minute submission of an NAACP plan that appeared at first glance to be superior to the 4-1-02 plan for which five votes had been secured in advance of last evening's meeting.
That these five votes were set in cement without any information about the NAACP plan is due in part to the awkward decision of the NAACP not to share their plan with the Commission until the very last minute, making it impossible for any Commissioner to have a meaningful and timely opinion about this plan - which Randall Cutting informs me has the same capacity to pass strict judicial scrutiny that characterizes Mr. Cutting's work, by the way, for anyone who has been following my interest in Mr. Cutting's craftmanship - in part to continuing disagreements among the Commissioners about specific choices beyond structural necessities like percent deviations and percent minority characteristics, and in part to the reactive nature of public commentary throughout the life of the municipal redistricting process to date. I strongly urge NAACP et al. to get their plan in print and online. I strongly urge individuals and groups to take direction from the folks in Cooper Neighborhood who emailed us, called us, and delivered a petition to us about their desire to have Cooper north of Lake St. attached to neighborhoods upstream from their location at river's edge. We got that message and that interest is incorporated in the 4-1-02 plan. I personally like the establishment of a "downtown ward" that links all of downtown to the core of the old Fifth Ward rather than the 4-1-02 proposal that further strengthens the collection of very prosperous areas in the old Seventh Ward. I like the stacking of new Wards Three, Four and Five in a way that creates minority percentages of 44.5% in the 3rd, 72.1% in the 4th, and 66.3% in the 5th. I like the pairing of Phillips and Powderhorn Park in a new 6th Ward with a 70.2% minority characteristic. I like the compactness of a new Tenth Ward that combines the bulk of Lyndale and all of Kingfield with the stack of Central, Bryant and Regina and all of Bancroft with a minority percent of 53.3%. These are NAACP proposals that create realistic opportunities for people of color. I like the collection of neighborhoods north of the Mississippi in a new Second Ward. I like the collection of neighborhoods south of the Mississippi in a new Ninth Ward. I like the compactness of a new Seventh Ward centered on Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun. I like the compactness of new Ward Twelve bracketed between new Wards Eleven and Thirteen. I like the assembly of tenant interests in the stack of Loring Park, Stevens Square-Loring Heights and Whittier in the new Eighth Ward. NAACP has rightly recognized several established communities of interest in these instances as also in new Ward One in the northeast corner of the city. I notice with approbation the very minimal disruption of NRP neighborhood boundaries in the NAACP plan: only Folwell, Willard-Hay, Lyndale and Howe neighborhoods are split between wards. I do not like a process that has produced an official draft product that is in my opinion far more protective of incumbent interest than any other consideration. I regret the tardy arrival of the NAACP plan and I hope Commissioners and public alike give it the careful scrutiny it clearly deserves. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, Redistricting Commissioner _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
