It will be interesting to see how the Commission acts today. This is the very FIRST time that they )the Redistricting Commission) has had real public testimony about their plan. The redistricting commissions of the past have been used to doing this "by themselves" for the benefit of those "poor people" that don't know the process.
Thanks to Fred Marcus, the only Redistricting Commissioner that actually worked with the public - regardless of their party, we (the public) got the information to assist us in making informed decisions on ward boundaries that would reflect the census changes and benefit us as a people, not incumbments or political parties. If the Commission does not take the public seriously, particularly the DFL as a party, not as the individuals that are on the commission, they will have a lot of explaining to do to a city that is majority DFL, as many of the the folks that were testifying against the plan identify as DFLers. I know for a fact that one of the Minneapolis DFL Pary leadership is not only is furious over the make up of the Commission members (one person of color, and mostly men) but also supported the NAACP as technically amended. It will be very interesting to see what actually becomes the "official" Minneapolis Redistricting plan. It will also be interesting to see who challenges that plan and the future political fall out of those DFLers working on a tentative plan that not only violates the Voting Rights Act, but also is not supported by many of the people of color in Minneapolis. Matthea Little Smith Powderhorn Park As point of Clarification: It is not contradictory that the NAACP Plan as technically corrected, takes into account Natalie Johnson Lee and assures that she is in the 5th ward. Natalie is the only woman of color on the city council. It would not benefit people of color (when 40% of the city of Minneapolis is people of color) to redistrict her out of the ward. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________ 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
