Some big changes are coming to Santa Clara County’s internal borders.
As part of a process that occurs every 10 years to adjust district boundaries following the census, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted a map that county progressives have championed and critics have called a gerrymandering reach. The vote was 3-2, with supervisors Susan Ellenberg, Cindy Chavez and Otto Lee in favor and Mike Wasserman and Joe Simitian against.
“This has been a challenging and also fascinating process,” Ellenberg said before voting for the the plan submitted by Chavez, dubbed the “90195.”
One big change the new map makes from the one adopted a decade ago is placing Sunnyvale, which was split between districts 3 and 5, entirely into District 3.
Another big change involves districts 1 and 5. The city of Los Gatos and San Jose’s Almaden Valley and Lexington Hills areas, which had been in District 1 along with South County communities like Gilroy, now will be part of District 5. And San Jose’s Evergreen neighborhood, which had been in District 3, moves to District 1.
Because the new districts are supposed to represent roughly the same number of residents, their boundaries get redrawn to account for areas that grew much faster or slower than others.
Districts in the new map deviate in population an average of 4.1%, compared to about 2% in the optional maps the supervisors also considered.
Wasserman, who tried to coax his colleagues into picking a map they rejected in previous meetings, said he didn’t like the one Chavez submitted because it would start the new decade with a larger population deviation rate among districts.
Advocates of the “90195” map were jubilant after the majority of supervisors adopted it.
“We’re really pleased,” said Richard Konda, executive director of the San Jose-based Asian Law Alliance, part of a coalition of progressive groups behind the plan. “We think this map really represents Santa Clara County going forward.”
Konda and others who pushed for the map argue that it will retain “communities of interest,” like the Latino population in District 2’s San Jose area and the Asian-American community in District 3’s Sunnyvale and Milpitas. Under the new map, 49.5% of District 2 will remain Latino and 50.6% of District 3 Asian American.
Critics contended the new map was gerrymandered to exclude two candidates from running in the upcoming District 1 race — former San Jose Councilmember Johnny Khamis and Los Gatos Vice Mayor Mayor Rob Rennie — because both now live outside that district. The two remaining candidates are progressives backed by Chavez and Ellenberg.
“It still doesn’t smell right,” said Swanee Edwards, a Morgan Hill resident and a member of the redistricting commission for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. “This is a political move in my eyes. Clear and simple. And I’m really disappointed.”
Edwards was one of two dozen county community members and public officials who backed a Sacramento law firm’s letter submitted to the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 3 that claims the maps proposed by the region’s progressives violated state and federal voting laws. Khamis says he is considering suing the county.
The new boundaries will take effect on Jan. 13, according to County Executive Jeff Smith.
Source: www.mercurynews.com