Redistricting - Greater Greater Washington

Election "rigging" won't pass

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:48:00 EDT

The Virginia Senate rejected the bill to allocate electoral votes by Congressional district, while the House speaker is likely to kill the surprise inauguration gerrymandering measure. Democrats cited it as a reason to oppose McDonnell's transportation plan (but hopefully far from the only reason). (Post)

Comment

Where's Bob? McDonnell MIA on Metro funding (Feb 16, 2011)
McDonnell trying again to take WMATA seat from NoVA (Mar 31, 2011)
Virginians: Don't forget to vote (Nov 3, 2009)
Virginia legislators say "raise the gas tax" (Jan 29, 2013)
Virginians: Ask your reps to oppose bad highway bills (Jan 20, 2011)

VA GOP tries a coup

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:26:00 EDT

by David Alpert

While one Virginia Senate Democrat and civil rights leader was at the inauguration, the Republicans rushed through a redistricting plan that will likely help them win one more seat this fall. (Examiner)

Comment

Where's Bob? McDonnell MIA on Metro funding (Feb 16, 2011)
Virginia tea party opposes less government regulation with anti-Smart Growth, "eco-extremist" hysteria (Feb 5, 2011)
McDonnell trying again to take WMATA seat from NoVA (Mar 31, 2011)
Council At-Large: this Democrat's voting for Mara (Oct 30, 2008)
GOPers blast the newest Dem star: How dare he pay for transportation! (Jun 12, 2009)

Endorsements for Maryland ballot questions

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:25:00 EDT

This election, Maryland voters face several ballot questions, ranging from civil rights to gambling. These are important issues which will have consequences for the quality of life far beyond Election Day.

Photo by aka_lusi on Flickr.

Greater Greater Washington recommends Maryland voters support questions 3 (removing elected officials), 4 (Dream Act), and 6 (same-sex marriage), and reject the legislature's redistricting plan by voting against question 5.

We did not consider questions 1 or 2, which would require judges serving on the Orphans' Court in Prince George's (question 1) and Baltimore County (question 2) to be members of the Maryland Bar in good standing. We are also not endorsing a position on question 7 (gambling expansion) because our contributors were divided on the issue.

Question 3 (removing elected officials): We recommend voting FOR Question 3.

This question will amend the Maryland Constitution to make it easier to remove elected officials from office once they've been convicted of or plead guilty to certain crimes.

Two recent cases involving officials have resulted in situations that hurt government and left some residents without representation. When Leslie Johnson was convicted on corruption charges in Prince George's, she refused to resign, and Maryland's laws only allowed her ouster upon sentencing. For several months, her council district in Prince George's was effectively without representation.

This change may not stop corruption. But it will make it easier to recover when an elected official does wrong.

Question 4 (Dream Act): We recommend voting FOR Question 4.

Education is a fundamental building block of our democracy. Allowing undocumented immigrants who were brought as children to the United States to attend state universities as residents will create more opportunities for these young people to join our society.

The Dream Act will allow those undocumented immigrants who grow up in Maryland to attend a state university at the in-state tuition rate if they get good grades in high school and spend 2 years in a community college. Opening up this opportunity for our neighbors will grow the Maryland economy and will open up new paths for immigrants who had no say in where they grew up.

Question 5 (redistricting): We recommend voting AGAINST Question 5.

Marylanders are being asked to approve or disapprove a Congressional redistricting proposal. The legislative maps drawn by the Maryland legislature are horribly gerrymandered. For proof, take a look at Maryland's 3rd District, which Comedy Central named the "ugliest congressional district in the nation."

Maryland's 3rd Congressional District. Map from the Maryland Department of Planning.

The authors of this map create what would likely be a new Democratic seat by drawing oddly-shaped districts to divide more conservative voters. This kind of gerrymandering is bad when Republicans do it, and it's bad when Democrats do it.

To make matters worse, it also splits minority groups, making it harder for them to participate effectively in the democratic process. It splits communities, so that members of a single community have multiple disparate representatives who also serve voters of very distant communities with very different needs.

Question 6 (same-sex marriage): We strongly urge you to support marriage for all families by voting FOR Question 6.

In the legislative session earlier this year, the General Assembly courageously passed a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry in the Free State. While we oppose the idea that civil rights should be subject to a popular vote, opponents of gay marriage gathered enough signatures to put this issue on the ballot.

Gay couples deserve the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts. Maryland's expansion of marriage equality will not affect religious institutions, because protections were specifically written into the bill. Equality will mean stronger homes and stronger families for the 17,000 same-sex couples living in the state.

A vote upholding the law will also send a message to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender teens in the state that they are full members of society, too. Their fellow citizens support them and their right to love whomever they want.

Maryland's LGBT families share the same values as the straight couples in the state. They deserve the same legal recognition of their relationships from the state as well.

Question 7 (gambling expansion): Our contributors split evenly on this issue, and therefore we are not endorsing any position.

Replenishing the education trust fund could provide Maryland with the money it needs to move ahead with projects the Purple Line. However, gambling has adverse social consequences, and would be unlikely to promote sustainable economic development in Prince George's County. Voters should weigh these and others factors themselves in deciding how to vote.

These are the official endorsements of Greater Greater Washington, written by one or more contributors. Active contributors and editors voted on endorsements, and any endorsement reflects a strong majority in favor of endorsing for or against each issue.

33 comments

Endorsements for Virginia local races and ballot questions (Oct 25, 2012)
Support marriage equality for all in Maryland (Mar 29, 2012)
For Maryland 6th Congressional district: Rob Garagiola (Mar 22, 2012)
Election day is here! Vote! (Apr 2, 2012)
Race to replace Johnson will come down to organization (Sep 20, 2011)

And...

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:21:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The new ANC boundaries are out. (via Ward3DC) ... Jack Evans wants libraries opened longer and seven days a week. (DCist) ... College Park extends and suspends rent stabilization to give more time to work out differences with opponents. (Patch)

Comment

ANC boundaries still not final, shift in secret (Feb 27, 2012)
Open DC's neighborhood libraries on Sundays (Dec 11, 2010)
Better parking for Logan Circle or bonanza for Kalorama? (Mar 7, 2012)
Redistricting wouldn't matter if wards weren't mini-empires (Jun 1, 2011)
Evans bill encourages entertainment in downtown DC (Dec 15, 2007)

And...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:25:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

As Metro celebrates its 36th birthday, the Post finds a story from its first. ... PETA jumps on Virginia's street naming program, suggests Spay Today Way. (Examiner) ... A petition seeks a referendum on Maryland's congressional districts. (Examiner)

Comment

Fenton Street Market moves to Veterans Plaza (Nov 17, 2010)
On the calendar: Walk, bike, park, and paddle (Sep 11, 2009)
Little changes presage big ones at City Place Mall (Mar 9, 2010)
Nov. elections would strengthen Falls Church's democracy (Oct 13, 2011)
Retailers are embracing urbanism with zeal (Jan 18, 2012)

It's One City, not eight cities

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:25:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Mayor Gray's "One City" slogan makes an important point beyond just a campaign slogan. DC is a single "city" (actually a unique state-city hybrid district), not 8 separate mini-cities with their own individual mayors.

Berlin Wall (today). Photo by Noud W. on Flickr.

We have enough problems with boundaries in this region. DC, Maryland, and Virginia often act without coordination or even at cross-purposes on issues that affect residents across borders. Individual counties and cities within Maryland or Virginia frequently do the same. DC doesn't need to create even more divisions.

Yet some DC councilmembers time and again act like mayors of their individual wards. They want to unilaterally control policies for their wards, from liquor licenses to parking. Some even try to exclude anyone outside their ward from participating in decisions surrounding development, as with the Florida Avenue Market in 2008 or Reservation 13/Hill East today.

During Zoning Commission hearings over development at the Florida Avenue Market in 2008, then-Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. opposed granting ANC 6C "party status," a special privilege for organizations in close proximity. The market is in Ward 5, but railroad tracks, New York Avenue, and Gallaudet University separate it from almost all Ward 5 residents, while many people live just across Florida Avenue to the south. It just happens that those people are in Ward 6.

Ward boundaries are artificial legislative districts. An individual congressperson might want to bring projects to his or her district back home, but he or she doesn't get to veto development projects in the district or it set parking policy. When state legislatures gerrymander their districts, people object because it might dilute or strengthen one group's vote, but rarely do protests happen because one block of residents feels passionately about being in the same congressional district as an adjacent block.

Living on the border of a town or even a state carries some challenges. Recently, Veronica Davis wrote about how a liquor license on the Prince George's County side of Eastern Avenue strongly affects residents in DC, but they have no say over regulatory decisions involving it.

There's no reason to go around creating more of these problems. Yet we do, which makes redistricting fights more forceful than they need to be.

Tommy Wells and Jack Evans had an argument over whether the line between Ward 2 or Ward 6 would be east or west of I-395. That's partly because an air rights development project is slated for the road. But it shouldn't matter, because the councilmember whose ward includes the project shouldn't get some special power to control that project.

Since parking zones also correspond to ward boundaries, with only a few small exceptions, residents in the Palisades vehemently objected to being switched from Ward 2 to Ward 3 during the 2001 redistricting. They didn't want to lose the right to park for free in Foggy Bottom, Shaw and other Ward 2 neighborhoods.

Mount Pleasant asked to redistrict a piece of Rock Creek Park, where nobody lives, from Ward 4 to Ward 1. Park Road passes through this area on its way from Mount Pleasant to Cleveland Park. DC would assign Ward 4 constituent service reps to handle complaints about the spot, even though the affected residents with the complaints would live in wards 1 or 3.

Following ward changes, ANC boundaries also change, and usually to line up with wards. People who felt they were part of the same neighborhood one day find they have to act like separate neighborhoods the next.

Luckily, that's not always the case. When part of Chevy Chase joined Ward 4 in 2001, ANC 3/4G bridged the divide and kept the neighborhood together in one ANC. Yet Yvette Alexander (Ward 7) refused to let Kingman Park be part of the same ANC as adjoining parts of H Street in Ward 6.

MPD has avoided the ward-centric trap: police district boundaries do not line up with wards. That's better for public safety, because MPD can make decisions about police resources around where there is crime rather than arbitrary legislative districts.

The worst and most recent "Eight City" thinking came last week at the community meeting on Reservation 13. Yvette Alexander started out the meeting by lecturing Ward 6 residents about how the land moved to Ward 7 in the latest redistricting, and that therefore Ward 7 "owns" the land.

Her leading challenger, Tom Brown, whom we have endorsed, demonstrated the same fallacy in a campaign speech on the Reservation 13 site (from well before this meeting). Brown talks about how Ward 7 is "getting the title" to the land, and that he will then listen to Ward 7 residents about what they want to do with that land.

Actually, Ward 7 doesn't "own" the land. The District of Columbia does. Decisions about the land get made by the Mayor, who represents all voters, and by the council, which has 8 ward members and 5 at-large members including its chairman.

The Ward 7 member should indeed listen "first and foremost" to residents of Ward 7, but shouldn't have the final say, or even primary say, over what happens on a particular parcel of land. The District should, and all nearby residents, and the entire council, voting together. But if the Ward 7 member is only listening to Ward 7 residents, then the Ward 4 member should only listen to Ward 4 residents, and so on.

With the 395 project, for example, in what would is it logical to say that since the project remained in Ward 6, only Councilmember Wells and residents east of 2nd Street, NW should now have any input into the project, but if the line had put it in Ward 2, those residents ought to have no say whatever and only residents west of 3rd Street NW have the right to weigh in?

The District has a small voice in a big region and no voting representation in Congress. We don't need government processes and legislators who try to deepen divisions and boundaries between neighborhoods. We need people who will work together, prioritizing the needs of their own local residents but trying to unite rather than divide, to better create One City.

48 comments

Redistricting wouldn't matter if wards weren't mini-empires (Jun 1, 2011)
Thomas plan would split McMillan from affected residents (Nov 1, 2011)
ANC boundaries still not final, shift in secret (Feb 27, 2012)
Redistricting Game results, part 2: Where people want to live (Apr 19, 2011)
Ward 2 now too large, wards 7 and 8 too small (Mar 24, 2011)

ANC boundaries still not final, shift in secret

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:16:00 EDT

by Geoff Hatchard

The DC Council was supposed to codify the new Advisory Neighborhood Commission and Single Member District boundaries right after the first of the year. We are days away from March, and the council has not adopted these changes. Meanwhile, the boundaries continue shifting based on discussions behind closed doors.

Some changes to Ward 5 SMDs. See below for full version.

In Ward 5, for example, 3 blocks have shifted from one SMD to another, and the only apparent reason is that it keeps a local political family together.

That change tossed one block out of SMDs with its own neighborhood and forced it into an SMD with a separate neighborhood across a major road.

We discussed the redistricting process in Ward 5 at length in a series of posts at the end of 2011.

At the end of a public hearing on November 29, 2011, at the end of that hearing, Councilmember Jack Evans, co-chair of the council's subcommittee on redistricting, stated that he and his co-chairs, Michael Brown and Phil Mendelson, "will now sit down, take stock of where we are, and then move forward in anticipation of finishing this all up in a timely fashion by the end of the year."

Michael Brown added that the record would remain open until December 9, 2011, to allow for further comments from the public. They would mark up a bill (PDF) codifying the boundaries during the week of December 12, take a first vote on December 20, and the second and final vote "sometime in January."

Brown noted that ward boundaries had to be set by the end of the year, but the ANC and SMD boundaries did not have to be finalized until "the first part of the year."

But January has come and gone with no action. Months have passed, and these boundaries continue to change.

Ward 5 boundaries keep shifting

For Ward 5, we proposed a rational map in lieu of the flawed map from the office of former councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. Shortly after the November hearing, our map was, for the most part, adopted.

In early February, the Office of Planning posted updated maps on a Google page which lists version numbers for each posted document. Strangely, instead of listing a new version number for the maps of wards 3, 5, and 6, the page still labels each one v.1, even though the time stamp is February 9 for these 3 wards, and December 16 for the others.

The earlier versions of these maps are no longer available to the public, though a copy of the Ward 5 map from December 16 is still available via this Greater Greater Washington post.

Image by the author from DC Office of Planning base layer.

The maps above shows the changes to Ward 5 boundaries in red. 3 blocks in the Carver-Langston and Trinidad neighborhoods, as well as one in Brentwood, have been shifted into different SMDs. One of these shifts appears to have been made to ensure that a local political family remains in one SMD.

Kathy Henderson, currently a candidate for the Ward 5 council seat and a former ANC commissioner, lives on the south side of L Street NE, while her daughter, India Henderson, lives across the street and is the current commissioner. The SMD boundary proposed on December 16 would have put them in separate SMDs, but the line has been shifted one block north to Lang Place NE. This necessitated shifting 2 other nearby blocks to keep the size of any Carver-Langston SMDs from falling below 1900 residents.

What is curious is that India Henderson lists her residence with the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions at 1807 L Street NE, Kathy Henderson's house, while she is registered to vote at 1812 L Street NE, a house India Henderson herself owns.

Which SMDs the Hendersons are or are not located in is of little concern to me personally, but this move also took a block of Trinidad out of one of the 3 SMDs for the neighborhood. The homes on the east side of the 1200 block of 16th Street NE are now separated from the rest of a compact, cohesive neighborhood, instead to be represented along with a different neighborhood on the other side of a major arterial road, Bladensburg Road.

It would be interesting to hear from the councilmembers on the redistricting subcommittee both why they haven't moved the bill for so long and why they deemed these changes necessary. Is it over something as silly as placating a local politico, or is there a solid, defensible reason for undoing prior work to make logical sense of the boundaries at the neighborhood level? Why has this process festered for so long without reaching its ultimate conclusion, and how much longer will we wait?

8 comments

Thomas adopts fair community proposal for ANC map (Dec 16, 2011)
How should DC redraw ANC boundaries? (Mar 22, 2011)
Ward 5 task force chooses more ANCs (Oct 7, 2011)
Redistricting wouldn't matter if wards weren't mini-empires (Jun 1, 2011)
Ward 5 redistricting plan hurts voters and neighborhoods (Oct 31, 2011)

Thomas adopts fair community proposal for ANC map

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:35:00 EDT

by Geoff Hatchard

DC Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. and his colleagues have replaced the controversial and potentially illegal proposals for ANC redistricting in Ward 5 with a map almost identical to the one we proposed last month.

Left: Map to be voted on by the Council. Right: The map we posted.

Thomas' office released this map, prepared by the Office of Planning, yesterday in an email. The council will vote on ANC and SMD redistricting December 20.

There are only minor changes from the map we proposed. The ANC and SMD designations come from the Office of Planning map.

Catholic University has moved from ANC 5B to ANC 5A.
A census block with a population of 19 has been shifted from 5C04 (which includes the Arboretum) to 5D03 (the northwestern part of Carver Langston).
Two SMDs in Bloomingdale have a population shift of 53. The houses on the eastern edge of Crispus Attucks Park, which is north of the unit block of U Street NW had been included with the census block south of the unit block of U Street NW. Those houses have now been added to the rest of the block bounded by U, V, First, and North Capitol Streets NW.
The Washington Gateway project, at the corner of Florida and New York Avenues, has been moved from Eckington's 5E03 to 5D01, which includes the Florida Avenue Market, Gallaudet University, and Ivy City.

Thanks are due to Councilmembers Harry Thomas, Jr., Michael A. Brown, Jack Evans, Phil Mendelson, and their staffs for working diligently on the redistricting process in our ward and others around the city.

The Office of Planning's Associate Director and Chief Information Officer, Charlie Richman, and his staff deserve credit for producing easy-to-read maps that allow DC residents to make sense out of the legalese that the Council will be voting on.

If you support these changes, I'd encourage you to send a note to the councilmembers letting them know you approve of this map. Their emails are available on the DC Council website.

9 comments

Thomas plan would split McMillan from affected residents (Nov 1, 2011)
Ward 5 task force chooses more ANCs (Oct 7, 2011)
Better Ward 5 ANC plan puts residents, neighborhoods first (Nov 2, 2011)
Ward 5 redistricting plan hurts voters and neighborhoods (Oct 31, 2011)
How should DC redraw ANC boundaries? (Mar 22, 2011)

Better Ward 5 ANC plan puts residents, neighborhoods first

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:35:00 EDT

by Geovani Bonilla, Tim Clark, James Fournier, Geoff Hatchard, and John Salatti

Rather than being forced to accept a plan for 10 years that violates good redistricting practices, residents of Ward 5 can choose a redistricting proposal that puts neighborhoods first and treats voters fairly.

Click to enlarge.

We are proposing this plan so it can be vetted by a wider audience, which wasn't possible with the other 2 plans, and because we believe this plan adheres to the expectations set down regarding redistricting, unlike those from the task force's executive committee or Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.

This proposal consists of 5 ANCs, 2 more than the ward has currently, and one fewer than in the previous two plans. Here are this neighborhood-centered proposal's strengths:

It connects neighborhoods with strong common interests. The revised plan creates ANCs by grouping SMDs that share common characteristics and issues. Instead of the "long" ANC stretching from central DC to Maryland, one of the revised ANCs encompasses the southwest corner of Ward 5 and combines Truxton Circle, Stronghold, Hanover, Edgewood, Eckington, and Bloomingdale. These neighborhoods are physically close to one another, have similar populations, have similar housing stock, share similar issues and concerns, and often collaborate on projects and activities.

It equalizes voter strength. In this proposal, the disparity between the largest SMD (2,214) and the smallest (1,850) is about 360 people, not the 850-person disparity in the executive committee's plan.

These figures are reasonable when compared to the goal of "approximately 2,000" people per SMD. They are justifiable because they allow the neighborhoods that they are in to remain intact. For example, the large Trinidad district could be made smaller, but would slice off an edge of Trinidad and connect it to a district made up of the Langston and Carver Terrace neighborhoods.

It promotes cohesiveness. The revised map brings much of Woodridge back together into a single ANC. All Bloomingdale districts are in the same ANC (including McMillan). The revised ANCs maintain the social and historical integrity of the Trinidad and Carver-Langston neighborhoods.

It respects boundaries and barriers. The revised ANC in the southwest of the ward uses the Ward 1 line and the CSX railroad right of way as natural north-south boundaries. The ANC in the southeast corner of the Ward uses the huge Arboretum for a natural boundary.

It doesn't connect dissimilar neighborhoods. Instead of combining widely dissimilar communities, all of the Truxton Circle, Stronghold, Hanover-Bates, Edgewood, Eckington, and Bloomingdale neighborhoods are in the same ANC. The integrity of Trinidad and Carver-Langston is maintained. These neighborhoods have real overlapping interests and populations.

The residents of Ward 5 have a choice for our political, economic, and communal/societal futures. We can allow ourselves to be redistricted in a way that disrespects and divides us, or we can choose an approach that chooses people and neighborhoods as well as respecting the integrity of the numbers.

If you believe in the latter, then let Task Force Chair Ayawna Webster and Councilmember Harry Thomas know that you want them to support the neighborhood-centered proposal we describe here. We're not proposing this plan to be divisive or confrontational. Rather, we believe that the members of the community that were part of the task force didn't have all the tools (especially maps) available to them throughout the entire process that they should have, and we hope this helps rectify that problem.

If you're a Ward 5 resident, let the chair and councilmember hear your voice. Contact Mrs. Webster at 202-724-8028 or awebster@dccouncil.us, and Councilmember Thomas at 202-439-5103 or hthomas@dccouncil.us.

23 comments

Ward 5 redistricting plan hurts voters and neighborhoods (Oct 31, 2011)
Ward 5 task force chooses more ANCs (Oct 7, 2011)
Thomas plan would split McMillan from affected residents (Nov 1, 2011)
Ward 5 needs more, smaller ANC's (Aug 23, 2011)
Unreasonable Georgetown ANC redistricting plan moves ahead despite compromise proposal (Sep 13, 2011)

Thomas plan would split McMillan from affected residents

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:55:00 EDT

by Geovani Bonilla, Tim Clark, James Fournier, Geoff Hatchard, and John Salatti

While the Ward 5 Redistricting Task Force executive committee's plan dilutes the voices of many voters and splits communities, one from Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.'s office has major problems of its own.

Photo by hmaon on Flickr.

Thomas's plan would separate residents near the McMillan Sand Filtration Site from involvement in decisions around development at that site. It would also create single-member districts (SMDs) with population numbers wildly off the 2,000-person target set by the Home Rule Charter.

As Thomas noted in an interview, development of the McMillan site has been in the works for years, and it has generated interest and controversy within surrounding neighborhoods ever since. This plan offers a very clear picture for why redistricting is very important to the average person: ANC boundary choices affect how much residents can participate in the development process.

Thomas' plan. Click to enlarge.

DC's Home Rule Charter states that each SMD should contain approximately 2,000 people, recognizing that it's impossible to reach that number exactly. This plan has so many SMDs that aren't even close. Thomas' plan appears to reduce the SMD containing McMillan to about 30% below standard.

It's impossible to precisely quantify that population would be, because its lines split up a block, and the Census doesn't report population in more detail than an individual block. Therefore, potentially as few as 1,399 (and as many as over 2,200) live in the critical SMD where this development is proposed.

It also carves McMillan away from the rest of Bloomingdale (its home neighborhood), Eckington, Truxton Circle, and Hanover-Bates. This will dilute the ability of these residents to make their voices heard regarding the largest development project in their immediate area.

Perhaps it is a coincidence, but the clearest and most defined opposition to the proposed McMillan development has coalesced in these neighborhoods, which the latest Thomas plan now puts in a separate ANC.

The latest Thomas plan moves the McMillan Sand Filtration Site into an ANC consisting in large part of the Armed Forces Retirement Home and the Catholic University of America. That is, McMillan will be in an ANC that is less-densely populated, with much of its population in essentially gated, private communities that lie relatively far geographically from the McMillan site and that will likely have less concern for the direct effects of what happens at McMillan.

Single member district size is another critical shortcoming in this plan. There are 38 SMDs in the plan, and more than half of them (20) have populations more than 10% above or below the ideal size of 2,000 people. The largest, in Carver Langston, is nearly 40% larger, with a population of 2,796. Meanwhile, the smallest, containing the Armed Forces Retirement Home, has a population nearly 55% smaller (917 people). These numbers make it impossible for an individual's vote to carry equal weight in the political process as every other vote in the ward.

Both Thomas' and the task force's plans fail to link communities with common goals and interests and distort voter power. Tomorrow, we'll present a neighborhood-centered alternative.

Meanwhile, if you want to weigh in on redistricting, the Bloomingdale Civic Association is holding a meeting on the issue tonight, November 1, 7:00 pm at St. George's Episcopal Church, 2nd & U Streets NW.

Charlie Richman of the Office of Planning sent us a clarification:

We think it's important for your readers to understand that redistricting plans aren't considered by the DC Office of Planning at all. That is for Council to do. Our role in this is purely technical. We review proposed legislative language provided by the Task Forces (or Council) and verify that the lines on the maps we use reflect that language accurately. Often we discover that this can't be done because the language isn't clear or consistent, and we work with the authors of that language to help make it clear and consistent. Once the lines are drawn, we report to Council on how many residents would be included in each proposed SMD and ANC. Ultimately final SMD and ANC boundaries are the Council's decision. OP's role is to provide technical support to Council in arriving at whatever decisions they deem best.

14 comments

Ward 5 redistricting plan hurts voters and neighborhoods (Oct 31, 2011)
Ward 5 task force chooses more ANCs (Oct 7, 2011)
Better Ward 5 ANC plan puts residents, neighborhoods first (Nov 2, 2011)
Georgetown ANC redistricting plan marginalizes students (Aug 18, 2011)
Ward 5 needs more, smaller ANC's (Aug 23, 2011)

Ward 5 redistricting plan hurts voters and neighborhoods

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:31:00 EDT

by Geovani Bonilla, Tim Clark, James Fournier, Geoff Hatchard, and John Salatti

On October 6th, the Ward 5 Redistricting Task Force approved an Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) redistricting plan (despite having limited information about the details) that splits apart communities and distorts voter power.

Plan approved by the task force.

Since then, and without the approval of the Task Force, Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.'s office released another plan in an email response to a constituent's questions.

The DC Council should reject both plans. Instead, they should adopt a more neighborhood-centered plan, such as one we will propose in part 3 of this series.

Any redistricting effort should build from two bedrock principles:

1. Equalize voter strength. Ensure that an individual's vote carries as much weight in the political process as every other vote. The District Home Rule Charter states that each SMD should contain "approximately 2,000" people.

"Approximately" recognizes that 2,000 people is an ideal that may be difficult to reach exactly, and that numbers are not the only criteria that a redistricting plan should consider.

2. Bring related neighborhoods together. Create political subdivisions (ANCs and SMDs) that strengthen neighborhoods and bring together neighbors with related issues. Do this by promoting neighborhood cohesiveness, respecting natural boundaries and barriers, grouping neighborhoods that have common concerns and would be able to communicate easily with one another, etc.

The task force empowered its executive committee to "create ANCs that maintain neighborhood cohesiveness, respect natural boundaries and barriers, and combine neighborhoods that have common characteristics and interests." Yet the plan presented on October 6th (and the subsequent revision) violates the basic goals of redistricting and the task force's criteria.

It connects disconnected neighborhoods. The plan from the executive committee ignored the principle that ANCs should span areas which share common characteristics and issues. One proposed ANC is over 3.3 miles long, stretching from New Jersey Avenue, NW to the Maryland border.

The neighborhoods at either end of this proposed commission—Woodridge and Hanover-Bates—are as different a pair of neighborhoods as you could put together in Ward 5. Woodridge consists of detached, single family homes with more in common with their Mt. Rainier, Maryland, neighbors than with the dense, row house, central-city neighborhood of Hanover-Bates.

It disconnects connected neighborhoods. The plan separates communities with clear commonalities and concerns. If passed, Truxton Circle, Edgewood, Stronghold, Bloomingdale, Eckington, and Hanover-Bates, neighborhoods that frequently collaborate, would be forced into separate ANCs.

It undermines neighborhood integrity. The plan does not respect neighborhood cohesiveness. It splits Bloomingdale, Carver-Langston, and Woodridge between two ANCs. Such splitting undermines neighborhood unity and efficient governance.

The revision of the plan maintains some of these splits. Bloomingdale is still divided between two ANCs, and Bloomingdale's McMillan Sand Filtration Site is shifted to an ANC that does not include the rest of Bloomingdale and other neighborhoods that the proposed development will most significantly affect.

It distorts voter power. The executive committee's plan dilutes voting strength by increasing the difference from the smallest to the largest Ward 5 SMD to about 850 people.

One of the more egregious changes was in Bloomingdale. 2 districts with nearly equal populations became 3 with populations of 2,061, 2,039, and 1,399. A change was necessary because the population grew, but while the first two districts are roughly proportional, the third is significantly smaller and about 33% short of the 2,000 resident target.

As indefensible as these numbers are, what is even more stunning is that the latest Thomas plan expands those disparities further. Its SMD populations range from approximately 900 to nearly 2,800. Because this plan can neither be reconciled with the law nor justified by any circumstances on the ground, the Office of Planning will have to reject it as not worthy of serious consideration.

It ignores natural boundaries and barriers. In the long, thin ANC (colored green on the map), a huge no-man's land separates the 4 districts in the western end from the 4 in the east: the CSX/Metro train tracks, the Brentwood rail yard, and the commercial area near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station. Residents on one side of these barriers live very far from those on the other.

A similar problem exists in the proposed ANC is southeast Ward 5 (colored red on the map). There, the eastern half of the Carver-Langston neighborhood would share an ANC with neighborhoods like Fort Lincoln and Arboretum, ½ to 2 miles away and separated from by railroad tracks, a freeway, and the grounds of the National Arboretum.

For all these reasons, the executive committee's plan is fatally flawed. But the plan from Councilmember Thomas is even worse. Tomorrow, we'll look at that.

11 comments

Better Ward 5 ANC plan puts residents, neighborhoods first (Nov 2, 2011)
Thomas plan would split McMillan from affected residents (Nov 1, 2011)
Ward 5 task force chooses more ANCs (Oct 7, 2011)
Ward 5 needs more, smaller ANC's (Aug 23, 2011)
Georgetown ANC redistricting plan marginalizes students (Aug 18, 2011)

And...

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:12:00 EDT

by Eric Fidler

DC's green roofs are good for the environment and recreation. (Miami Herald) ... MD's House approved the governor's gerrymander. (Post) ... Moving from a poor to a middle-class neighborhood reduces your chance of obesity. (Science Now)

Comment

3 questions with Md. delegate candidate Dana Beyer (Jul 9, 2010)
GGW discusses: Displacement versus gentrification (Feb 17, 2011)
Then and Now: The Times-Herald building (Jul 22, 2010)
Cities are more than just poverty (Dec 19, 2007)
3 questions with Md. delegate candidate Scott Goldberg (May 27, 2010)

Emergency arises on redistricting bill

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:09:00 EDT

by David Alpert

A DC Council bill to implement redistricting had a few flaws, which eagle-eyed cartographer Geoff Hatchard detected. 2 areas were inadvertently placed in 2 wards. (Post)

Comment

MD redistricting advances

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:45:00 EDT

by John Muller

Maryland's gerrymandered redistricting plan passed the state Senate over objections by Rep. Donna Edwards (D), good government, and community groups. Its fate could be decided in court. Governor O'Malley tries to focus on his proposal to raise the state gas tax instead. (Post)

Comment

Unreasonable Georgetown ANC redistricting plan moves ahead despite compromise proposal (Sep 13, 2011)
Georgetown ANC redistricting plan marginalizes students (Aug 18, 2011)
Now you, too, can redraw DC's wards (Mar 25, 2011)
ANC 3D redistricting gerrymanders students and residents (Sep 20, 2011)
Redistricting Game results, part 3: How much change? (Apr 20, 2011)

And...

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:45:00 EDT

by Eric Fidler

Gov. O'Malley will likely scale back his gerrymandered redistricting proposal. (Washington Times) ... Metro's website became Korean temporarily. (Examiner) ... A bus passenger is accused of stabbing a Metrobus driver. (Examiner)

Comment

Now you, too, can redraw DC's wards (Mar 25, 2011)
Maryland comes through for transit (May 6, 2010)
Prince George's residents speak out against bus cuts (Mar 31, 2010)
WMATA proposes restructuring Greenbelt bus service (Apr 6, 2010)
Greenbelt advocates educate bus riders on changes (Dec 16, 2010)

Liberal professor opposes pro-Democrat gerrymandering

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:12:00 EDT

by Eric Fidler

A St. Mary's College professor argues that though the proposed gerrymandering in Maryland would further his political beliefs, the ends don't justify the means. (FreeStater Blog)

Comment

Ward 5 task force chooses more ANCs

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:18:00 EDT

by Geoff Hatchard

Last night, the Ward 5 Redistricting Task Force met for the last time and voted to change the makeup of the ward's ANCs from one with 3 large ANCs of 12 commissioners each, to one with 6 smaller ANCs with 5-8 commissioners in each.

Click to enlarge.

The task force met for the first time in early August. I was a member. From the beginning, we were informed that we would be approaching redistricting with a fresh slate. There would be no reference to existing commission lines, and the process would be data-driven.

Task force members were split into six teams, which were assigned different geographical parts of the ward. The team I was on was given the area stretching from Fort Lincoln south through the Arboretum to Carver Langston. Our job was to add up census blocks to create proto-single member districts (SMDs) of approximately 2,000 people, with a margin of error of 5% either way (1,900 to 2,100 people).

These proto-SMDs (of which there were 40) were then turned in to the chair of the task force, who, with members of the executive committee, put the six teams' findings together into one large map. We analyzed this at a meeting last month, and the task force voted to give the executive committee the responsibility to come back to the task force with three options: maps with three, four, and five ANCs.

These options were presented to the task force last night. Significant changes had been made since the 40 proto-SMDs had been turned in to the commission chair. We were notified that there were errors in the data and that lines had to be redrawn for accuracy's sake. This meant that there would be 38, not 40, SMDs in Ward 5. Many of these new lines were drawn to closely follow the current SMD boundaries.

The three options are below. Click on each to see a larger and interactive version including the populations of each individual proposed SMD.

Option 1 had 5 ANCs. 3 task force members voted for this option.

Option 2 had 6 ANCs. 10 task force members voted for this option.

Option 3 had 3 ANCs. 3 task force members voted for this option.

As you can see, there are errors in the way the SMDs were described verbally, which led to areas of both overlap and gaps that were not included in any SMD. These include the area along the railroad tracks between the neighborhoods of Gateway and Langdon, the Park Place and Cloisters apartments and condominiums at the northeast corner of Michigan Avenue and North Capitol Street, the Washington Hospital Center campus, two blocks just south of Catholic University's campus, a couple blocks on the eastern edge of Trinidad, a block on the western edge of Carver-Langston, the Brentwood Rail Yard, and the entire eastern edge of the ward from the proposed Dakota Crossing development in Fort Lincoln to the Langston Golf Course along the Anacostia River.

It was difficult, if not impossible, to note these problems during the meeting, due to the fact that there was only one hastily drawn map at the front of the room that was difficult to read. Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.'s office and the Office of Planning will have to collaborate to make fixes to these problems before the language can be submitted for a vote before the DC Council.

It's worth noting that 3 SMDs, as drawn here, fall significantly below the minimum recommended threshold for population size. The 2 SMDs in Fort Lincoln have populations of 1,265 and 1,467. The SMD that encompasses the neighborhood of Stronghold and the northernmost block of Bloomingdale (as well as the McMillan Sand Filtration site) has a population of 1,399. Perhaps it was the intent of the executive committee to include Park Place and the Cloisters in this SMD, but that wasn't evident from the proposed legal language.

When asked why these three SMDs had such low populations, the chair informed us that the population limits were guidelines, not strict rules, and they had received guidance from the Office of Planning that precedent existed to allow this deviation.

16 comments

Ward 5 needs more, smaller ANC's (Aug 23, 2011)
How should DC redraw ANC boundaries? (Mar 22, 2011)
Politics are local. With ANCs, very local. (Oct 19, 2010)
Georgetown ANC redistricting plan marginalizes students (Aug 18, 2011)
Unreasonable Georgetown ANC redistricting plan moves ahead despite compromise proposal (Sep 13, 2011)

MoCo politicos resents gerrymandering

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:16:00 EDT

by Eric Fidler

Council Pres. Valerie Ervin accuses fellow Maryland Democrats of gerrymandering Congressional districts. The proposal, she says, marginalizes black voters, who "were taken for granted once again." (Examiner)

Comment

Don't segregate Montgomery voters into urban and rural (Sep 1, 2011)
MoCoCo picks developer over transit-oriented activist (Jun 26, 2008)
Montgomery councilmembers: Get moving on bus priority (Apr 22, 2011)
ACT produces District 4 scorecard (Apr 15, 2009)
MoCoCo agrees with Planning Board on Road Code (Oct 7, 2008)

Maryland Republicans may lose seats

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:49:00 EDT

by Eric Fidler

What do Rockville and western Maryland have in common? They may have the same member of congress if Maryland approve's Gov. O'Malley's gerrymandering plan for redistricting. (Post)

Comment

Now you, too, can redraw DC's wards (Mar 25, 2011)
Maryland creates "Clean Energy Center" in auto-dependent location (Apr 2, 2009)
Maryland keeps transitway in King Farm (May 19, 2011)
Don't segregate Montgomery voters into urban and rural (Sep 1, 2011)
Arlington formally offers Fair Share for Metro; Maryland delinquency continues (Apr 26, 2010)