Philip, thanks for bringing this discussion on redistricting here to the FAN forum. Let me try to condense some of your thoughts into a simple framework, e.g.:
FAN champions the needs of the citywide community and representation of the full diversity of neighborhood stakeholders - not just the vocal minority of incumbent homeowners that sometimes dominate neighborhood conversations. Accordingly, FAN calls for redistricting that enables neighbors belonging to the following groups to have fair and effective representation in city government:
- Historically marginalized ethnic groups, including Hispanics and African-Americans.
- Fast-growing Asian communities.
- Overlooked socioeconomic groups such as renters, residents of multi-family homes, and students.
FAN believes that drawing district boundaries to support better representation for these groups is far more important than blind consistency with self-defined neighborhood boundaries.
We could perhaps follow that high-level ask with some specific redistricting changes to consider.
Thoughts?
Roger