Leaders take stand against proposed redistricting
GONZALES >> In a show of unity uncommon in Monterey County, more than a dozen elected officials and business leaders stood up Thursday afternoon in protest of a planned redistricting map that officials say is simply odd at best and damaging to local representation at worst.
Mayors from most of the cities in the Salinas Valley as well as San Benito County and supervisors from both counties spoke of the anger and worry they feel around a proposed map
— called “visualizations” — by a state redistricting commission that would, among other things, carve Soledad away from its other neighbors in the valley into a separate congressional district and lump the rural, agricultural-based communities in the valley with the technologyheavy San Jose area.
There is a sense of urgency to the matter since the redistricting map needs to be submitted to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber by Dec. 27.
Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo, who represents a district that includes most of
Salinas, stood with other area leaders at the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce Thursday, and spoke of the lack of local representation on the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which is responsible for changing district maps, and especially of any Latino representation.
“It’s egregious and unjust,” he said.
A proposed redistricting of the 20th Congressional District, now served by Rep. Jimmy Panetta, would remove three Salinas Valley communities and stick them with a San Jose area district. The proposed maps
would move Gonzales, Greenfield and King City into Zoe Lofgren’s 19th Congressional District, but leave Soledad in Panetta’s 20th District.
Soledad Mayor Anna Velazquez said on Thursday that the move would have a “detrimental impact on our region’s economy,” and questioned the effect it could have on Latino interests in the Salinas Valley.
“We take great exception to these maps, especially the separation of Soledad from its neighbors,” Velazquez said.
Other leaders decried the fact
that the redistricting would break the continuity of the cities in the Salinas Valley.
“These maps go against our sense of community,” said Supervisor Chris Lopez, whose district encompasses all of southern Monterey County. “We belong in one
district that represents our agricultural economy and our communities of color.”
Also participating in the conference were Kim Stemler, the executive director at Monterey County Vintners & Growers Association; and Norm Groot, the executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau.
Mike LeBarre, the mayor of King City, said it was “unconscionable” to combine
Salinas Valley cities with San Jose.
“We call on the Silicon Valley billionaires to call the redistricting commission and do what they think is right,” he said. “Come Dec. 17 they could be standing around patting themselves on their backs while they screw us.”
Lofgren’s 19th District features rural areas in southern Santa Clara
County along with urban parts of San Jose with a technology economic base and a far more diverse demographic that includes a much higher concentration of Asian and Middle Eastern residents. The redistricting commission is considering making several Salinas Valley towns part of that same district.
A proposed letter to the redistricting commission
that supervisors are poised to approve Tuesday afternoon, clearly states that the current redistricting, called “visualizations,” makes no sense in terms of maintaining economic, historic and governmental representation, and shows a “clearly gerrymandered grab of the community of Soledad.”
“This line separates the communities of Soledad and Gonzales, who are so
closely knit that until relatively recently shared on high school district,” the proposed letter reads. “Tying the community of Soledad to the coastal district, without any way of getting there but to drive north or south on Highway 101, through communities encompassed on either side by the neighboring congressional district is unacceptable.”