Item 10 - Additional Material posted 12-08-21From:Nick Carruthers
To:John Mullin; Barry Leonard; Steve Vaus; Caylin Frank; Dave Grosch
Cc:City Clerk
Subject:FW: Redistricting
Date:Tuesday, December 7, 2021 3:32:50 PM
EXTERNAL EMAIL
All,
I have followed the discussions and presentations with respect to potential
redistricting within Poway and have a few comments in addition to my earlier e-mail
(below).
Following the November 16th meeting a report in the News Chieftain their reporter,
Angela Brandt, noted the following: : “Grosch said he received six emails regarding
redistricting, and all were form letters”. I am sure it my e-mail covers points that
others may have made due to the nature of the topic. However let me assure you
that it is all my own work!
During the November 16th meeting Bernie Guzman, (his name was spelled incorrectly
by the reporter as Gooseman) made known the concerns of my neighbors in the
Garden Road area, many of whom are in District 2 when the majority of the
neighborhood is in District 4. The situation in the Garden Road area is compounded
by the fact that adjacent properties can be in different districts. Thus, I believe it is
incumbent on the council to address the issue of the “contiguity of communities of
interest”. In the documentation provided by the City, page 4 items 1 through 4, it isnoted that stricter priority be given to this factor.
Unfortunately I cannot attend the meeting tonight but I request that you enter mycomments into the record.
Thank you for considering these points.
Nick Carruthers
From: Nick Carruthers <nicarruth@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, September 24, 2021 at 7:28 AM
To: "svaus@poway.org" <svaus@poway.org>, Barry Leonard <BLeonard@poway.org>, Dave
Grosch <dgrosch@poway.org>, <jmullin@poway.org>, Caylin Frank <CFrank@poway.org>
Subject: Redistricting
Dear Mayor and members of Council:
With the publication of the 2020 Census results it is now incumbent on state and local
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
governments to consider the redrawing of district boundaries in order to account for
recent changes in population.
In this respect the State of California seems remarkably prescient and has created
independent commissions for this task. Locally both the City of San Diego and the
County have adopted this approach. Consequently, I request that the City of Poway
embrace a similar procedure that will remove the potential for partisan solutions. In
fairness to the Council I believe, with some minor anomalies, the last redistricting
does not appear egregious. However there remains an opportunity to introduce a
non-partisan process that will eliminate the possibility for disputes and contentious
debate post hoc. Having such a process in place will become critical in the future as
the City will encounter more significant demographic change as the population
density increases along the western portion of Poway Road.
There are several approaches that can be considered:
Establish a non-partisan citizens commission comprised of Democrats,
Republicans and Independents
Retain consultants that are experienced with redistricting
Apply open-source algorithms that can detect and counter gerrymandering (see;
Roberts, MIT Technology Review, August 12th 2021:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/12/1031567/mathematicians-
algorithms-stop-gerrymandering/)
Whatever solution is used the qualified applicants or entities should not hold elected
office, be a candidate for elected office, a lobbyist, or retain a position within a political
party or a PAC.
Thank you for considering these comments.
Nick and Linda Carruthers
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