Written by William Hekman
San Diego County will be drawing new lines for the Board of Supervisors which will be done by an independent constituency committee. The drawing is in response to population changes in the county. A 14 member committee from San Diego County has held nine hearings and received hundreds of oral and written arguments and comments from residents, all with different perspectives and ideas.
Paradise Hills resident McPhilah Abdullah wants Southeastern San Diego to remain one district and voiced her reasoning to the commissioners, “Our community shares language, cultural practices, food, and common goals for our families, children, and members of the community. Given the diversity of our region, Spanish, Tagalon, Oromo and Somali are often spoken within my community to celebrate events and holidays together. We are immigrants, refugees, Or children of immigrants and refugees.” Mark O’Connor, a resident of Encinitas, stated his support for grouping coastal cities together and making them separate from inland communities, “If you live in a coastal community, you’ll find that many of the needs here are different from those in the inland community. I would like this committee to consider creating a district that runs up and down the north-south and west-east coasts.” Rebekkah Naputi spoke in favor of making North County into one district, “I strongly oppose the repartitioning of the North County Area. If separated, the North County Area can cause great concern and cause many problems for the entire community”.
The new lines will be drawn based on demographic changes in San Diego County, as according to the census bureau data. Boundaries must maintain a , “ ‘reasonably equal population’, comply with voting rights laws, are adjacent, geographically compact, and avoid divisions of cities, neighborhoods, and ‘communities of interest’”. According to the census, San Diego County saw a 6.6% increase in population from 2010 to 2020, with a recorded 203,301 new residents. None of the five county districts showed any decrease in population but some of the districts grew more than others. District 3, which is represented by Terra Lawson-Remer had the highest percent increase with 8.6%. The second highest was District 5 with 7.5% which is represented by Jim Desmond. The lowest growth came from District 4, represented by Nathan Fletcher with only 4.9% growth.
The Commision will present draft maps on October 14th, November 2nd, and December 2nd before making a final decision on December 15th.
Photo Cred: CBS 8
