R-20 Correspondence – Dave Shukla
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Shukla [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 8, 2022 4:56 PM
To: CityClerk <[email protected]>
Cc: Council District 1 <[email protected]>; Council District 2 <[email protected]>; Council District 3 <[email protected]>; Council District 4 <[email protected]>; Council District 5 <[email protected]>; Council District 6 <[email protected]>; Council District 7 <[email protected]>; Council District 8 <[email protected]>; Council District 9 <[email protected]>
Subject: Correspondence R-20, City Council 2/8/22 Agenda Tonight
-EXTERNAL-
Dear City Clerk,
Please append the attached draft memo (and note below) to the correspondence on Agenda Item #20:
Dear Mayor and City Council of Long Beach,
Please note our STRONG OPPOSITION for approving the IRC FA map at this time.
It has fundamental flaws that the City of Long Beach, and the Independent Redistricting Commission, can and do still have time to correct for.
I do intend on providing public comment on this item tonight.
Cf: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://districtr.org/plan/94612__;!!MKV5s95d0OKnVA!9RKij5DuPY- ZgCQR3YdXuDmolCY-nB-J8QE4ymO4XwMCIw_agSrpD967OHynjB8j_KQAtw$
Which, for the record, again, was created using a method a 12 year old can understand and replicate to specify some problem areas with the construction of the IRC FA Map.
Thanking you,
Dave Shukla,
Operations, LB ACE
(DRAFT) MEMORANDUM______________________________________________________________________________ Date: November 10th, 2021
To: Long Beach Independent Redistricting Commission
From: Long Beach Alliance for Clean Energy
For: 2021 Redistricting in Long Beach, California
Subject: Climate and Environmental Justice Concernsin Council Redistricting____________________________________________________________________________ Attached for your consideration is a memorandum on climate and environmental justiceconcerns in the ongoing process of redrawing Long Beach city council district boundaries.These concerns, highlighted in the global discussion of climate change impacts concurrent withthe ongoing UNFCCC COP-26 climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, are of unique, timely,and foundational interest forthe Independent RedistrictingCommission. Recommendationsherein address justice and equity considerations informed by spatial and statistical analysis ofthese concerns, as well as public testimony following the release of IRC Draft Map #1 onOctober 20th, 2021 to present. This memorandum is preliminary and subject to revision prior tothe conclusion of the COP-26 talks, as these concerns bear in the IRC selection process for afinal council district map on or before November 17th, 2021.
Background:(To be completed)
Environmental and Climate Injustice in Long Beach:(TBC)
Climate and Environmental Justice in RedistrictingNovember 7, 2021Page2of (X) Analysis:
How do the current Redistricting Maps, IRC Draft Map #1 as amended 10/27/2021, and IRCDraft Map #2 as amended 11/03/2021, address existing climate and environmental justiceconcerns in Long Beach? (historical comparisons reproduced on next page) IRC Draft Map #1 Improvements:- Ahas access to the coast, more of thePort that directly impacts residents- Keeps Coastal Zone together in itshistorical boundaries- Has three districts,G,E, andDdirectlyadjacent to Long Beach Airport Problems:- DistrictGextends further south than atany point in its history, cuts off historicalwestside parts, segregates by wealth- DistrictAconcentrates poverty, impactsto the port, along diesel death zone- Too much land area, city resources andassets concentrated in districtE IRC Draft Map #2 Improvements:- Better northwestern border forDProblems:- DistrictHstill contorted, non-compact- SegregatesGto only the poorest, mostvulnerable neighborhoods on Westside,= environmental apartheid- Non-historical boundaries forA,eliminates power ofBto affect Port- Creates a new “superdistrict” inEthatconcentrates disproportionate number ofparks and city assets = env’l apartheid- Takes Community Hospital away fromwhere in has always been inD,concentrates schools and parks inD- Locks in the voting power, by CVAP, forincumbents/whites inA, B, C, D, E- Wildly distorted shapes/ population shift- Dilutes the Latino Vote throughout LB.
Climate and Environmental Justice in RedistrictingNovember 7, 2021Page3of (X)
Climate and Environmental Justice in RedistrictingNovember 7, 2021Page4of (X) (Analysis, continued)
As is clearly evident, gerrymandering around principal city assets - the Port, Airport, andCity/County facilities adjacent - has been concurrent with demographic changes since the 1991redistricting in Long Beach. This is most clearly observable in the boundary shifts inG,F, andDalong the southern Signal Hill border. It is important to recognize that many of the demographicshifts from 1991 to the present in these areas reflect historical redlining between PCH andAnaheim St., and the rapid growth in housing in the late 1970s/early 1980s. The City of LongBeach is currently anticipated, over the 2015-2025 period, to have a similar uptick in housingconstruction, centered in Transit Oriented Development neighborhoods along and adjacent tothe Metro Blue Line, and in the Downtown area - districtsB,A,F,G,HandI.
One of the clearest examples of the necessity for dual representation in the Port by districtsAandB- on which former Councilman Evan Braude gavedetailed testimony on communityefforts to establish - is the increased pollution load that these communities, first and foremost,are at present affected by with the record number of container cargo ships (111 as of 10am11/10/21) idling in the San Pedro Bay: one can easily smell the diesel fumes and particulatesfrom City Hall (as of 9pm 11/09/21). Both the downtown and the southwesternmost districtsneed representation directly in the Port: districtAboundaries should seek to retain industrialPiers S, T, C-F, and coastal access through the Back Channel to the Outer Harbor; and district Bboundaries should include what is walkable south of Broadway St.
Where IRC Draft Map #1 did incorporate most of these criteria into district A, the populationimbalance created by adding neighborhoods on the westside also results in direct problems forhow to draw the adjacent district G, and what to do about access to the Long Beach Airport.These, and resultant problems that cascade along drawing districts that border Signal Hill, haveoccupied considerable time at the 10/27/21 and 11/03/21 IRC meetings, and have resulted ineven more significant problems for IRC Draft Map #2.
They are soluble, if the commission is willing to consider where certain well-traveled surfaceroads that run through Long Beach - 7th St, PCH, Willow St. in particular - are boundaries thatcan and do bring neighborhoods and districts together as much as they separate them. Thisconcept can be extended to other streets that clearly delineate neighborhoods - San AntonioBlvd., Temple St., Pacific Blvd., etc. - as often previous Redistricting Maps have utilized.
The IRC must avoid constructions that unfairly concentrate climate risks or environmental healthburdens in districts on the westside of town, especiallyas these boundary constructions (G,E)are made at the behest, and for the benefit, of districts on the eastside of town that have someof the highest rates of incumbency in California. Note that those constructions also dilute thepower of the Latino vote. It is possible to create a 2021 Long Beach City Council RedistrictingMap that evenly balances population change, voting power,ANDclimate / environmental justiceconsiderations, as one can see below in Map ID#70760 and Map ID#75241.
Climate and Environmental Justice in RedistrictingNovember 7, 2021Page5of (X) Recommendations:
1. Keep both unifying the Cambodian Community, and the Historical Black Community inthe Central District, as coextensive as possible-The IRC has done an admirable jobbalancing these delicate issues, with inherent tradeoffs between DM1 and DM2, butmore public testimony, and balancing with other districts, is needed.
2. South St. as the border between the two districts in Northern Long Beach- The IRC hasincorporated this, recognizing these districts will have to trade population. Forpopulation balancing reasons throughout the rest of the map, it may be preferable tokeep the Longwood, Coolidge Triangle, College Square, and Starr King Neighborhoodswest of the LA River into the northernmost district.
3. Keeping Coastal Area communities together - This wasone of the first issues addressedafter the release of IRC DM1, but IRC DM2 distributes out Bluff Park, Bluff Heights, andCarroll Park out of the southeasternmost district - these neighborhoods belong inC.
4. Port needs to be represented by both communities it directly impacts- Industrial facilitiesin Piers S-T, C-F should be added to the southwesternmost district, and the downtowndistrict should retain Census Blocks along Pier H, Queen Mary, etc. that are walkable.
5. Airport needs to be represented by all three communities it directly impacts- IRC DM 2entirely misses the mark, save for the northwesternmost border ofD, which should beretained. Without having to break up the large Census Block with the airport runways, allthree districts adjacent to LGB can be distributed in a way that helps balance population,as well as neighborhoods, and direct access, and thus representation, in the Airport.
6. Balance Pollution Impacts on the Westside, and Freeway Corridors -generally speaking,mobile sources of pollution from freeways, particularly where multiple freeways connect,can be as pollutive and harmful as the Port/Airport/Power Plants - every neighborhoodalong the westside has a stake in what happens along the LA River and 710/AlamedaGoods Movement Corridor. The 405/710 Interchange is a natural border betweenG, H.
7. New Homes = New Voters- Along with balancing out pollution impacts on the westside,there is the added benefit of balancing out areas where there is appreciable anticipatedgrowth, due to new housing construction, especially Transit Oriented Development.There are a number of districts that we can anticipate are undercounted two-fold, both inthe Census, and in terms of new construction.
8. Evenly Distribute County and City Public Infrastructure:Hospitals, Schools, Parks, FireStations, the Water Department, the Gas and Oil department, etc. should not beover-concentrated in a handful of districts, or deprived from other districts.
Climate and Environmental Justice in RedistrictingNovember 7, 2021Page6of (X)9. Every District Must Compromise -The IRC should be explicit about how to balancepriorities between Statutory Criteria and Public Testimony. Of particular concern here isbalancing the Total Population, given problems with Census Data undercounting, as wellas predictable growth and changes in CVAP from 2022-2028 as youth become voters. https://districtr.org/plan/70760
https://districtr.org/plan/75241