Correspondence
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1 Danielle Navarro
From: Danielle Navarro
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 11:19 AM
To: Allen Vinson; Matt Rinn; Susan Noack; Tim Flaherty; Zac Shess Cc: June Catalano; Juanita Davalos; Geoff Gillette; Janet Coleson Subject: Creating districts - Dan Safran
From: Safran Daniel <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 10:39 AM
To: City Council <[email protected]>
Cc: June Catalano <[email protected]>
Subject: EXTERNAL: Creating districts
Dear PH City Council,
I'm sorry that you decided to forego the appointment of an independent commission to assist in planning the creation of districts for future Pleasant Hill elections. That decision places a huge burden on you, our current elected council members, to assure that self-interest does not govern your decisions.
The creation of electoral districts is a relatively homogenous city is challenging task and the law requires extraordinary efforts to engage residents. Frankly, based on your efforts to date, I am worried that you will not do the outreach required to inform and involve residents who live on the edges of our city, many of whom are limited English speaking
I wish I could attend City Councils but a lack of immunity to Covid requires me to remain in isolation.
Nevertheless, here are my recommendations to help the City of Pleasant Hill avoid lawsuits based upon failure to fully engage our diverse community:
1) Hire bi-lingual PH residents to assist with outreach efforts. 2) Translate outreach materials into languages spoken and read by our limited-English residents. 3) Utilize the districting experience of the Asian Law Caucus, League of Women Voters and ACLU. 4) Draw upon the outreach experience of community-based organizations such as Monument Impact (Concord), Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, United Latino Voices, Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County, First Five and others.
This is a major transition for Pleasant Hill. I hope you will do everything needed to engage and inform Pleasant Hill residents.
Thank you.
Dan Safran