So on Saturday I ventured up to Redding for the first public input hearing of the California Redistricting Commission.
The Redding Searchlight reported 80 people attended the meeting. That is probably right if you include staff and the commission. By my count 26 took the time to address the commission.
You can read the Redding Searchlight article here. It was far easier to find the article about the motorcycle accident I saw on the freeway than the commission hearing at Shasta College.
Here is the issue. Clearly a group was there that was organized requesting that the commission draw a Senate, Assembly, and Congressional district described in the article. The attempt would be to lump the more liberal coastal areas in with the conservative inland areas.
For most of the commission members it seemed pretty clear that this was their first time in the area and it may be their last. So the one of the few things that they will think of when they consider drawing districts in the north state is the configuration mentioned in the article.
The districts the community was voicing support for did not respect any geographical boundaries at all. Those big coastal mountains were ignored as were the Sierras — yet only a couple speakers pointed that out. It will be interesting to see if the commission will follow the repeated comments that were offered in the community presentation or the common sense requirements based on geography.
As I write thing I am sitting in the parking lot of the Yuba County Government Center awaiting the start of the 2pm hearing here in Marysville. This might be wild.