County supervisors have launched the decennial review of boundaries of the five supervisorial districts.
This review should focus on improving the current boundaries rather than rebalancing them, as has been done in past redistricting.
The 4th District is an example of years and years of rebalancing the districts rather than redrawing the lines to create districts that better reflect cohesive “communities of interest.”
The 4th District was originally drawn to encompass West Marin, but the rate of growth there didn’t keep up with the rest of the county. Supervisorial districts are supposed to be balanced in terms of the number of residents. That equation, over the years, has required precincts to be added to the 4th District.
Today, besides West Marin, the district has octopus-like reaches into other parts of the county, such as Corte Madera, San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood, West Novato, parts of unincorporated Mill Valley and San Quentin.
These reaches into more populated parts of the county are examples of the growing collection of past rebalancing efforts.
Other than all being part of Marin, a small county, they are not “communities of interest.”
Every decade, following the U.S. Census headcount, the county is legally required to rebalance its five districts. Besides balancing districts to meet population requirements, racial representation is also a guiding factor.
The level of public involvement and participation in past redistricting efforts has been varied and limited.
Supervisors promise to do a better job this time.
They have hired a consultant to help come up with possible options, even though they have predicted the line adjustment will likely be “minor.”
One of those options, however, should be developing a cohesive 4th District, even if that means less-than-minor change.
The other four districts are a lot more cohesive.
For instance, the 1st District covers most of San Rafael. The 3rd District comprises most of Southern Marin — Mill Valley, Tiburon, Belvedere, Marin City and Sausalito. The 5th District includes most of Novato.
The 2nd District covers most of the Ross Valley, from Larkspur to Fairfax, but because it also has needed to add more residents during recent rebalancing it has extended its reach into part of Central San Rafael.
It’s hard to look at the shape of the 4th District and not wonder if there is a much better alternative.
The political comfort of county supervisors should not be a priority. Supervisors’ residences and their communities of strong support should not be guiding principles in where the lines are drawn. Their re-election prospects should be the lowest public concern when it comes to drawing lines that make sense in terms of creating lines that reflect opportunities for the best public representation.
Removing politicians’ self-interests from the redistricting process was the reason California voters took the job of drawing state legislative lines out of the hands of state politicians, giving the job instead to an independent and balanced citizens committee.
That makes the county’s promise to establish an ad hoc working group, reflecting diverse representation, so important.
The working group should meet in public and keep doors open for local residents to propose possible changes. Its six-month deadline should not be an excuse for making the expeditious political decisions that the current supervisorial map reflects.
This is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to truly rebalance the supervisorial districts in a way that reflects cohesive communities rather than continuing the county’s trend that has amounted to intentional “minor” political tinkering.
