Hello!
Many thanks to those who called or wrote into the Board for the April 6 Meeting.
The Board will take up the issue again this Tuesday, April 20. Currently, that item is scheduled for 1pm, although it is very likely that it will happen later. The meeting agenda and link to Staff report can be found here: https://alamedacounty.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=4678
Public comment is encouraged. Some key points to consider. Are below. Also, please like and promote our effort on Facebook @AlCoRedistricting
Our advocacy is specifically focused on ensuring robust and inclusive public input during 2021 and a final map that reflects that input. We feel strongly that Expertise, Education, and Inclusion are vital to achieving these goals.
Expertise - Hire a consultant. Knowledge, experience and expertise matter. Under normal circumstances, redistricting requires special knowledge. This year, new laws governing redistricting, the compressed schedule and the ongoing effects of COVID make the process especially challenging. Hiring an expert consultant allows Supervisors and knowledgeable Staff to focus on equitable input through education and outreach. We have gathered information regarding redistricting consultants, which is listed at the end of this email.
Education - Community education needs to start now. Though census data will not be available until fall 2021, starting education and technical training in June will ensure better participation in drafting maps. This is the time to engage hard-to-reach communities of interest and explain what redistricting is. From your own experience, you know how critical early education was to the successful complete count effort, and how much lead time was needed. Based on best practices, we strongly recommend that the website be completed in May, that the community engagement start as soon as possible (no later than June 1) and that the mapping software be purchased in April. Ideally, community members should have opportunities to practice with the software in the summer, so that they can submit draft maps in the fall. We encourage you to leverage the existing state redistricting education effort and partner with the county and city libraries for education in the summer and input in the fall.
Inclusion - It is vitally important that the final map reflects community recommendations. Multi-faceted engagement is critical for inclusion, as is early publication of meeting dates and draft documents. We appreciate that you have already had some internal discussion about the hearing schedule. We ask you to please publish those dates in May. As you've heard from the ACLU, the final maps must be published by December 15 and not November 15 as had been originally thought. At the same time, we believe it will be difficult to engage residents during the Thanksgiving/December holiday season. As such, we recommend publishing materials earlier than the required 7 days and to hold the final hearings in early-to-mid December.
Each 10 year cycle provides a fresh opportunity to consider the districts and to educate and engage the community about how they envision the boundaries. Covid has taught us that valuable and productive community input is possible through mechanisms beyond traditional community meetings. Just as the 2020 Census process expanded on what was done in 2010, we look forward to this year's redistricting adding new technologies and engagement approaches that have evolved since 2011