Public Comment
Berkeley Re-Districting Nears Completion
We are now in our second round of maps and presented with a choice between Amber 2 and Violet. https://redistricting-commission-berkeley.hub.arcgis.com/ You can also view the maps in the meeting packets for February 17 and 19. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/IRC/
In response to public comment at the January 27 public meeting, both the Amber 2 and Violet maps reunite the Ashby BART station with the Ed Roberts Campus, and move the St. Paul A.M.E. Church and the Black Repertory Group Theater into District 3.
The Amber 2 map with South Berkeley reunited is the closest to current council districts with changes to adjust for population shifts, to straighten boundaries, and to reunite neighborhoods/communities of interest.
The Violet map is in response to the request for an alternative with two student districts, creating a renter/student dominant District 4. While one vocal speaker at the January 27 meeting insisted that District 4 was homeowner dominated in the Amber map. The chart shows this is not only false, it is grossly false as District 4 is 79% (78.63% to be exact if not rounded) renter dominated. In fact, all the rearranging in Districts 4 and 7 to create a second student/renter district out of District 4 in the Violet map only moved the percent of renters to 79.01% a miniscule change of 0.38%. Most importantly creating the second student/renter district doesn’t stop with downtown and campus southside, it has significant impacts to the boundaries of Districts 5 and 6 and moves the northern boundary on District 3.
| AMBER 2 Map | ||||||||
| One Student District with International House, Neighborhoods United, Four High Fire Districts 5,6,7, and 8, United South Berkeley by adjusting the border between Districts 3 and District 8, | ||||||||
| District 1 | District 2 | District 3 | District 4 | District 5 | District 6 | District 7 | District 8 | |
| White | 51% | 43% | 46% | 42% | 69% | 62% | 32% | 59% |
| Black | 10% | 18% | 15% | 8% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Hispanic | 15% | 17% | 15% | 12% | 7% | 9% | 24% | 11% |
| Asian | 15% | 13% | 14% | 31% | 13% | 18% | 36% | 19% |
| Renter | 54% | 62% | 66% | 79% | 28% | 36% | 94% | 59% |
| Owner | 46% | 38% | 34% | 21% | 72% | 64% | 6% | 41% |
| Four Majority White Districts, Six Majority Renter Districts, All percentages are rounded to nearest whole number | ||||||||
| VIOLET Map | ||||||||
| Two Student Districts with cascading impact on District borders in Districts 3,4,5,6 and 7 Four Districts in High Fire Zones 5,6,7 and 8. Districts, United South Berkeley by adjusting the border between Districts 3 and District 8 | ||||||||
| District 1 | District 2 | District 3 | District 4 | District 5 | District 6 | District 7 | District 8 | |
| White | 51% | 43% | 45% | 41% | 64% | 66% | 34% | 59% |
| Black | 10% | 18% | 15% | 7% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 3% |
| Hispanic | 15% | 17% | 15% | 13% | 7% | 7% | 25% | 11% |
| Asian | 15% | 13% | 14% | 32% | 17% | 16% | 33% | 19% |
| Renter | 54% | 62% | 67% | 79% | 42% | 30% | 90% | 59% |
| Owner | 46% | 38% | 33% | 21% | 58% | 70% | 10% | 41% |
| Four majority white districts, Six majority renter districts, All percentages are rounded to nearest whole number. | ||||||||
| Before rounding to the nearest whole number, the difference in renters between the Amber 2 Map 78.63% and Violet Map 79.01% is only 0.38%. The difference between owners in the Amber 2 Map 21.27% and the Violet Map 20.9% is 0.37%. Changing the boundaries on Districts 4 and 7 to create a second student district in the violet map has a cascading impact on Districts 3, 5 and 6. Only the four largest racial groups from the 2020 census are listed. | ||||||||
Boundary changes to create the Violet map do the following:
District 3 - The northern boundary is shifted south from Blake to Parker between Sacramento and Shattuck and added to District 4.
District 4 – The north boundary is moved south from Cedar to Hearst between MLK and Oxford, the eastern boundary is moved to Dana between Blake and Bancroft, the southern boundary is Parker between Sacramento and Shattuck.
District 5 – The southern boundary which ran continuously along Cedar is extended to Hearst between MLK and Oxford, the eastern boundary which had been Spruce up to the Summit Reservoir (the same as in the current District map), instead ends at Spruce and Marin and shifts to Arlington at the Marin Circle.
District 6 – The southern boundary which ran along Hearst, Gayley Rd, Stadium Rim Way and Centennial Dr (the same as the current District map) shifts to Hearst to LeConte, Ridge Rd, and then winding up along the edge of UCB to what would be a straight extension of Cedar although there is no actual road which would keep the residences backed up against UCB in District 6.
District 7 – The northern boundary moves to Ridge Rd and adds the housing between UCB and bordered by LeConte and Ridge Rd. The Graduate Theological Union Hewlett Library which contains Administration, Women’s studies in Religion, Black Church/Africana Religion Studies and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences is moved into District 7 while the remainder of the Graduate Theological Union Campus remains in District 6. Berkeley Lab is moved to District 7, The boundary between Bancroft and Blake is moved east to Dana.
My vote is for as little disruption as possible. I will be sending my support for Amber 2. I know from doing door to door election canvassing across the entire city, that while the greatest concentration of UCB students is in the blocks on the southside of UCB campus, students live throughout Berkeley. Making the changes required for the Violet map is of no benefit to renters and disrupts established boundaries in surrounding districts.
The Redistricting commission needs to hear from you. You can email redistricting@cityofberkeley.info and/or attend one or both of the upcoming public hearings.
The Public Hearings on the two new maps the Amber 2 and Violet are:
Thursday, February 17 at 6 pm
Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81072988964
Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 810 7298 8964
Saturday, February 19 at 10 am.
Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87810843440
Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 878 1084 3440
The Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) is scheduled to decide on the final map for Berkeley City Council Districts on February 28, 2022 and begin writing their report. I wouldn’t wait to participate. If there is overwhelming support for one map over the other and no further tweaks, this could end on February 19.
