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Source: City of El Cajon
February 16, 2017 (El Cajon) – The City of El Cajon has announced five public workshops on redistricting set for February 22, 23 and 28, as well as March 1 and April 18. All are from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. See location details at the bottom of the article.
In November, voters in El Cajon approved a City-sponsored Ballot Initiative “Measure S,” establishing District Elections in the City of El Cajon, starting with the 2018 City Council elections. The Council held two required hearings to receive public testimony and to review the criteria for establishing District Election Mapping on January 24, and February 14.
The approved criteria are as follows:
- Each council district shall contain a nearly equal number of inhabitants;
- Council district borders shall be drawn in a manner that complies with the Federal Voting Rights Act;
- Council districts shall consist of contiguous territory in as compact form as possible;
- Council districts shall respect communities of interest as much as possible;
- Council district borders shall follow visible natural and man-made geographical and topographical features as much as possible;
- In adjusting boundaries following their initial establishment, each new council district shall preserve the corresponding existing council district’s population and territory as much as possible;
- Council districts known to be areas of higher-than-average population growth in the two to five years following this boundary line adjustment may be under populated within the population deviation amounts allowed by law; and
- To the extent it does not conflict with federal or state law an effort should be made to establish boundaries so that at least two council districts include voters in similar numbers residing in the City’s central business district (also known as downtown El Cajon, as described by the boundaries of Specific Plan 182) and these council districts should also include comparable geographic area and land uses.
Now that the criteria have been approved by the City Council, five community workshops will be held to provide residents additional opportunities for public input on creating district boundaries. The process will culminate with the presentation of draft maps to the City Council and community for review and ultimately a selection of one map by the City Council. To help in this process, the City Council contracted the services of the National Demographics Corporation (NDC) to provide mapping and demographic services.
All five community workshops will be from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. The dates and locations are:
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1. |
February 22 |
Community Workshop #1: Flying Hills Elementary School, 1251 Finch Street |
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2. |
February 23 |
Community Workshop #2: Greenfield Middle School, 1495 Greenfield Drive |
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3. |
February 28 |
Community Workshop #3: Chase Avenue Elementary School, 195 E. Chase Avenue |
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4. |
March 1 |
Community Workshop #4: Lexington Elementary School, 1145 Redwood Avenue |
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5. |
April18 |
Community Workshop #5: Ronald Reagan Community Center, 195 E. Douglas Avenue - (Location pending for this workshop) |
All residents are encouraged to attend in order to become informed on the issue and to ask questions. Attendees will also be given direction on how to submit their own draft district maps for review by the consultant. The same materials will be covered in the first four workshops. So, residents only need to attend the one that is most convenient. The last workshop will be to review draft maps and provide feedback. Spanish and Arabic translation services will be available.
Flyer here.
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