City Redistricting Commission to Consider New Map

San Diego's redistricting commission is expected to vote Thursday on a preliminary map for City Council districts which separates Mira Mesa from District 5, which includes Rancho Bernardo.

Commissioners have narrowed their focus to a map known as the "July 19 Plan" and are expected to vote on it Thursday afternoon, said Midori Wong, the head of the commission. [The plan is attached to this story.]

The panel was tasked with adjusting the eight City Council districts' boundaries based on the 2010 census and add a ninth district prompted by San Diego's switch to a strong-mayor form of government. The mayor used to sit on the council and provide a ninth, tie-breaking vote, but with the switch the council has operated with eight members, though 4-4 tie votes have been extremely rare.

Wong, who came to speak before both the RB Planning Board and Community Council during the information gathering phase of the process, said the July 19 Plan is "the comission's best effort" after a series of meetings that attracted 850 attendees, drew 1,000 comments and a number of plans submitted by the public.

The plan would add several communities to RB's District 5, including Black Mountain Ranch and Torrey Highlands, while shifting Mira Mesa to District 6. [A side-by-side comparison of current and proposed District 5 configurations is attached to this story as a PDF.]

Activists have wanted a second Latino majority district and one area that might vote an Asian resident onto the council, but the plan only partly satisfies that desire. Mira Mesa has a large Asian population and would be attached to another heavily Asian neighborhood in District 6—Kearny Mesa. The new boundaries would make District 6 about one-third Asian.

The new, proposed ninth district would run from the College area to Southcrest, with Interstate 15 serving as a western boundary in the southern part of the area. The new district would be 50 percent Hispanic, but only 25 percent are registered to vote, according to the commission's demographic data. 

District 8, currently represented by David Alvarez, has elected Latinos to the council for years and has a significantly higher percentage of Hispanic residents. Alvarez's district would remain most intact under the July 19 Plan.

A notable feature of the proposed plan is the switch of downtown San Diego from Kevin Faulconer, one of its biggest boosters, to Todd Gloria. Faulconer would continue to represent the beach areas, Point Loma and Mission Bay. Gloria would give up part of City Heights in exchange for downtown, but would continue to represent North Park and Hillcrest, satisfying the wishes of political activists in the gay community.

Wong said the plan is not final and could be modified after a series of five public meetings scheduled to begin next week. The commission is expected to take a final vote in late August.

City News Service contributed to this report.