Post Redistricting--What will the New District 1 Precinct Map Look Like?

I received the above rendering from the Supervisor of Elections Office.  It reflects the new district boundaries post-redistricting.  I've zeroed in on District 1 in the above .jpeg.

These new precinct maps will be presented to the BCC at our upcoming workshope this Thursday.

Meanwhile, there they are for all to see, above.

To download the full .pdf file so you can zoom in to see all 5 district precincts and where your precinct is now, click here.  See the full map, below.

On 1370 WCOA This Morning at 8:00

I'll be a guest on the area's #1 Morning Drive News/Talk radio program this morning --  "Real News with Rick Outzen" --where we will be discussing current topics of interest in the county including the latest on the redistricting and the news from yesterday that the new maps are current and live on the county's website.

We will also discuss the upcoming town halls I'll be scheduling to reach out to new constituents after the first of the year.

We will also discuss some of the recent jail deaths and what can be discussed about the deaths and what is protected information that cannot be disclosed.

It should be an interesting conversation--when the podcast is released I will post it here.

Attorney To BCC: "We are more than 10% in population deviation between our least populated district and most populated district."

 Nevermind the sour grapes, gobldygook gibberish, and the misinformation and lies from last week's "Clown" hall meetings by D2 (and I say "clown" to describe the D2 office staff--Doug, his secretary, and his intern---- that put these sparsely attended events on--not the concerned citizens that attended or EMR staff that professionally supported these "events")----Nevermind any of that noise.  This, below, is the important factual information citizens and constituents need to know regarding the "why" we are redistricting now instead of waiting and also why McMillan and the Voting Rights Act  REQUIRE that we maintain a minority-majority district.  

Forget about the lies

Get the FACTs in this email that just arrived in our inboxes this morning:

Pee-Wee Football.....A Parody

When the coach demands to play even when the lightning is crashing and the rain is coming down--that coach, upon getting the game they demanded and upon  losing such a game very badly, cannot with any integrity ask for a "do over".....

There was an all important, pee-wee football tournament scheduled.

Two teams were playing the early game on a field of astroturf.

Two teams were playing the late game on grass.

And the clouds were forming.  Heavy weather was coming.....

The two coaches for the early game, and the ref, said "Let's go ahead and play, we can get the game in before the weather hits and it is important to the kids-------we can DO IT!"

The two coaches playing the late game, on grass when it would be raining, discussed the issue.

Coach one, who wore impeccable outfits and spoke eloquently with lots of wit and big words opined "We need to go ahead and play today--the kids are here, the families are here, this team and their families have EQUITIES that need to be protected, and there is no reason to wait------you're not worried about losing, are you??! he stated to his opposing coach, as he continued,,,, "Let's go ahead and just do it today--there is no reason to delay--we can get it done before the rain!"

Coach two, who was a veteran of many seasons and was  laid back, wearing flip flops and sporting a week's growth on his beard and a San Diego Padres baseball hat, said simply  "Why rush?"  He continued.. "We can wait until the week after next, the weather will be better, the fields will be better, and there will be no issues---so let's wait!"

Coach one said  "No!!!!, we need to play right now, there is absolutely no reason to delay--so we should play now."

Coach two, looking back at his team, stated dryly "We're ready to go whenever-- if you want to go today, let's go, but it would be smarter to wait."

The first games on astroturf ended without a hitch, as expected, and then the rain started after that game ended and as the second game, on grass, commenced.........

Interstingly--Coach one disappeared for the first quarter of the game he wanted so desperately. inexplicably, he abandoned his team to be run by his trusted secretary and intern in his absence for the all important first quarter.   And while he was gone, coach one's team got pummelled.  They were slip-sliding all over the place on the increasingly muddy field and having the dog-snot whipped out of them.  It was ugly.  Upon his return, coach one wondered, aloud, what had transpired in the first quarter?  "What happened???" was his question to his two faithful helpers.  But they had no words----"They are running away with it, they are imposing their will on us." one of them murmured.

When the third quarter was almost over, and when  coach two's team was by then winning 56-8------Coach one suddenly changed his tune.  Curiously and unexpectedly--he climbed up on the bleachers and pleaded to the crowd of parents:

"We didn't need to play today!!!!!!!--we should have waited.  Look at this field, it's muddy, and it is not fair to these players!!!-----It's not safe!!!!!   Don't you think we need to end this game and start a new game in three weeks??????!!!!

"This is Unacceptable!!" he screamed to the crowd, who by this time wondered if this particular coach had lost his mind.

Then time out was called, and coach two walked over to coach one and stated, flatly:

"You lobbied for this game, you're losing, and now that you're losing---------NOW you want to do what we should have done--what I WANTED to do before we started----which is to play this in three weeks when the field is dry!!!"  "NO, not going to happen"  said coach two.  He continued.

"You wanted this game, you were intransigent, you're side is getting beat, and you don't get to change the rules after the game you wanted has started.  You wanted this, be careful what you wish for--you might just get it!"   Said coach two.  "Besides--you are not considering all the officials, the scorekeepers, the linesmen, and the referees.  They stayed and put in the effort to officiate this game you so badly wanted--now, you want them to just do it all over again?  That's not happening..."

After this, the clock wound down to zero, the fourth quarter ended and the final score was 62-11.

Coach one and his team were humbled--losing a game they pushed for but that they could have postponed......

Meanwhile, coach one again abandoned his players and parents as he stormed off the field in anger and haste---even refusing to shake hands with the winning coach. 

Then, something really great happened....all the players from both teams shook hands and started eating their snacks, talking to each other, and running through the "human tunnel" their parents created on the field, facing each other and grasping each others' hands.  Everyone left the field happy, even the losing team made friends with the winning team and the day ended with the sun coming out and everything was at peace.

Upon heading to the parking lot to exit the facility--Coach one, the poor sport who left in anger, was reportedly seen sitting in his truck with his secretary and intern, busily banging away on their cell phones all by themselves, with the coach chugging a bottle of Sailor Jerry rum as if it was a Gatorade and he was Michael Jordan.  

It was bizzare behavior to say the least.  It was weird--and the parents he abandoned in the stands just walked by their former coach, shaking their collective heads in disbelief...... 

It was reported that between gulps of the rum, coach one was heard mumbling and talking to himself, saying "I'm quitting!"  I'm done with being the coach, I AM DONE!

The End

*This post is a parody and not based on any real pee-wee football games or political processes or actual real people, coaches, secretaries, valets, or interns....

Doug's Second Map Fails, Too

Like a plane crashing into a mountain--D2's latest effort at a redistricting map is a disaster....

So we're in the middle of a once in a decade redistricting effort and there has been a lot of effort put into the process by 5 School Board Members and 4 of the County Commissioners.

Commissioner Doug Underhill has not put in equivalent effort, though, even as he lobbied heavily for us to complete this process in rushed fashion this year.

Doug didn't come to the first joint meeting on October 5th, he blew that meeting off.   And he didn't leave a draft map for the other 9 of us to consider, either.  

He didn't bother to "zoom" into that meeting--although he could have no matter where he was.  (School Board Member Kevin Adams, for example,  attended the meeting via Zoom--as he was on School Board Business 500 miles away)  I was subsequently told Doug was away from town at a Jet Ski race.

And between that first meeting and up until the second meeting last Tuesday evening--Commissioner Underhill  didn't submit a proposed map for our individual consideration prior to the second meeting.  

Crickets.......nothing.

Tuesday evening, five minutes before the final joing meeting, he brought hard copies of his first attempt at a  map to the group.  It went over like a lead balloon.  A total and complete, utter and epic fail--as I chronicled in detail here.  Numbers didn't balance, it knocked an existing elected official from her seat, it threw off the balance of schools between school board D1 and D2, left Myrtle Grove jigsawed between D1 and D2,  and on and on.  It was a non-starter from the get go.  

Then, last night, at the last minute, Doug submitted this disaster, below.

This rendition, hard as it may be to believe, is actually worse than his version from Tuesday night.  The only improvement it brings over the first disastrous map is that it does bring each district's size closer to being in alignment with the ideal size of 64,381 citizens each.  

But that is the only redeeming quality of this map.

With this iteration, above, not one, but TWO (2) existing elected female ECUA board members get knocked out of their respective districts, the balance of schools between D1 and D2 on the school board is jolted out of balance, Myrtle Grove and other west side neighborhoods are still chewed up like jigsaw puzzle pieces between D1 and D2, and on and on.  Significantly:  We worked hard at the last meeting to assist D3 maintain and expand their required minority majority precinct.  The solid map we settled on Tuesday night--- the one we will be bringing forward next Tuesday morning---was carefully created with input from all participants and established a minority-majority of 1,518 Citizens for D3.   Doug's disaster plan above slashes this majority by 45% in his rendition--down to a majority just 835 minority voters.

So, to summarize, the second map commissioner Underhill has brought forward at the last minute is

Doug's Map Fails: It Was a Disaster

Doug's Underhill's redistricting proposal map he presented last night had numerous, fatal flaws.  It died shortly after it was presented--receiving zero support for obvious reasons...

At last night's second joint County Commission/School Board Meeting-- Commissioner Doug Underhill brought a rendition of what he thought the new district lines should look like between District 1 and District 2 in Escambia County.

It received no play whatsoever among those of us who were there and serious about the work at hand.

Doug's map was ill-conceived--- and a total and complete, unmitigated disaster....

His map (above) had so many flaws that were readily apparent--I'm astonished he even brought if forward.  It was not unlike a rocket exploding on the launch pad.

As I discussed with him just a few of the glaring problems (minute 46:27  of this video)  I noticed upon just receiving it 5 minutes before he pitched it to the dais members---he didn't acknowledge any of the serious shortcomings of his proposal.  Instead-- he simply doubled down on it, with a steaming, rancid helping of gibberish and gobldygook about "equities" being lost and neighborhoods being separated----while ignoring the fact his map kept Myrtle Grove carved up like a jigsaw puzzle---not fixing the precinct 99 issue as every other map presented has.

Just a few of the MAJOR flaws with the Underhill map that quickly relegated it to the trash recepticle.

---It left District 1 an astonishing 5,584 citizens short of the ideal district size of 64,381

---It left District 1 even 2,365 citizens short of the required 5% statutory minimum deviation below the ideal size

---It boots a duly-elected ECUA Board member out of her seat for which she won election less than one year ago (which would have, for more than the next three years,  served to disenfranchise voters who put this official into office)

---In a complete and total snub to the District 1 School Board Member, Kevin Adams, the Underhill plan would have knocked three schools (Bailey Middle, Helen Caro Elementary, and Blue Angels Elementary) out of District 1 against the wishes of this sitting school board member.

I could go on but why?  It was a drammatic fail, it was a feckless attempt at actual gerrymandering, and it died upon arrival at last night's meeting.  DOA.

But at least he showed up with something.  It just wasn't anything useful to the task at hand.  At all. 

Interesting Redistricting Proposal for D1 and D2 Boundaries Comes from District 2.....

This map was presented at a recent workshop by District 2 School Board member Paul Fetsko.  It is an interesting proposal.  While I think it needs a few revisions and I'll bring these ideas on November 2nd---if he is set on it I could live with it.  It appears D1 School Board member Kevin Adams could support this as well. 

Eight days ago, a workshop was held at the School District offices on Texar Drive.

There were multiple presentations and issues to be discussed.

Toward the end of the meeting, the board discussed the redistricting process and specifically what the District 2 Board Member thought would be some good boundaries for the new District 2 School Board District.

Upon seeing what he proposed---I am in general agreement.  I could certainly live with what Paul has put forward for the reasons he quite eloquently enunciated in the meeting (2:14 minute of this video) and listening to his rationale--his plan is #3 of the ones Chariman Slayton mentions leading into the item with Bender's idea being #1, Bergosh/Adams plan being #2----------- It would be hard for anyone to believe politics played any role whatsoever in the way he has imagined the lines going forward for the next ten years.

I will work with Paul toward making a few modifications/tweaks if he will countenance it--as I believe Sorrento/Bauer/Gulf Beach highway east of what he's proposed needs to stay in D2--and seveal census blocks he has in his northern part of his proposal should revert back to D1.  But I think somewhere between what he's proposed and what I proposed on Oct. 5th will be the eventual final.  That's my sense of it.  My proposed compromise between what we proposed at the  Oct. 5th meeting and what Paul Fetsko proposed on October 14th at the school board workshop, is below.

 

Now--the school board absolutely has the ability to create their own lines independently of the County Commissioners.  And vice versa.

But to do this puts an inordinate amount of work on the Supervisor of Elections staff and creates significant voter confusion.  It is for this reason that one of my firm stands will be that the D1 County Commission lines, at least and wherever they end up, will mirror the D1 School Board lines.  I believe my counterpart on the School Board, Kevin Adams, believes this to be true as well.  What other districts do will obviously be up to these individual office holders.

We'll see what happens November 2nd.

(And for everyone's full disclosure--I've stated from the start that I did not favor rushing this process, which is now precisely what we're doing. From day 1 I stated we should wait until 2023 and do it right because of COVID-19 and all the resultant data delays, etc.  But everyone wants to rush it, so here we are..........)

On Real News with Rick Outzen This Morning Recapping Last Night's Redistricting Meeting

Empty Chair

I was invited onto the WCOA morning show "Real News with Rick Outzen" earlier this morning to discuss last night's redistricting meeting.

I was happy to talk about it--as it was a positive meeting and a lot was accomplished in just a short hour and a half or so.

Jim Little of the PNJ also covered the story, as did I last night.

Doug Underhill didn't show up to the meeting.  Although I was told subsequently he was out of state for a jet ski competition--he didn't call in either.  He could have called in if it was important to him....(as school board member Kevin Adams--- who was also out of town--- did do) .

Underhill didn't show up to the Shade meeting immediately preceeding the redistricting meeting either.

No show.

Check out Rick's Podcast here

1st Joint BCC/School Board Redistricting Meeting Completed

The northern half of the proposed new District 1 Commission/School Board District

The southern half of the proposed new District 1 Commission/School Board District

The Escambia Board of County Commissioners and the Escambia County School District held the first of two joint meetings for redistricting this evening.  The meeting was cordial and productive.

All members of the School Board attended and participated.

All members of the County Commission attended and participated except District 2 Commissioner Doug Underhill.  He did not attend this evening's meeting.

After some initial pleasantries--the business at hand commenced after a slow start.  First up, District 5 and District 4 agreed on a one precinct swap which all but balanced these two districts respectively--with District 4 being slightly oversized and having the capacity after this switch to give some population to District 3.

Next up, Commissioner May's district was discussed and numerous proposals were made to increase the population of his district and the minority-majority makeup of his district as well.  Notably, all of Mayfair was tentatively moved from District 2 to District 3.  This gave District 3 a better overall minority-majority percentage which was further improved with the removal of several blocks of District 3 north of Garden street and East over to Baylen Street--but this give from D2 to D3 left D2 in need of several "pick ups" to make the math work.

The final piece of the pie and the most complex was the re-arrangement of Districts 1 and 2.  In order to balance the districts population wise, keep an elected ECUA board member in her seat, make Myrtle Grove whole again and return a sense of cohesion to multiple neighborhoods in the southwest corner of Escambia County--the D1 plan that was worked this evening, pictured above, makes the following changes between these two districts:

--All of precinct 99 goes from D1 to D2

--the portion of precinct 75 that is east of Patricia Drive and south of Cerny Road goes from D1 to D2

--all of precinct 61 goes from D1 to D2

----all the portions of precinct 105 currently in D2 that lie west of Sorrento south to Perdido Key, then encompassing all of Perdido key, go into the new D1 district  (all the rest of precinct 105 north of Perdido key and east of Sorrento would remain in D2).

What I am proposing:

 

-Balances D1 and D2

-Keeps D1 and D2 Schools balanced (keeps Jim Bailey Middle, Helen Caro elementary, and Blue Angels elementary in D1)

-Keeps D1 ECUA board member Vicki Campbell in her elected district, D1

-Does not knock any incumbent (Commission, School Board, ECUA) in either D1 or D2 that is running in 2022----- out of his/her district

-Brings a portion of precinct 105 back to D1 (Which D1 had before 2001 when W.D. Childers made the politically motivated action of taking Marcus Pointe and giving away Perdido Key to avoid losing votes to environmentalists on Perdido Key with whom he clashed at the time----political gerrymandering)

-Maintains even lines and smoother boundaries

-follows the legislation’s requirements

-connects communities of interest Perdido Key, Perdido Bay, and Innerarity

-makes D1 the Book-end SW Boundary district, complementing D4’s SE Boundary District

-balances the district—leaving D2 with a nominal number of additional citizens due to the falling population in that district over the last three decennial censuses.

Next up--the second joint meeting and hopefully a finalization of boundary maps for advertising so the process can be completed in mid-December.