The debate over the map to redraw the county’s five watch districts has been rolling late into the night and has seen a setback in recent days.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif .– The San Diego County Independent Redistribution Commission held a hybrid meeting Thursday night to approve the final redistricting district map. The debate over the map to redraw the county’s five watch districts has been rolling late into the night and has seen a setback in recent days.
The meeting drew a full house and lasted over six hours as the last News 8 report on Thursday night. People waited hours to voice concerns about the proposed district lines.
Many of those who spoke represented the Chaldean community in East County. Their big concern is that the proposed map shifts the district boundaries so that El Cajon is no longer in East County and brings it back to the city of San Diego. Their argument is that this decision will shatter their community and dilute their voting power.
The redistribution is carried out every 10 years after the census. The goal is to create ridings that reflect a more diverse constituency of voters. The San Diego Independent Redistricting Commission or IRC has been planning for over a year.
It also seemed that some commissioners were not happy with the final proposal and hours were spent on ideas for modifying the map. It was nearly 10 p.m. before the public could intervene. One of the speakers was the Mayor of El Cajon, Bill Wells.
“I believe the committee is about to do a great injustice,” Wells said.
At 11 p.m. there were two rooms full of people waiting to speak at the meeting and a decision was unlikely to be made on Thursday evening. The next meeting on the subject is scheduled for December 14.
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