By Adrian Florido
For weeks, San Diego’s Redistricting Commission has been winding down its work to draw new City Council boundaries. When it’s done, the city will have a new 9th District likely to include City Heights, Kensington-Talmadge and the College Area.
But as the commission has come closer to finalizing its map, city officials have realized a problem. Once the map is adopted, the 145,000 residents of that new 9th District will not have a councilmember.
The City Charter requires the new district boundaries to take effect 30 days after the map is adopted. But the new 9th District won’t have an election until next year, leaving them essentially voiceless at City Hall until the new representative takes office in December 2012.
That’s clearly a problem considering one of the fundamental goals of redistricting: To ensure that all communities have equal access to political representation.
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