Fresno council looks at reshaping District 7

By John Ellis / The Fresno Bee

04/28/11 23:54:58

Fresno City Council's District 7 is a sprawling chunk of urban real estate that seems to break most of the rules for drawing fair districts.

Although it has about the same number of residents as the city's six other council districts, District 7 is a mess of isolated islands, funky city pockets and dissimilar neighborhoods. Its boundary lines are a jigsaw puzzle.

Now, with city planners working to redraw the lines based on the 2010 census, some council members feel it is time to fix District 7.

"It really is kind of an abomination of a council district," said Council Member Larry Westerlund. "It is all over the place."

But any redrawing of District 7 that goes beyond a tweak here and there would almost certainly result in changes to the other six districts.

That, several council members agreed, would bring politics -- and a measure of angst -- into the equation. New district lines mean walking new precincts and getting to know new constituents, as well as saying goodbye to others who may have been loyal.

It also could upset the balance of Republicans and Democrats in each district, which could be unpopular. Fresno City Council offices are officially nonpartisan, but voters often know a candidate's party -- and vote accordingly.

Then there's Clint Olivier, the District 7 representative who was just elected to the position last November. He acknowledges the district is sprawling and serves many different communities, but says it is manageable.

"I'm going to push to not have it change much," he said.

Making seven from six

Fresno's city council districts were initially created in 1978, but voters didn't approve forming a District 7 until 1993, when they embraced the strong-mayor form of government.

"The challenge that was before us was making seven from six, and not damaging the established districts," said former Mayor Jim Patterson, who was part of a task force that worked on the strong-mayor transition and creation of the new council district.

Patterson said the six existing districts were readily identifiable and had historic ties to certain parts of the city. Task force members wanted those to remain in place. In addition, they felt the city's central area needed a district.

What emerged was a district that runs from roughly Peach and Tulare avenues in the southeast to near Shaw and Marks avenues in the northwest. Roughly speaking, the district follows Highway 180 in the east, and then Highway 41 to the north.

The district took only a little from each of the existing six districts, preserving their historic integrity -- but the new district stretched across many different communities.

"It's like a big jigsaw puzzle and every time we rearranged the pieces we wandered into districts where we wanted to keep some kind of distinction," Patterson said. "At the time, in my judgment, it was the best compromise given all the competing concerns."

'A mistake was made'

But Council Member Lee Brand, who represents northeast Fresno, said "a mistake was made" when the district's lines were drawn. "They didn't really think that thing out."

Brand and others cite, in particular, a triangular piece of the district roughly bounded by Shaw and Fruit avenues and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail tracks that is completely removed from 80% of the district. The Old Fig county island sits between the two parts of the district.

Some council members say that triangular area should be in either District 1, currently served by Blong Xiong, or District 2, represented by Andreas Borgeas.

Xiong or Borgeas were both careful not to say the area should be taken from Olivier and moved to one of their districts. But both said the city should take a look at how the District 7 lines could be better drawn.

"If there is a way of making it make more sense, I think we should pursue it," Borgeas said.

He added that unless there's a compelling reason to keep the orphaned triangle, it should be fixed. "We shouldn't have loose danglers like that."

But it isn't District 7's only oddity. At another point, a tiny triangle of land borders the Old Fig county area on two sides. The only council district it abuts is Xiong's.

Seeking common ground

Members of the planning department are crunching census numbers to look at how to reshape the districts. Fresno's population, according to the 2010 census, is 494,665. That means the ideal population in each district is around 70,666, and will be the target of any redrawing of the lines. City officials said they did not yet have the latest population break-downs by district.

Former Council Member Jerry Duncan said the council has very little control over the process, other than to accept or reject what is presented to them by city planners. Those planners could not be reached for comment.

But with the process of redrawing districts again in the works, several council members agree that Fresno's municipal code wasn't followed in drawing District 7. Among the rules are keeping populations together that share "common social, political and economic interests," ensuring districts are compact and contiguous, and drawing lines that follow census tracts, rail lines, streets or natural barriers.

City Attorney James Sanchez said all the criteria in the city's municipal code are taken into account when drawing district maps, but the "guiding principle" is to have an equal number of residents in each district.

This concept, known as one-person, one-vote, comes from a 1960s U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Twice since District 7's creation, the city has adjusted the boundaries of all seven of its council districts to roughly equalize the population. The city has tinkered around the edges to keep those numbers relatively equal, but District 7's anomalies have remained.

Maybe now is the time to take a closer look, Patterson suggested.

"If I were there today, I would encourage the council to revisit it and work on it," he said. "We did not set the boundaries in concrete, and the charter of the city and the practices of the city create opportunities to adjust and fix problems."