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Health & Fitness

Pierce County Council Redistricting

It's time for the once-a-decade political nerdfest called redistricting.

The Pierce County Districting Committee met at the Council Chambers in Gig Harbor Thursday night for the last of the public hearings. On June 28, the committee will determine the boundaries for the Pierce County Council District. The layout will be set into effect in 2012 and will last for 10 years.

To review the current proposed options, read below for Gig Harbor City Councilman Derek Young's blog post. Click here to visit the Pierce County Districting Committee website.

It's time for the once-a-decade political nerdfest called redistricting. While most people are familiar with the sometimes disheartening practice of shifting congressional district boundaries, legislative and County Council districts also need redrawing.

Find out what's happening in Gig Harborwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Unlike some states where gerrymandering is common, in Washington the process emphasizes keeping communities together in logical boundaries of roughly the same size. That makes the start of District 7's boundaries obvious, the Peninsulas and Fox Island. But without a large enough population to end the boundary there, we've always needed some portion of the district to be located across the bridge.

Currently that includes a sliver of West Tacoma, Fircrest, and University Place. Last November Councilmember Stan Flemming became the first to win the seat from this portion of the district. Several options are now before the bi-partisan redistricting commission with at least one more map expected.

Find out what's happening in Gig Harborwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Take a look at each version above.

Map A

This initial version leaves District 7 virtually the same but adds a portion of West Tacoma. Because it splits their neighborhood, there is some opposition to this configuration. Ultimately Tacoma will have to be divided, but its leaders obviously do not want their population diluted into too many districts, diluting their influence.

Map B

This map has one feature that might jump out at you. It cuts out University Place and Fircrest and adds the bulk of North Tacoma. That means Councilmember Flemming could not run again in District 7 without moving, though he would not need to vacate the seat prior to his term's expiration.

The logic behind this map appears to be to keep UP and Lakewood together. They share a border, and many urban services, and have similar regional needs. While the connection between the Peninsulas and North Tacoma may not be obvious - geographically we're close I suppose - but it's also much more similar to the boundaries prior to 2002.

In addition, it does a much better job of keeping the unincorporated central Pierce County communities together in District 4.

Flemming could potentially stay on the County Council as he'd now be a part of District 6 which will lose Councilmember Dick Muri to term limits, though that would mean running before his first term expires.

Map C

This, to me, is by far the worst map. In fact I think the way it splits up Tacoma likely violates the County Charter. The boundaries don't seem to be drawn with communities and geography in mind, but to serve some other purpose... likely political.

Map D

As expected in incorporates quite a bit from previous versions. District 7 remains much the same (the line in downtown Tacoma is adjusted) but they took out some of the more bizarre lines like District 6 cutting into South Tacoma.

One problem that may come up is that the tolerance for variance is much higher, meaning that districts will have more imbalance in population. Some have argued that keeping communities intact is more important.

If you would like to weigh in before the redistricting committee makes it decision, send your comments to jschult@co.pierce.wa.us. The committee will meet again on June 22 at 7 p.m. at the Pierce County Annex, Conference Room D, 2401 S. 35th St. in Tacoma.

Follow me on Twitter or visit my blog www.derekmyoung.com.

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