Yucca Valley town council members got an earful from residents at yesterday’s special meeting. The residents were mainly pleased that the town was going to district-based elections to give minorities a chance to be represented on the town council. Yesterday’s meeting was the first meeting since four preliminary maps were released 11 days ago that divided the town into five voting districts. Managing editor Tami Roleff was at the meeting and files this report…
“I know you all think that you represent everybody, but you don’t. I’ve been living in Yucca Valley for 9 years and all I see is a bunch of white guys who don’t have a clue. You don’t speak for me, you don’t speak for the Hispanics…. We minorities have issues that don’t get addressed in this council. You don’t represent us no matter how much you want to or think you do. You don’t.”
Yucca Valley resident Dru Coiner agreed with the sentiments expressed before her by Debra Thompson.
“I agree with her. I’m privileged; I’m white, I live in upper Sky Harbor, but I feel I have no voice this community either: Because I’m a woman, I’m a Democrat, and I’m not evangelical. And I feel that the town is completely controlled by white, male evangelicals…. I’m very happy that city is forced to redistrict and maybe I will have a voice in the future.”
Neither Thompson nor Coiner are Hispanic, the voting bloc that is supposed to have a voice with the new district maps, but they are still happy about the change from at-large elections to district-based elections. However, they, and many others, were not so pleased with the way some of the maps were drawn.
At a previous meeting, the council members indicated they’d like each district to include a part of Highway 62, and include a park and/or school. Several residents didn’t feel it was necessary that each district include sections of Highway 62, noting that businesses don’t vote; residents do. Some residents complained about the fact that one district included a jig-jog so that Councilmember Rick Denison and Councilmember Robert Lombardo, who live a few blocks apart in Sky Harbor, would be in different districts. The demographer hired by the town to draw up the maps explained that it’s usual for new districts to separate elected officials into different districts, even if they live very close to each other. He said this allows the voters to determine if the official should be re-elected, and not the demographer. He added that following the 2020 census, the districts would be redrawn.
The consensus among members of the council was that they preferred a district map known as “Yellow,” but requested a few changes to some of the district boundaries. The demographer will present a tweaked version of the map at a 6 p.m. meeting on April 9.
http://www.yucca-valley.org/pdf/admin/Districting_Map_Yellow_draft.pdf
