See this blast from the past! Originally published Aug. 29, 2011. A decade ago and redistricting was the thing. Check out the old map.
Well, it’s now official. The neighborhood of Ocean Beach will remain in District 2. This is significant, as it means that OB will remain in a district with other beach neighborhoods that have similar interests and needs.
Last Thursday, August 25, the redistricting commission finalized their approval of the newly drawn San Diego City Council districts. Many of the former district boundaries were changed, plus a new district, District 9, was created, as voters wished. This redrawing of districts occurs every ten years after the US Census results are studied.
The changes to District 2 are mainly positive. Once again, most of the City’s beach communities will be in one district, except La Jolla. And importantly, District 2 is freed from its burden of “carrying” downtown San Diego. This means that the interests of the communities of the District can be magnified without being diluted by downtown monied interests.
The communities of the beach areas like Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Mission Bay, the Midway area, Point Loma, and Bay Ho do have similar interests, geographically speaking.
This did occur in the mid-Seventies, when OB was placed into then-District 6 along with the other beach communities. In fact, I was involved with a group called “Common Ground” that unsuccessfully attempted to united together progressives at the beach to back one candidate for the Council.
As the dust settles on the redrawing – and granted, not everyone is happy or satisfied – speculation now runs on whom will be the candidates for the newly-drawn District 2. Kevin Faulconer, the current councilperson, is prevented from running for the seat again as he is termed out.
Councilwoman Lorie Zapf, currently representing District 6, lives in Bay Ho and her residence has just moved to District 2. The City Charter states changes in redistricting lines cannot end a council member’s term early, even if a representative no longer lives in the district he or she was elected in.
The San Diego U-T reported that:
Zapf’s spokeswoman, Alex Bell, said the councilwoman does not plan on leaving her home and, if she chose to seek a second term, would likely run for Kevin Faulconer’s District 2 seat.
More of the redrawn District Maps:
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
District 2 also Mission Hills, and parts of Hillcrest and La Jolla. For money, the District still has Point Loma – I mean just how many rich neighborhoods can one district carry?
carving up mission bay itself into two districts did not make sense. now it is one.
Ding Dong the witch is dead…. now that downtown power monkey is off the CD2 back and on to the CD3 back. I’d say that we are the big winners in the process.
OB stock goes up….beach issues are now not overshadowed by football stadium and chamber of commerce talk.
Environmental and Clean Water issues can dominate the race for CD2 in 2016. Let’s start the campaigning right now!
Now more than ever, the average person in the coastal community has a reason to be involved at the City Council level and to find a candidate to represent them.
Let’s call it, the “beach empowered” district. ha ha.
Agreed.
I am shocked that the City actually did something that made sense for once.
I thought these old maps of D2’s former boundaries would be interesting. Check them out.