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An alternate plan to reshape city-council districts
By adamg on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 3:32pm
The Dorchester Reporter reports several voting-rights groups have drawn up a proposed redistricting plan that would see Mike Ross having to run against Tito Jackson - if he doesn't move to Newton to run for Congress - and create an incumbent-less district covering the Chinatown, the South End, and the Fenway:
This reconfigured District 8 would become an incumbent-free, racially-mixed district with common interests and anchored by a growing Asian-American population, creating significant opportunities for historically under-represented communities.
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Hi! I'm here to help!
I assume those
I assume those under-represented communities actually live in the city and vote. If so, I with they'd name names and tell us exactly who these racists are who been refusing to represent their interests.
Pitfalls of district elections
This is a perfect example of why winner-take-all-in-a-district is a terrible system of government.
It doesn't matter who draws the lines or what their motivations are -- there's always a conflict of interest in the district-making.
Proportional representation or at-large instant-runoff would be much better. *Any* sufficiently large group of people could elect someone to represent them, regardless of geography or race.
The Albanian-American
The Albanian-American community is one of Boston's largest immigrant groups. I assume voting rights groups include them in the definition of "underrepresented communities". Or do they just mean non-white groups?
The Albanian-American community has its own district
Most of the city's Albanian community is concentrated in Rob Consalvo's district - where I'd be willing to bet it's outnumbered by the Haitian community.