Name that District! #1

The Basics: Every ten years after the Census is completed, the lines for the districts for the CA State Assembly and Senate and for the U.S. House of Representatives are redrawn to reflect population change. However, in California over the past 40 years, the state legislature has used redistricting as an opportunity to cherry-pick geographic areas that usually vote for their party. This is a perverse state of affairs, instead of voters choosing representatives, the reverse is occuring. The result is a lack of competitive districts in the state, the entrenchment of political machines, and a polarized and ineffective legislature.

For more information about this abuse of power by our elected officials, read this report from the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College.

The Solution: Proposition 77 would take redistricting out of the hands of the legislature and empower a panel of three retired judges (to be selected by a process designed to ensure their neutrality) to perform the redistricting based on sensible criteria, such as not splitting districts across cities and counties whenever possible.

What We Will Miss: Californians will no longer have fancifully shaped districts. Past effort by the legislature at redistricting have resulted in a wide variety of complex shapes that are visually intriguing and deserve widespread attention. In this spirit, I am starting the "Name that District" contest. Over the course of several weeks, I will post pictures of districts in California and it will be up to the select few who read this to offer up potential names.

Here is the first one. Enjoy!