Redistricting Commission Approves New Legislative Boundaries; Bay Area Political Implications

• Before and after maps here

The Citizens Redistricting Commission has approved its redrawing of new legislative boundaries.

http://twitter.com/#!/KQED_CapNotes/statuses/96978177045430276

(More live tweets from today’s commission meeting here.)

A vote on the adoption of the new maps will be held August 15.

KQED’s John Myers broke it all down for us last night. “You’ve got a lot of incumbents who are facing some real questions,” Myers said. “By my count, in the Assembly, you’ve got 15 of the 80 Assembly districts that have no incumbent now under these new maps. Of the 53 congressional districts in California, you would have 11 that have no incumbent.”

In the Bay Area, Congressman Pete Stark, representing Castro Valley, San Leandro, and Alameda, will now be living the same district as Congressman Jerry McNerney, representing Stockton, Tracy, and Pleasanton. McNerney announced yesterday that he would move to San Joaquin County, where there is no incumbent.

In the South Bay, Congressman Mike Honda and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren have also been drawn into the same district.

Listen to Cy Musiker’s discussion with Myers here:

Implications for San Francisco in the Examiner today:

State Senate districts

Before: San Francisco was split into two districts, the eastern district spanning the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County, and the western district slinking down into San Mateo County.

Now: The City is represented by just one district, which also includes Daly City, South San Francisco and Colma.

Assembly districts
Before: San Francisco was split into east and west Assembly districts, with the eastern district including parts of Daly City, Colma and South San Francisco.

Now: The lines cut The City in slightly different halves. Now, the Presidio, Marina and Pacific Heights are in the western district, while neighborhoods south of Interstate 280 are in the eastern district.

And from the Chronicle:

— Gays and lesbians in San Francisco’s Twin Peaks neighborhood will be included in the same Assembly districts as gays in the Castro district. Previously they had been in the more conservative western part of the city.

— Fremont’s fast-growing South Asian community remained split into two congressional districts, diluting its political power.

— The city of American Canyon in southern Napa County will get its wish to be included with the rest of Napa County.

From the Contra Costa Times, regarding San Jose:

(A) southern chunk of state Assemblywoman Nora Campos’ district in East San Jose was lopped off and attached to a rural district represented by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, a Democrat from Salinas.

But Campos spokesman Darryl Lucien said the freshman Democrat would not have to move and that most of her district remains intact. Still, he said, there’s a problem putting urban southeast San Jose into a dramatically different, rural district.

“I don’t think it makes sense to the people who live there,” Lucien said. “They would have to drive to Salinas to get help.”