Menino decries redistricting plan - Gerrymandering?
Public officials should know by now that transparency is especially critical in the redistricting process. In Boston, the draft plan has Chinatown split into different voting districts. This may seem to benefit the current Councilor, Bill Linehan, who narrowly won his office by less than 100 votes over a challenger from Chinatown. To complicate the matter further, Councilor Linehan is part of the group recommending this redistricting plan.
A coalition including the NAACP and MassVOTE cried foul, saying the district appears to have been designed to benefit Linehan.
In an interview yesterday, Linehan described the plan as merely a rough draft that was expected to change as it was reviewed by the public and other councilors... “This is not about me. This is about me creating a map with my colleagues - eventually one that can be accepted and voted upon that has new districts’’ that are proportionate in their representation and contiguous, he said. [Full Article: The Boston Globe]