Pick up a pencil to suggest Modesto voting districts

By ADAM ASHTON
aashton@modbee.com

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A commission charged with drawing Modesto's next political boundaries kicked off a public outreach campaign Saturday, soliciting opinions on how to distribute six City Council seats for next year's elections.

Commission members found a well of diverse views clamoring to shape Modesto's political future.

That's what the commission wanted when it set up the Marshall Park meeting.

"We don't want a barrier. We want to increase access," commission member Noe Paramo said.

About 14 residents and eight commissioners attended the meeting. They mostly discussed ways to get more people involved but also briefly debated how to ensure representation for south and west Modesto.

None of Modesto's seven council members live in those neighborhoods. Five of them live east of McHenry Avenue, which roughly divides the city in half.

Voters in February passed Measure N, which called for Modesto to replace its citywide council races with district elections.

The commission is asking people to draw their own district maps and submit them at drawmodesto.org. People can draw all six districts or trace just one that represents a particular community.

"They can say, 'This is our community; keep it together,' " commission member Maria Alvarez said.

Commission members expect to continue collecting ideas through this month. They want to sort their drafts next month and take those options to two neighborhood meetings in September.

They aim to present their recommended map to the council in October. The council can approve or reject the map, but it can't adjust its boundaries.

Salvador Vera, a west Modesto resident who sued the city in 2004 to demand voting reforms, urged the commission to hold more meetings. He volunteered to organize a couple.

"The more public input you're going to have, the stronger this is going to wind up," Vera said.

Vera encouraged the commission to separate south and west Modesto in its final map. He contended the neighborhoods would benefit from being attached to more affluent areas.

Those two neighborhoods -- west of Highway 99 and south of the Tuolumne River -- are the only areas in Modesto where La- tinos make up a majority of registered voters.

Doug Johnson, the city's district elections consultant, said the neighborhoods' views would carry the most weight in determining how they should be partitioned.

"In terms of the Voting Rights Act, it's what does the Latino community want," he said.

The commission's next meeting is expected to take place at 10:30 a.m., July 8 at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.

More meetings could be added to its schedule.

Bee staff writer Adam Ashton can be reached at aashton@modbee.com or 578-2366.