By Nat S. Lerner
Published July 5th 2001 in The Monterey County Herald
Dear Editor
Your June 21 article by Kevin Howe 'Four-district Salinas plan is rejected' very well describes the whole horrible dilemma over redistricting. Concerns were expressed for both Salinas-resident and Latino representation at the county level, and could be expressed for any other group's representation. When you carve out a district, you automatically assign the minority in that district to non-representation. So this decision is about who won't be represented on the next Board! We should all be concerned. We have a system where the outgoing Board effectively assigns the type of representative for the voters. The solution is to elect all five Supervisors by Proportional Representation. For example, if 40% of the voters vote for Latino candidates, we'll have 2 Latino Supervisors. If 20% want agribusiness representatives, that group would get 1 Supervisor and so on... The best example in the US of this fair form of election is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We should look at changing the County charter to allow for truly democratic elections and full representation for all residents of Monterey County. For more information, check out on the web http://www.fairvoteca.org
Yours Sincerely
Nat S Lerner
former Board member of Californians for Proportional Representation
68 Penzance Street
Salinas, CA 93906
Daytime phone: 831-772-6246
This letter is in reply to:
Redistricting could dilute city's voice on county board
Your June 21 article by Kevin Howe 'Four-district Salinas plan is rejected' very well describes the whole horrible dilemma over redistricting. Concerns were expressed for both Salinas-resident and Latino representation at the county level, and could be expressed for any other group's representation. When you carve out a district, you automatically assign the minority in that district to non-representation. So this decision is about who won't be represented on the next Board! We should all be concerned. We have a system where the outgoing Board effectively assigns the type of representative for the voters. The solution is to elect all five Supervisors by Proportional Representation. For example, if 40% of the voters vote for Latino candidates, we'll have 2 Latino Supervisors. If 20% want agribusiness representatives, that group would get 1 Supervisor and so on... The best example in the US of this fair form of election is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We should look at changing the County charter to allow for truly democratic elections and full representation for all residents of Monterey County. For more information, check out on the web http://www.fairvoteca.org
Yours Sincerely
Nat S Lerner
former Board member of Californians for Proportional Representation
68 Penzance Street
Salinas, CA 93906
Daytime phone: 831-772-6246
This letter is in reply to:
Redistricting could dilute city's voice on county board