Arizona Redistricting Commission will review proposed Tucson changes as it prepares for big vote

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Posted on Oct 27, 2021 at 10:23 am

Jeremy doubt

Arizona mirror

The stage is set for the final debate before the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission approves their draft maps and submits them for public review after Democratic Commissioner Shereen Lerner proposed a handful of changes she would like to see to a number of proposed legislative districts in southern Arizona .

Based on these and other changes proposed by Lerner’s colleagues, the AIRC will have to examine three potential legislative plans on Thursday. Independent chair Erika Neuberg said she wanted the commission to approve both the Congress cards and the bill on Thursday, a milestone in the redistribution process that will open the cards for public comment for 30 days. After that, the commission will make additional adjustments and then approve the final counties Arizona will use for the next decade.

At the end of their last meeting on October 21, tension flared among commissioners over a map of seven legislative districts promoted by the Southern Arizona Leadership Conference, a Tucson-based corporate advocacy group.

The AIRC has included the SALC-supported districts, of which Republican Commissioner David Mehl is a founding member, on its legislative map. A majority of the commission was so satisfied with the result that they proposed a final vote on the draft law. However, that didn’t go well with Lerner, who raised concerns with several counties. Neuberg decided to postpone the vote for a week to allow Commissioners, especially Lerner, to propose changes.

On Tuesday, Lerner proposed a series of revisions that she said would improve the map while keeping Marana and Oro Valley together in the same district, which is a high priority for flour.

Lerner protested the way District 17 on the SALC-sponsored map connected the area north of Tucson to the east side of the city, with the two regions being completely separated by the Santa Catalina Mountains. She informed the commission that it would take an hour without traffic for anyone to travel between the two parts of the district and that candidates would have to cross another district to get from one end to the other.

Instead, Lerner suggested that District 17 should house the Catalina Foothills and Casas Adobes, while the Tanque Verde area in east Tucson be given to neighboring District 18. Meanwhile, District 17 Vail and Rincon Valley would be ceded to Cochise County’s District 19.

“This change will connect the entire population in LD17. These communities are adjacent to one another. They are neighbors, ”said Lerner. “And it’s going to be a very competitive district too.”

Lerner said she also plans to separate the Flowing Wells region of western Tucson from District 16, a district primarily based in Pinal County, and relocate it to neighboring District 20, which covers much of western and southern Tucson. District 19 would lose Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and the surrounding area to District 21, which runs from southern Tucson to Nogales.

In addition, Lerner suggested relocating Coolidge from the southern end of District 7, a sprawling, rural district that runs from the south side of Flagstaff to eastern Pinal County, to District 17, although the AIRC mapping team said it was instead to District 16 relocating would help balance the population of that district.

Mehl countered with several of his own revision proposals that would keep the controversial District 17 largely intact.

He supported Lerner’s ideas of moving Flowing Wells to a neighboring district and swapping it for a region in southwest Tucson. And he was open to her idea of ​​moving the Pinal County parishes of Mammoth, Oracle, and San Manuel from District 7 and back to District 17 and connecting it to part of the Tucson area.

In addition, Mehl suggested expanding District 17 to Red Rock and the surrounding areas of southern Pinal County and giving up Cochise-based District 19 the Air Force Base in exchange for eastern Santa Cruz County along with Amado, Tubac and retirement to take over parish of Quail Creek.

Mehl said he likes the current map as it is, but would like his suggestions to be worked out by the Commission’s map advisors. That would give the AIRC three legislative cards for review on Thursday – the last card approved by the Commission last week, the card with Lerner’s suggestions, and the card with Mehl’s suggestions.

Neuberg warned the other commissioners against proposing changes that would change the maps significantly, especially after Lerner said she wanted some changes to two counties in the Phoenix area, despite saying she had some revisions that she might have in Maricopa County would consider.

“The only worry I have is that I hope we don’t arrive Thursday morning with two dramatically different cards that we started out from and that are so different,” she said. “Be aware of this, colleagues.”

There has been much more cohesion among commissioners on the map of Congress. Lerner suggested moving an area between the 1st. In particular, Lerner suggested moving Sunnyslope and the North Mountain Preserve to the 1st District, giving the area of ​​Cave Creek, Carefree, and New River to the 8th District.

Shortly before the meeting began, the commission received a letter from Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, who also wanted to see changes to the congressional map.

Romero suggested moving the area around the University of Arizona from the planned 6th Congressional District, which includes northern and eastern Tucson, to the 7. The existing map was drawn in 2011 and divides Tucson along similar lines.

She also suggested moving part of southern Tucson to the 7th District to connect it with other predominantly Latino areas to ensure the district complies with voting law.

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