He and the other Supervisors had a legal duty to keep together “communities of interest.” The Tri-Valley is one such community, bound by geography, identity, and common services. Livermore and Pleasanton even share the same fire department. Pleasanton belongs in District One with Livermore and Dublin.
Supervisor Miley refused to give up the city, keeping the bulk of Pleasanton in his District Four. This is called sweetheart gerrymandering, where officials agree to draw the map they desire.
Say the Supervisors did the right thing. Moving Pleasanton into District One would force Fremont into District Two, where it belongs, with Newark and Union City. They are another community of interest. Gerrymandering them apart does not benefit the people, making me wonder who benefits instead.
It will always be a conflict of interest for Supervisors to draw their own districts. Nothing harms democracy more than gerrymandering. Voters should choose their officials; officials should not choose their voters.
Some claim it’s an advantage to be represented by more than one Supervisor. Unfortunately, that’s only true if you’re a majority voice in each district; otherwise each Supervisor can safely ignore the minority.
Instead of keeping the Tri-Valley together, the Supervisors shaved off a sliver of Pleasanton. They moved 15% of Pleasanton into District One, which is worse than nothing because now Pleasanton residents can’t even be sure of their district. We didn’t ask for a fraction of Pleasanton. We didn’t ask for a little bit as a treat. We asked the Supervisors to do their job and respect our community of interest.
Supervisors brushed off the Tri-Valley citizens who wrote out their wishes and or called in to meetings ranging from April 6th to December 2nd. Even city councilmembers and mayors voiced the importance of uniting the Tri-Valley. Instead, Supervisors Nate Miley, David Haubert, Richard Valle, and Dave Brown voted to advance a gerrymandered map.
Our interests appear to be secondary to that of the Supervisors’. That’s the problem with gerrymandering.
