EVERETT — Time is closing for volunteer decision-makers to finish the map used to set district boundaries for electing most of the City Council members using geographic districts.
The Districting Commission is honing in on the final map, and were scheduled to meet Monday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. for a debrief.
They also were scheduled to meet Monday after the Tribune’s press time -- that meeting was rescheduled after technical difficulties prevented it. Public input meetings happened during September.
Some north Everett residents hesitate over how the currently proposed map looks.
Residents in the northeastern Delta Neighborhood are crying foul that their district group includes the Northwest Neighborhood, a well-off neighborhood which for the past decade has produced a stream of elected council members.
The wide difference in wealth between residents living these two neighborhoods has some Delta residents wanting the map redrawn to get a better chance at electing someone who will stand for them. In a council district election, only the residents within the individual district select their council member.
This proposed northern district also has the middle-class Riverside Neighborhood, where one sitting council member hails from.
The geographic districts are meant to hold about 20,000 residents each, with a broad representation of Everett for each district. The map gets redrawn every 10 years with each population Census.
This commission must send a map forward to the City Council before a November deadline. City Council members are barred from adjusting the map themselves.
In 2021, the city’s election system will use council districts for five of the seven seats. Two council seats and the mayor’s seat will remain at-large and elected from across the city.
Voters in 2018 authorized using the districts format. One selling point to it is it is meant to increase equity in local representation. The council’s current socioeconomic similarities factored into the discussion.
The proposed map is:
District 1 contains the Delta, Northwest and Riverside neighborhoods plus part of the Bayside Neighborhood.
District 2 has a mix of north and central Everett, with the southern half of Bayside, all of Lowell, Glacier View and Valley View, plus most of the Port Gardner and South Forest Park neighborhoods. Part of Pinehurst-Beverly Park is in this district, too.
District 3 contains much of west Everett, plus a small piece of the southern part of the South Forest Park neighborhood.
District 4 contains the Westmont and Holly neighborhoods along Casino Road, plus the western third of the Cascade View and Twin Creeks neighborhoods.
District 5 has the Silver Lake neighborhood, the southern half of Pinehurst-Beverly Park, and the eastern two-thirds of Cascade View and Twin Creeks.
