Stefan Elgstrand/Courtesy

After two years of planning, some students are raising concerns about the ASUC-sponsored Berkeley redistricting map because the proposed student district excludes Northside residences, including nine Berkeley student housing cooperatives and three residence halls.

Stefan Elgstrand, a UC Berkeley senior and an intern for Councilmember Kriss Worthington since June, has introduced the United Student District Amendment, a proposal that includes Northside residences.

While both the ASUC map and the USDA aim to create a student-majority district to help elect a student representative to Berkeley City Council, proponents of each disagree on how to best represent interests of students and city residents.

Currently, Elgstrand is rallying support for his amendment prior to the City Council meeting on Sept. 10, when the council will continue discussing redistricting.

The ASUC-sponsored Berkeley Student District Campaign map started as a campaign platform for 2011-12 ASUC external affairs vice president Joey Freeman, a Student Action candidate.

The BSDC map creates a student district that encompasses Southside housing, the Greek community and the residence halls, with a 90 percent student population. The map is detailed in ASUC Senate Bill 65, which passed unanimously in the spring of 2013.

“The fact that this (amendment) was introduced so late is really difficult to deal with,” said ASUC External Affairs Vice President Safeena Mecklai of the proposed amendment, which she said the ASUC team has not agreed to. “I wouldn’t be comfortable with it going forward unless the senate endorses it.”

After the BSDC map was submitted in mid-March, Worthington questioned its inclusivity and motivated Elgstrand to draft an amendment.

“The BSDC people mostly live in the fraternities and sororities, so there’s a bit of a bias in that,” Elgstrand said. “From my perspective, since I’m not connected to any of those groups, I can make it more inclusive.”

Proponents say the BSDC map has received support from the Greek community, Cal Berkeley Democrats, Berkeley College Republicans, all 20 ASUC 2012-13 senators and some leaders of the Berkeley Student Cooperative, including ASUC Senator Jorge Pacheco, who is endorsed by the co-ops.

Now, other leaders in the BSC are reconsidering their stances, saying that the BSDC map underrepresents Northside housing. They are giving preference to the USDA proposal, which Elgstrand says includes 87.4 percent of the cooperative population, while the BSDC map only includes 38.1 percent.

“If the intention is to create a unified student district, then not including Northside dorms and co-ops seems to leave out an important population of students,” said Michelle Nacouzi, the 2013-14 president of the BSC.

Nacouzi and other members of the BSC said they were told that it was not feasible to include Northside co-ops in a student-majority district.

Noah Efron, the ASUC redistricting director and local affairs deputy, said the BSDC made several efforts to include the input of student groups by inviting leaders from the BSC, the Greek community and the residence halls to participate in public forums about the plan.

Despite their differences, both Elgstrand and Mecklai said they would prefer to maintain a unified student voice in demanding a student district. However, the ASUC will continue to support the BSDC map without changes to include Northside residences, while Elgstrand plans to push forward his amended plan.

Contact Saachi Makkar at smakkar@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article stated that the district proposed by the ASUC represents 90 percent of the student population, defined as residents between ages 18 to 29. In fact, it represents 86 percent of the student population.

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Stefan Elgstrand/Courtesy

Berkeley City Council moved toward approving a new redistricting map at its meeting Tuesday by passing a motion supporting the ASUC-sponsored redistricting map.

The Berkeley Student District Campaign map would create a student-majority district south of the UC Berkeley campus, increasing the chances of a student representative being elected to Berkeley City Council. Final approval of a districting map is expected to be made in September.

By passing the motion, the council also diverted attention from two other plans, the Edge Simplicity Plan and an amended ASUC plan called the United Student District Amendment, proposed at Tuesday’s meeting.

The BSDC map continues to receive support from most council members. At the meeting, however, an amendment was introduced that would change the borders of the planned student-majority district to include more student residences, such as cooperative houses, residence halls and International House. The USDA amendment was proposed by Stefan Elgstrand, a UC Berkeley student and intern for Councilmember Kriss Worthington.

Elgstrand’s main concern with BSDC’s proposal is that it does not include students who reside on Northside, which includes nine co-op houses and three dormitories. Elgstrand said he is concerned for those students.

“They are paying thousands of dollars to be living in these areas, so they should at least have a voice in the local government,” he said.

Safeena Mecklai, ASUC external affairs vice president and a representative for the BSDC map, said that her primary goal is to make sure students are represented on the council and not necessarily to support the exact BSDC map.

“We’re in favor of any map that puts forward a student district, that works with the political process and that protects student interests,” Mecklai said. “If students feel that the map represents them, that’s a good thing.”

Several council members, however, said that the proposal of a new plan upsets the political integrity of the redistricting process.

“I feel uncomfortable for having this happen at the very last minute when it could have happened sooner,” said Councilmember Linda Maio at the meeting. “All of these plans went through a public process out in the community.”

Councilmember Kriss Worthington opposed the negative sentiment regarding the new amendment.

“The purpose of a public process is to hear ideas,” he said. “We received new information today that was never provided at previous meetings.”

The council ultimately passed a motion in support of the BSDC proposal with a vote of 7 to 2.

Mayor Tom Bates placed emphasis on the fact that the newly created district will not include all students but will geographically encompass several residential areas surrounding the Berkeley campus.

“I think that I’m planning on supporting the student district (BSDC proposal),” Bates said. “I just don’t want to call it a student district — I want to call it a campus district.”

The council will meet Sept. 10 to continue considering redistricting proposals.

Contact Saachi Makkar at smakkar@dailycal.org

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City of Berkeley/Courtesy

Berkeley City Council will hold a public hearing at its meeting Tuesday to draft an ordinance reflecting one of two city redistricting plans, both of which include a student-majority district.

City Council is deciding between two of seven resident-created plans. One, entitled the Edge Simplicity Plan, was drafted by Eric Panzer, a UC Berkeley alumnus in environmental science and city planning, while the other, drafted by the Berkeley Student District Campaign, is spearheaded by the ASUC.

BSDC’s proposal seeks to unite the student community, which is split into four different districts, into only one or two, with the goal of giving students greater influence in electing City Council representatives. According to ASUC redistricting director Noah Efron, these include issues like affordable housing, Telegraph Avenue development and student safety concerns.

The proposal is up against Panzer’s plan, which, according to him, contains only one “key difference” from the BSDC proposal: splitting the UC Berkeley Greek community from the Willard neighborhood student community. Panzer’s plan would still provide a student-majority district. He supports the BSDC’s proposal over his own, saying that despite the appealing geometry of his map, “keeping communities of interest together should trump minor geometric concerns.”

But Jacquelyn McCormick, a mayoral candidate in last year’s election, views neither plan as adequately representing neighborhood community interests.

“We believe students need a voice,” McCormick said. “Neighborhoods need to be kept together.”

McCormick is currently gathering signatures for a petition requesting that the Berkeley Neighborhood Council’s proposal, which was discarded because of an oversized West Berkeley district, be brought back into consideration.

The proposal preserves the student-majority district while also maintaining the unity of Berkeley neighborhood associations that the other proposals divide into separate districts.

District 4 Councilmember Jesse Arreguin says it is unlikely the Berkeley Neighborhood Council plan will gain retrospective support from City Council.

According to Arreguin, City Council plans on discussing the possibility of altering the accepted proposal to integrate Northside co-ops and residences to “really unite the student community in one district,” though Efron said he does not see such a plan as possible without diminishing the effectiveness of the ASUC’s current proposed map.

Despite concerns over limited student attendance during the summer recess, Efron said student representatives will continue to support the proposed map.

“We feel that students have shown how invested they are in this issue by maintaining engagement over the whole three-year process,” he said. “You will definitely still see student leaders at the meeting still pushing our issues.”

Tuesday’s hearing will be open to public comment, after which City Council may recommend a plan to city staff for an ordinance to be voted on at a later date.

Contact Micah Fry at mfry@dailycal.org.

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City of Berkeley/Courtesy

Berkeley City Council passed a motion Tuesday night to continue considering two redistricting proposals that both include the creation of a UC Berkeley student district.

One of the selected plans was submitted by the Berkeley Student District Campaign, a group that aims to give students more representation in city government through the creation of a district with a student supermajority. A student supermajority would increase the likelihood of a UC Berkeley student being elected to Berkeley City Council.

“It’s important to note how historic of a move the council took last night (by) indicating that one of their top proposals is one submitted by students,” said Shahryar Abbasi, ASUC external affairs vice president. “It’s quite a shift in the discourse and the dialogue.”

About 45 UC Berkeley students, including Abbasi, attended the City Council meeting in support of the campaign. While seven different plans were considered at the public hearing Tuesday night, only two did not include a student-majority district.

The only remaining competition to the Berkeley Student District Campaign is the “simplicity” plan, which focuses on straightforward district divisions. The plan’s author, Eric Panzer, openly endorsed the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s plan and said that he hopes his proposal will be considered only as a “worthy alternative.”

The City Council may favor Panzer’s plan due to its clarity, according to ASUC External Affairs Vice President Redistricting Director Noah Efron.

“There are certainly some council members who want clean lines on their map,” Efron said. “The council still has full control.”

Throughout the hearing, multiple City Council members expressed their support for a student-majority district, which has never existed in the city of Berkeley. The only UC Berkeley student to ever hold a seat on the City Council was current State Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, who served from 1984 to 1992.

The plans were made possible by the passage of Measure R last November, which amended the existing city charter to eliminate the 1986 boundary lines and adjusted the district boundaries to reflect the city’s updated population.

According to ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai, a student district would allow students a say in major city issues like safety, economic development and other issues that impact students and residents equally.
“I think we would benefit from more voices of young people,” said Councilmember Jesse Arreguin last night. “It accomplishes the goal but keeps a lot of major neighborhoods intact.”

The next public hearing, during which the City Council is slated to select a plan, will be on July 2.

Though the meeting will take place during the summer, Mecklai said the campaign plans to build a coalition of students to attend and express their support.

“We certainly took (last night) as a great victory, and it certainly feels more tangible now than it ever has,” Efron said. “(But) until we hear that they have officially adopted it, we won’t be celebrating.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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Six groups presented the council with seven different plans for redistricting, one of which was made by the Berkeley Student District Campaign in an attempt to create a student supermajority district. UC Berkeley junior and current redistricting director Noah Efron, senior Michael Manset and junior and ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai all presented for the BSDC.

Representatives of the BSDC said in the meeting that because the student community is currently divided into four districts, it is difficult for students to have their voices heard on the council. A student supermajority district would allow students to be represented on City Council.

“Twenty-five percent of Berkeley residents are students and they are not represented,”  Manset said during his presentation. “By creating a student district, students will have an institutionalized seat on the council to represent them. Our plan has District 7 remain the student district but increase in size so that 86 percent of students live in the district.”

Mecklai said that if having a student council member is not possible, the council member elected should understand student issues and be in tune with issues in student life.

“If the student community is condensed to one district, students will have more of a voice on the council,” Efron said. “The student community should be seen as a community of interest because while crime has decreased in other districts, in the student community crime has remained the same.

UC Berkeley alumnus Alfred Twu also submitted a redistricting plan and said that a student district should be made so that students could have a voice on the council.  However, Sherry Smith, president of the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville, said that other communities and neighborhoods should also be considered when redistricting rather than just the student community.

“I can see why students would want a student district because then they would have an impact on the council and the council member elected by them would be responsive to their needs,” Smith said. “However, there are other communities of interest, such as the West Berkeley neighborhood, that should be considered. So what the council must do is weigh all the submitted plans out and possibly merge some together to achieve what is best for the city of Berkeley.”

Berkeley City Council will meet again on May 7 to vote on a redistricting plan and will begin to modify and change the plan once it is chosen.

Contact Seif Abdelghaffar at sabdelghaffar@dailycal.org.

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Kira Walker/Staff

Have you ever wondered how to find more affordable student housing or make a complaint to your elected official in Berkeley? What if you ran into your city council member in Wheeler Auditorium as you headed into class? It would make it much easier to remind the council member about those burned out street lights that make walking home risky.

Right now, we have a unique opportunity to draw the nation’s first ever “student district” through the city’s redistricting process. Of the seven proposals submitted by residents, five of them include a student district. As the Council considers which map to adopt for the next decade, both students and the citywide community should consider the benefits of having a student on the City Council.

A student district will institutionalize the dialogue between the campus and the citywide community. Currently, city-student relations rely on informal communication between student organizations and individual Council members.

Council members do their best to communicate with students, but we deserve someone who is actively and continuously advocating for our issues. The only way that we’re going to create more affordable student housing, bring stores and restaurants that students want to Berkeley and reduce crime near campus is by electing a representative who knows what it’s like to be affected by our issues. A student district, with a current or recent student on the council, will ensure that students have this kind of representation and a voice in city debates. Councilmember Laurie Capitelli was recently quoted in a Daily Cal column stating that “there has not been a venue for students to articulate their concerns.” A student district would ensure that City Hall would be such a venue.

This institutionalization of city-student dialogue will not only benefit students; it’s good for everyone in Berkeley. Mayor Tom Bates often cites the city’s Climate Action Plan goals to help the environment by decreasing our carbon footprint. But students already live in the densest housing and overwhelmingly use public transit to get to class or work! Students already play a major role in helping the city meet our Climate Action Plan goals, and could contribute greatly to increased sustainability in the future if the City taps into their valuable knowledge.

Likewise, the citywide community will also benefit if we reduce our “brain drain” and incentivize more young people (that is, recent Cal graduates) to live in Berkeley after graduation. We should aim to create more projects like the Skydeck, an incubator for startups right in Downtown Berkeley, which provide jobs and an innovation pipeline for Berkeley grads. By creating high-tech and higher-wage jobs, recent graduates can be the engine of a burgeoning, sustainable Berkeley economy. Keeping students here will attract knowledge-based industry and bring more revenue to the city. But once again, the best way to find out what will keep students here after graduation is to ask them. Even better: have a student on Council who can channel that perspective into economic development and housing policies.

Even with these undeniable benefits of having a student on City Council, there have been concerns that a student Councilmember would be politically isolated. (They would be just 1 vote out of 9). However, this fear is not only unfounded — it implies that having zero votes is better than having one. Policy-making at all levels of government requires deal-making and consensus. A sole Councilmember cannot write laws alone; legislating requires building coalitions. The point of having a student representative is not that it will magically solve all our problems, but it will give students a seat at the table and allow our voices to be heard.

Last fall, Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmembers Arreguin and Wozniak all expressed support for a student district. The mayor himself claimed that “if (Measure R) passes, we will actually create a student district. And I’m committed to that campus district … I’m committed not just to talk about it … Let’s have a student on the council. Let’s have a student there voting for their own interest.”

We need to hold our elected officials accountable to that statement, and we need to lobby them to create the student district that we deserve. Student political participation is at an all-time high: The ASUC registered over 8,500 new students to vote last fall. With higher student turnout following those registration drives in student precincts, Berkeley students were a major reason that Measure R passed overwhelmingly and Measure S failed. Students can be a grassroots political force, and we (the students and the City) should work together to craft policy that moves our city forward.

But we can’t do this without the help of every Cal student! There are two ways you can help convince City Council to create a student district. First, attend the CityCouncil redistricting public hearing on May 7 (more info at BerkeleyStudentDistrict.com/events/). Second, like us on Facebook (Facebook.com/BerkeleyStudentDistrict/) to stay informed. Working together with our neighbors in the city, we can create a student district, make our voices heard and bring new and innovative perspectives to city policy.
Shahryar Abbasi is the ASUC external affairs vice president. Noah Efron and Michael Manset are UC Berkeley students who have worked on the redistricting issue with Abbasi.

Contact the opinion desk at opinion@dailycal.org.

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Katherine Chen/Staff

Community members and city staff met at the North Berkeley Senior Center Wednesday evening to view redistricting plans submitted by fellow Berkeley residents, including proposals from two groups of students with different intentions for student representation in city government.

Authors of the six redistricting plans presented their proposals before a group of about 40 community members and four council members — Linda Maio, Gordon Wozniak, Laurie Capitelli and Jesse Arreguin — as well as city staff representatives, at the special meeting moderated by the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville. This was the first opportunity for the community to view the redistricting plans for Berkeley’s eight City Council districts, which are revised every 10 years to comply with census data and fluctuations in the city’s population.The city charter requires that redistricting proposals must adhere as closely as possible to the 1986 district boundaries and create districts with equal populations of about 14,073 people each and clear boundaries.

The authors of the proposals range from residents trying to preserve neighborhood boundaries to UC Berkeley students hoping to create a student district within the city.

ASUC Vice President of External Affairs Joey Freeman presented the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s proposal but acknowledged that their proposal will never be chosen because it does not comply with the city charter.

“Students have a huge role in making Berkeley what it is,” Freeman said. “Student issues are community issues … this is really a simple matter of fairness and justice.”

The group’s goal is to make a statement with their proposal and to attempt to eventually amend the city charter so that a student district could be possible by putting it on the ballot for the November 2012 election.

Another group of students representing UC Berkeley, Berkeley City College and local high schools also submitted a redistricting proposal. The group, the Maximum Participation Minimum Deviation Coalition, is made up of 10 students who interned with the City Council over the summer.

The coalition’s proposal sticks closely to the 1986 district boundaries with some necessary adjustments for population. The coalition’s proposal deviates from the population goal for each district by at most 35 people, which they said is the smallest margin of deviation of any of the proposals.

“Our main criteria was creating an equal population distribution,” said Berkeley City College student Audrey Gutierrez, who presented the coalition’s proposal at the meeting. “We tried to get as close as possible to the one person/one vote idea.”

Plans for redistricting had to be submitted to the city clerk by Sept. 30. City staff then reviewed the plans. The proposals were then made available on the city website on Nov. 3.

The first public hearing will take place at the City Council’s meeting Tuesday, where the council will be able to review the plans and ask the authors questions. By the second public hearing on Jan. 17, the council will decide which proposal they want city staff to draft into an ordinance.

The ordinance should then be adopted by the council in its first and second readings in February and March.

The final district map must be submitted to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters by April 1 for the November 2012 election.

“Redistricting is a public process in Berkeley,” said Deputy City Clerk Mark Numainville at the beginning of the meeting. This was not always the case, however.

According to Sherry Smith, president of the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville — an organization open to people of all genders over 18 that promotes political responsibility through informed and active participation — this is essentially the first time that members of the community have been encouraged to submit their own plans since the uproar that resulted from the city’s redistricting proposal in 2000.

Redistricting plans at that time were devised by the city. Many people in Berkeley felt that the city’s proposal was unfairly distributed. The League of Women Voters were involved with the referendum to repeal the districts that the city was trying to create, which prompted the city to redraft their plan.

“It’s much better to have lots and lots of options,” Maio said. “We didn’t have this variety of proposals in the past.”

Maio and Smith also agreed that software improvements have made it much easier for people to access census data and apply it to district maps themselves.

Adelyn Baxter covers city government.

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