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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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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For those of you who are tired of hearing about rambunctious old people waving their arms over city issues, worry not. Here’s a reprieve. This week, we’re focusing specifically on the creation of the “student supermajority district,” a district whose constituency would likely be more than 90 percent students.

Why would we want such a district to begin with? ASUC Redistricting Director Noah Efron said in an email, “If we have a district whose population is 90 percent student, any council member who has to run in election after election in such a district will be forced to be accountable to student issues.”

At face value, that sounds like something everyone can get on board with. Given the fact that students comprise a large portion of the city’s population, why wouldn’t we want more representation of student issues?

There are some problems to be contended with. Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, who supports the student district, questioned the prominence of student issues. He pointed out to me in an email that, “To some degree (student) issues are not completely known by the Council or the community. There has not been a venue for students to articulate their concerns.”

I don’t want to get into a debate over what is or is not a “student issue” or why the Berkeley community isn’t aware of them. Let’s say we’re able to clearly define them for Capitelli and the council. Even then, would one council member attuned to these issues be enough?

Philippe Marchand, the former assembly affairs vice president of the Graduate Assembly, stated in a comment on a Daily Cal article that “there has been very little discussion on how concentrating students in a single district would affect the overall support for students if none of the other council members have to really care about the student vote.”

There’s a reason that The Three Musketeers are never able to trump The Clique. It’s because there are only three of them. It’s cruel arithmetic at work.

Say an undergrad or grad student runs in the next election cycle and is able to oust Kriss Worthington. Will that solitary figure, working tirelessly to bring student issues to the forefront, be able to enact or solidify change without the support of the others? If he/she’s working alone, that’s a no. Cruel arithmetic.

I asked Efron what he thought about the idea that concentrating the student demographic into a single district could be counterproductive toward the end goal of increasing student representation. Efron said that when the old map was drawn in 1986, students were purposely split up to dilute the student voice. He said, “To suggest that having students in multiple districts means more councilmembers represent them is incorrect … (it) means that it’s not politically important for ANYONE to listen to students.”

Current ASUC External Affairs Vice President Shahryar Abbasi backs him up, telling me in an email that “having someone on council who walks and talks with students everyday will be far more significant vs. having scattered representation who are not solely focused on our interest.”

Not all students are united on this front. CalSERVE’s EAVP candidate, Spencer Pritchard, said in an email, “Overall … a student district does not tackle the problem of student under-representation in city affairs … The idea of a single student district does not go far enough. We need to be advocating for further representation for all of city government.”

One thing they can agree on is that the council hasn’t done enough for student matters. While all of the council members I interviewed last week expressed their support for students, Efron, Pritchard and Student Action EAVP candidate Safeena Mecklai believe the council hasn’t given student issues their due. “We’ve seen with the current city council that when students are divided, their voices are not heard and councilmembers are not responsive to their needs,” Mecklai said in an email. “One lone councilmember cannot pass something on the council, but it will allow us to raise our voices … That’s a huge step.”

Pause. That was a lot of quotes and perspectives I gave you just now. I’m sure there are many more I’m missing as well. Chew on  ’em, digest ’em and if after all this you’re concerned, show up when the redistricting maps are presented and have your say.

As for my opinion? I think one is a lonely number. I think the math is stacked against us. Then again, I’m not the one who needs to be convinced.

At the end of the day, it comes back to the core nine on the council. Don’t get tired of these rambunctious people — they’ll decide whether we get a student supermajority district or not.

Get loud. ’Cause the ball’s in their court now.

Contact Lynn Yu at lyu@dailycal.org or follow her on Twitter: @lynnqyu.

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Safeena Mecklai/Courtesy

The ASUC submitted proposed boundaries for a new student supermajority district to the city of Berkeley Wednesday.

The plans propose a student district encompassing not only the entire UC Berkeley campus but also popular student cooperatives, apartments and fraternity and sorority houses.

“We tried to pack as many substudent groups into the district as possible, including the Greek organizations, campus dorms and off-campus housing,” said Noah Efron, the ASUC’s redistricting director.

A student has not been elected to the City Council since Nancy Skinner was a member of it from 1984 to 1992.

“Our goal is not to exactly have a student on the City Council but an elected official who responds to student issues,” Efron said. “Also, graduate students who stay here longer can feasibly serve on the council for an entire term.”

This proposal is possible because Measure R, which passed last November, 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 Shahryar Abbasi, this district is overdue for the students who constitute 25 percent of the city’s population.

“Voters clearly understand the importance of students to the city and its economic development,” Abbasi said. ”Students have a voice on many of the issues that the city government must address, from lighting to affordable housing to safety to tenants’ rights.”

Some members of the city government said they are also in agreement on the importance of student representation in policy discussions.

“Students are vital to the city, as they are the economic drivers of today, the innovators and job creators of tomorrow,” said Mayor Tom Bates. “(Students) are instrumental to the city’s economic and cultural life.”

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin felt similarly, emphasizing the council’s need for a younger perspective.

“I’m the only person under 50 on the council,” Arreguin said. “We absolutely need students, who have traditionally been at the forefront of pushing changes to the city government, to bring unique, innovative ideas.”

Arreguin also expressed support for the ASUC’s planned district boundaries.

“I think it’s a very smart map — it doesn’t divide any student neighborhoods and respects the existing district boundaries that have been there for 25 years,” he said.

The City Council is not required to select any single proposal but may create a hybrid version that combines multiple plans. The proposals will then be presented to the council for discussion at two public hearings, currently set for May 7 and July 2.

Contact Jason Liu at jliu@dailycal.org.

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