New county districts keep Fallbrook in District 5

Rick Monroe

Special to the Village News

As the county’s Independent Redistricting Commission continued to make both major and minor changes to its year-long quest to align five districts fairly, one constant seems to be that North County’s District 5 will indeed include Fallbrook, Escondido, and the tribal lands to the east.

Some earlier maps being considered had Fallbrook placed in District 2, known as the East County district, with Carlsbad joining Oceanside, Vista and San Marcos in District 5. However, after several meetings in early December, the commission seemed firm in keeping Fallbrook and Escondido in District 5, with Carlsbad joining a new Coastal District (District 3) that stretches south to Point Loma.

The 14 volunteer commissioners selected by the county have been in a race to complete the redistricting process on time. They had meetings Friday, Dec. 10 and Saturday, Dec. 11, and were scheduled to meet Tuesday, Dec. 14, (after the newspaper's deadline for this edition) to approve the final map and report. Pending any final edits, the ICR would have completed its task and the final document would have been filed for the county Board of Supervisors Wednesday, Dec. 15.

“This report is not perfect, but we listened and listened and listened to the public,” said Commission Chair David Bame at the conclusion of Saturday’s meeting Dec. 11. “It certainly meets the statutory criteria.”

“Perfect is an enemy of good,” Commissioner John Russ said. “I think it’s an excellent piece of work and we made the hard decisions.”

“I don’t think any of us knew how time consuming and tense this process would be,” said Co-Vice Chair Carmen Rosette Garcia. “I’m pleased with where we’re at and hope it will serve the community well for the next decade.”

Much of the board’s discussion – and public comments – in the final weeks had to do with the positioning of El Cajon, which has a large population of Chaldean Christians who vigorously opposed being placed in District 4. Commissioners designed District 4 to include El Cajon with the areas in eastern San Diego that also had a high number of new immigrants and refugees in a BIPOC community (Black, Indigenous, and people of color.)

El Cajon is known as the “Gateway to East County” and commissioners on Saturday reversed their earlier decision and voted to return it to the East County’s District 2. That shift also strengthened the Black community’s representation in District 2, which speakers said had been diluted into three districts.

Commissioners Ramesses Surban and Sonia Diaz voted against returning El Cajon into District 2.

The Chaldean community also desired the Rancho San Diego area be aligned with District 2, but that vote failed Saturday by a 5-8 vote.

Commissioners had to consider various aspects in deciding on district boundaries, including communities of interest based on common geographic, economic or cultural factors.

However, the main consideration was population. The North County District 5 population was the highest of the five districts with a variance of about 3.8%, pending minor boundary changes directed by the commission.

Commissioners based their decision on the 2020 census, which had been delayed because of COVID-19. The members have met for the past year to design geographic boundaries for the county that will be effective for this decade. The non-partisan commissioners have listened or read more than 1,000 public comments.

One of the goals of the commission was to ensure minority populations would be fairly aligned so districts would become a “minority majority.” District 1 in South County certainly meets that criterion.

Consultants FLO Analytics said that 100% of the time, a Hispanic candidate of choice would in fact win in that district.

Under the new plan, District 4 has a high possibility of electing a minority candidate 80% of the time, and in Districts 5 and 3, 40%. Since District 5 didn’t have significant changes in the past week, the previous numbers for the area would be constant. The district has a citizen of voting age population in the county 56.3% non-Hispanic White. FLO Analytics also reported a voting age population of 29.9% Hispanic, the second highest of any district.

The report to commissioners indicated Latino candidates of choice can advance to the general election in 75% of exogenous primary elections analyzed in all five districts.

Commissioners also considered compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act. Attorneys Marguerite Leoni and Bruce Adelson advised the commission.

Saturday’s vote to approve the final map passed with 10 commissioners voting yes. Two members were absent, Commissioner Diaz abstained, and Commissioner Surban voted no.

The minor changes to District 5 included its eastern boundary being expanded to anything in the Desert and Borrego Springs Community Plan Areas. The area includes Guejito and extends to Imperial County. Also added to District 5 was a small area between Valley Center and Escondido that is part of a Valley Center Fire Protection District. These shifts added only 4,409 people, reported FLO Analytics.

In the public hearings Saturday, more than 100 people spoke, including several from Fallbrook. The Fallbrook Planning Group made a virtual presentation with Chair Eileen Delaney and Michele McCaffery stating their unanimous support for Fallbrook staying in District 5.

Other individuals supporting Fallbrook to remain in the district at the Friday or Saturday meetings included Joy Leann, Ester Sanchez with a group of others, Thomas Roots, Natalie Sampson, Ross Pike, Leticia Maldonado along with several others.