I do not know Mrs. Rees personally and she may indeed love maps. Her involvement may be just her trying to create a better way of dividing the county into districts but anytime someone that has political ties begins by sending a letter to the editor before presenting their proposal it makes me suspicious. Of course I am jaded and may be completely wrong. I guess that when we get to see her proposal we can all make our own decision based on how she drew the boundaries.
Redistricting Walton County
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I do not know Mrs. Rees personally and she may indeed love maps. Her involvement may be just her trying to create a better way of dividing the county into districts but anytime someone that has political ties begins by sending a letter to the editor before presenting their proposal it makes me suspicious. Of course I am jaded and may be completely wrong. I guess that when we get to see her proposal we can all make our own decision based on how she drew the boundaries.
From another thread
Bob Hudson wrote
"Well the numbers just aren't there for two districts with boundaries South of the Bay and inter coastal waterway. Population within that geographic area is just over 18,000. Population would have needed to have grown by 4,000 more people for it to work.
The line for district 5 will shift west of its current boundary to around Topsail for the number to work. District 1 will encompass all of the area south of 98 along 30A to Topsail.
The Miramar Beach area was the area with the greatest growth since 2000. "
With only 18,000 people south of the intercoastal I agree with you that there should only be two districts south of the bay. One completly inside of south Walton and another maybe south of Highway 20 or including Freeport. But the census blocks may not work out that way.
Of course this would mean only two commissioners to represent south Walton and the maps shown here do have three commissioners with some interest in south Walton. I guess it depends on what you want. Two districts that are almost completly in south Walton or three districts two of which do not have much interest in south Walton.
To add to the equation for boundaries will be the creation of a new voting precinct at Sandestin. The SOE shared that with me today. Long rumored but now to be a reality. Miramar beach has grown to large.
Two commissioners to represent South Walton, or one commissioner to represent South Walton and two others to have minority members of their district living south of the bay and have to drove through other districts to visit their commissioners offices, two school board members whose only schools are north of the bay even though they represent a few thousand voters south of the bay.
And for all the talk of only having 18,800 of the 22,000 people needed to create two core districts in the south of the county, the north of the county has 4/5ths of the districts and only 3/5ths of the population. Why do the citizens of South Walton have to fight so damn hard for every park, every school, every district seat when South Walton provides the majority of the tax base and has seen the vast majority of the growth?
And the precincts...a whole other issue. Thirty vs. four. It only matters in terms of Republican and Democratic political committees -- but explains why the interests of north Walton residents often supercede those of south Walton residents.
And for all the talk of only having 18,800 of the 22,000 people needed to create two core districts in the south of the county, the north of the county has 4/5ths of the districts and only 3/5ths of the population. Why do the citizens of South Walton have to fight so damn hard for every park, every school, every district seat when South Walton provides the majority of the tax base and has seen the vast majority of the growth?
And the precincts...a whole other issue. Thirty vs. four. It only matters in terms of Republican and Democratic political committees -- but explains why the interests of north Walton residents often supercede those of south Walton residents.
First, I'll note that your post is of a different font than is standard to the board, but just happens to be the default font for most email programs.
Second, I'll put forth that Brenda, Lane, and their family are good friends of mine.
Finally, I'll point out that the overall issue of the letter seemed to be the lack of notification for the south end of the county. I do realize that legally it only has to be published in the newspaper of record, but I have yet to find the meeting listed on the counties website. In fact finding the various types of soil throughout the county is easier than the proposed districts map. Further, I remember one of the committee members of the redistricting board advising users of this board that filling out the census shouldn't be done and was probably some sort of government conspiracy.
The fact is that this map actually removes a commissioner from the south end. Districts 1 and 4 are clearly weighted so that north end candidates will be able to file for them without the legal improprieties of the past when mailboxes popped up on quit claim deeded land the night before the filing deadline.
I haven't seen Mrs. Rees's map, but I look forward to examining it at tomorrow's meeting.
I used to believe that we should have more representation and more money spent south of the bay because of the tax base. I don't believe that any longer. The County should be representing the entire county and not just the golden goose. If you want to see that change then I would suggest we create our own county. Just my opinion.
So Miramar has the largest growth and the longest drive to meet with their Commissioner, makes sense to me! It may even be quicker to take the Mid-Bay bridge through Okaloosa County.
I still don't understand why the Districts were split up the way they were instead of staying with D-5 in all of South Walton beginning at the Okaloosa line and D-1 with the remaining portions of South Walton and up to Hwy 20 since there are still less than 22k people. Maybe I am missing something. How does the D-4 Commissioner feel about the proposed changes?
I agree. Walton County can easily be thought of as four areas-The beach, Defuniak Springs, Freeport and 'rural everything else'. I would propose a square district to encompass the two towns, a south of the bay swath to comprise the beach district and two big north of the bay swaths to compose 'everything else rural east' and 'everything else rural west'. The map should look like the bottom of a Tetris board, not a cat's litter box scratchings.
The Rees plan actually dilutes the representation in District 5
District 5
South of Intracoastal - 4882
North of Intracoastal - 6083
District 5 is currently 100% South of the intercoastal.
This plan also displaces two sitting commissioner's from their current districts. Whats the chance that they would vote for that ????
District 5
South of Intracoastal - 4882
North of Intracoastal - 6083
District 5 is currently 100% South of the intercoastal.
This plan also displaces two sitting commissioner's from their current districts. Whats the chance that they would vote for that ????
Any idea on why we can't just adjust D-5 and D-1 to account for the new people and keep everyone in their District?