North Coast residents from Los Osos to San Simeon should be up in arms over proposed SLO County redistricting maps that would slice and dice Los Osos, Morro Bay, Cayucos, Cambria and San Simeon.
Three members of the Board of Supervisors have called some of these maps “interesting.”
Are you interested in lumping Cambria and San Simeon with Paso Robles, Creston and Shandon or splitting Los Osos and Morro Bay into separate districts?
The North Coast communities share many common interests – tourism, agriculture, and the Coastal Commission’s governance. But will the Board majority be more interested in creating safer voting districts for themselves at our expense?
This is illegal gerrymandering, according to California Election Code 21500(d), which states that the Board “shall not adopt supervisorial district boundaries for the purpose of favoring or discriminating against a political party.” Further, the Board is required to preserve to the extent practicable communities of interest like the North Coast.
I urge North Coast residents to protest. Email your concerns to the Supervisors at redistricting@co.slo.ca.us and speak in person at the Board’s special hearing, 9 a.m., Friday, November 19, and final action Tuesday, November 30.
Don Maruska
Los Osos,