1
1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S
2 --ooOoo--
3 CHAIRMAN PERATA: The hour of 1:00 o'clock having
4 arrived, we will begin this committee hearing.
5 This is the State Senate Committee on Elections
6 and Reapportionment hearing on the 2001 Redistricting.
7 My name is Don Perata. Thank you all for joining
8 us today. I am the Chair of the Committee.
9 The purpose of these hearings is to give local
10 elected officials and members of the community an opportunity to
11 offer their comments as suggestions regarding new legislative,
12 congressional, and Board of Equalization Districts that we will
13 be drawing this year.
14 If you wish to testify today and are not yet on
15 the agenda, please enter your name and contact information on
16 the sign-in sheet in the back of the room or auditorium.
17 We have several people who wish to testify.
18 Therefore, I am going to have to insist that everyone limit
19 their testimony to three minutes. If you have written
20 testimony, we will accept that in lieu of, or you can briefly
21 summarize that written testimony. But if you have it in
22 writing, it will go into the record.
23 All of your comments are being taken down by a
24 stenographer. They will be transcribed and will become part of
25 the record that this Committee will consider at the end of our
26 hearings.
27 This is one of a number of hearings we have held
28 throughout the state. We will conclude next week in Sacramento
2
1 and then begin our deliberations.
2 Joining me today are, from my left, Senator
3 Deborah Ortiz from Sacramento, Senator Richard Polanco from Los
4 Angeles, and Senator Ross Johnson from Orange. Anywhere in
5 Orange?
6 SENATOR JOHNSON: Irvine.
7 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Irvine, in Orange.
8 So, we are going to, in deference to elected
9 officials who have other duties, not to say that people who
10 aren't elected don't have things to do with their lives, too,
11 although the fact that you're here today might belie that, we
12 will first ask Fred Keeley, who is the Speaker Pro Tem of the
13 State Assembly, to come up; followed by Assemblywoman Lynne
14 Leach.
15 You're leading off, Fred.
16 Any opening comments by any Committee Members?
17 SENATOR JOHNSON: If I could, I'm looking forward
18 to the hearing. I'm looking forward to what people have to say.
19 But having participated in some of these
20 hearings, I would ask that, as much as possible, witnesses,
21 rather than general philosophical statements, give us very
22 specific recommendations if they can and address any legal
23 issues that they feel are associated with the reapportionment
24 process.
25 Thank you.
26 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Deborah?
27 SENATOR ORTIZ: I'm anxious to hear testimony.
28 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Richard?
3
1 I'd just underscore the point that Senator
2 Johnson made. You don't have to spend a lot of time in your
3 three minutes establishing your bona fides. We accept the fact
4 that you're here as a citizen is good enough.
5 Go to the heart of the issue. If you're here to
6 make sure that your communities of interest are being met,
7 state what they are and what your concerns are. And that's the
8 most important thing, because we do have a some very clear legal
9 precedents and constitutional standards that we have to adhere
10 to, and talking specifically to those would be very helpful.
11 I hope I didn't confuse it for you, Fred. Come
12 right up.
13 ASSEMBLY MEMBER KEELEY: Good afternoon,
14 Mr. Chairman and Senators, ladies and gentlemen.
15 My name is Fred Keeley. I'm Speaker Pro Tem of
16 the California State Assembly. I also represent the 27th
17 Assembly District, which includes Santa Cruz County and portions
18 of Monterey County.
19 Mr. Chairman, moving directly to the issue that
20 you have asked us to testify on, the focus of my testimony today
21 will be the 15th State Senatorial District. And what I will be
22 suggesting to you as a Committee is that there are very strong
23 and compelling reasons, based on communities of interest, for
24 essentially retaining that district in its existing
25 boundaries.
26 As Members are aware, the 2000 Census would call
27 for that district to lose approximately 20,839 individuals in
28 order to bring it into perfect balance as is called for.
4
1 The proposal that we have made to your Committee
2 is that that can be accomplished most efficiently by making very
3 small changes up on the Santa Clara County portion of the 15th
4 Senatorial District, where there are at least two other
5 senatorial districts that abut that which need to actually gain
6 population. And we have provided you with a list of the
7 specific census tract numbers which we believe would bring it
8 within less than 50 individuals of being in perfect balance.
9 Mr. Chairman and Members, the communities of
10 interest that I would like to draw your attention to are as
11 follows. First, the existing senatorial district has an
12 environmental community of interest. And that is that the
13 Central Coast of California, extending inland into the Salinas
14 Valley and into San Benito County, really have much in common
15 with each other. Some of it is the coastal dependent
16 agriculture; some of it is the actual micro climates themselves
17 in that area. When you look at the abundance of agriculture,
18 and that industry, and the important part that it plays in the
19 15th Senatorial District, it's clear that that is, from an
20 economic perspective and from an environmental perspective,
21 clearly a community of interest.
22 Additionally, there have been many ways that over
23 the years there's been recognition of that community of
24 interest. Most recently, the establishments of the Monterey Bay
25 National Marine Sanctuary, which has been a recognition by the
26 federal government of the important role that the Central Coast
27 and the Monterey Bay play in terms of coastal dependent marine
28 life.
5
1 The other issues are the Pajaro Valley watershed
2 and the Pajaro River watershed. A couple of years ago, it was
3 my pleasure to author, and I believe every Member of this
4 Committee voted for, the establishment of the Pajaro River
5 watershed entity, which is an attempt to recognize that there
6 are four counties which create a watershed, including Santa Cruz
7 County, Monterey County, portions of Santa Clara County, and all
8 of San Benito County, which as a watershed affect directly the
9 community of Pajaro and the community of Watsonville. And the
10 way they typically affect that is that all of them together
11 provide runoff into that area, which have had in the past
12 devastating effects on the low-income community of Pajaro and
13 Watsonville. It is an attempt on an intergovernmental basis
14 through those four counties, on a cooperative basis, to do
15 planning for and implementation of strategies which will reduce
16 that flooding, and thereby reduce the terrible economic impact
17 that's been done to those communities in the past because of the
18 lack of that kind of planning and implementation.
19 But again, that stretches almost to every corner
20 of the boundaries of the existing 15th Senatorial District when
21 we are looking at that kind of intergovernmental jurisdiction.
22 Similarly, there are other entities which have a
23 senatorial district-wide community of interest. Higher
24 education comes to mind as one of those. The Monterey Bay area
25 and extending inland is an area that is becoming world reknown
26 for its marine research. That would include not only the
27 Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
28 Institute, Hopkins Marine Lab, which is affiliated with Stanford
6
1 University, the Moss Landing Marine Lab, which is associated
2 with San Jose State University, Long Marine Lab, which is
3 associated with the University of California at Santa Cruz. All
4 of those are now attracting worldwide attention because of the
5 extraordinary work that they are doing in marine research, some
6 of which is applied, some of which is cutting edge marine
7 research.
8 That extends inland substantially. There is a
9 growing recognition about the relationship between onshore uses
10 of land, whether that is agriculture or changes in land use
11 patterns, and near shore coastal waters and the marine
12 environment. That is recognized not only by the kind of thing I
13 mentioned earlier with regard to the Pajaro River watershed, but
14 in other ways as well. So again, that establishes an additional
15 community of interest.
16 As Members are probably also aware, the County of
17 Monterey occupies a special position when considering
18 redistricting. And that is that Monterey County is a Voting
19 Rights Act County, which requires preclearance by the United
20 States Department of Justice.
21 The Latino population in Monterey County is 38.22
22 percent of the district's total population, and Latino
23 registration in the district is 19.45 percent.
24 We have looked carefully at how to draw the lines
25 on this senatorial district, make sure that it is in balance
26 with regard to losing 20,835 individuals, and still maintain the
27 Latino population and the important representation in that area.
28 As Members are probably aware, in both Monterey
7
1 and Santa Cruz Counties in the last several years, there is an
2 emerging Latino leadership, some of whom will be speaking here
3 today later. Whether it is on the Watsonville City Council, or
4 the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, or the immediate
5 past District Attorney, there is an emerging Latino leadership
6 in the 15th Senatorial District. The Mayor of the City of
7 Salinas and many others.
8 It seems to me that it is very important to
9 acknowledge within the boundaries of the senate district the
10 importance of the Voting Rights Act implications of how these
11 lines are drawn. And I think that the existing lines are very
12 important in that regard and should provide you with
13 considerable guidance.
14 Mr. Chairman and Members, let me conclude by
15 saying the following. The area that I think -- on first blush,
16 you may say, "Gee, I don't see how some of these connections are
17 made." It's clear how you can say the Pajaro Valley and the
18 Salinas Valley are connected. That's a clear community of
19 interest.
20 You can say how Santa Cruz County and Monterey
21 County, there's many communities of interest that tie together
22 and come to mind easily.
23 I think at first blush it may be harder for
24 people to see, how is it that San Benito County and southern
25 Santa Clara County are a community of interest with Monterey
26 County and Santa Cruz County? The answer to that question
27 really can be seen from sort of the 10,000 foot level. And what
28 I mean is, if you step back and look at the area, what is clear
8
1 is that the growth of the Silicon Valley, especially as it moves
2 southward, especially as you see the developments such as Cisco
3 and other developments that are moving into the Coyote Valley,
4 as they're moving down into the Morgan Hill and Gilroy area, the
5 connections then become very clear. The impact of growth in
6 southern Santa Clara County has a direct impact on the City of
7 Salinas, the City of Santa Cruz, the City of Watsonville,
8 whether it is housing and development patterns, transportation
9 patterns, those are all absolutely clearly linked to each other.
10 The way we know that is that there is litigation
11 involving some of those land use activities. There are
12 decisions we've made at the state governmental level with regard
13 to transportation funding, and continuing the linkage, whether
14 it is by rail or elsewise in terms of transportation and transit
15 among and between the communities in those four counties. It's
16 very clear that the land use patterns have provided evidence of
17 communities of interest that are linked to each other.
18 Mr. Chairman and Members, I want to thank you for
19 giving me three minutes of legislative time today to provide my
20 testimony.
21 [Laughter.]
22 ASSEMBLY MEMBER KEELEY: And to close by saying
23 that it is my belief that -- and I understand from speaking with
24 the Chairman earlier in his office in the Capitol, that it is
25 very easy to draw lines for one senate district. It is a lot
26 harder to draw lines and solve problems for 40 senate districts.
27 But that having been said, I think that there are
28 minor changes that can be made to this district which do not do
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1 violence to the communities of interest that exist within the
2 15th Senatorial District.
3 And I very much appreciate the opportunity to be
4 here today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senators.
5 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, Fred.
6 Please.
7 ASSEMBLYWOMAN LEACH: Mr. Chairman and Panel
8 Members, I am Assemblywoman Lynne Leach, and I'm honored to
9 serve in the 15th Assembly District which, of course, is nested
10 in the 7th Senate District.
11 And I am here today just to share some thoughts
12 with you from my perspective along this very fine district. I
13 drove down here on 680, and of course recognize all the growth
14 along that wonderful corridor. Everyday I drive up to
15 Sacramento north on 680. And it's easy for me to see, and I
16 happen to live in Walnut Creek, that as you go from Walnut
17 Creek, and Pleasant Hill, and Concord, there are strong
18 communities of interest in all of these areas.
19 My district covers a portion of Contra Costa and
20 a portion of Alameda County, and the Senate district, of course,
21 takes in that portion as well as another big chunk of Contra
22 Costa County.
23 There's tremendous growth in our areas. In fact,
24 we see it to a great deal. My Assembly district right now is
25 about 40,000 folks over the desired number. So, we know that a
26 lot of people are coming there and wanting to stay there.
27 One of the things that I wanted to bring to your
28 attention is the community of interest. As I say, I see a lot
10
1 of community of interest between the San Ramon Valley, and the
2 Walnut Creeks, and the Pleasant Hills, and the Concords.
3 And as you move out into east Contra Costa
4 County, when you look at the Brentwoods and the Discovery Bays,
5 one of the interesting things that you see there is, Brentwood,
6 for example, is the third largest, or the fastest growing city
7 in the state. At least that's what they were last year. And a
8 lot of the people that go out there, and to the Discovery Bays
9 and all, are people that are coming from other areas of the
10 district. And they are finding either they can't afford to live
11 in the Walnut Creeks and the Tri-Valley area, and they're moving
12 out to the Brentwood portion. And also there are an increasing
13 number of retired folks that are moving from other parts of the
14 district, but going out to the Brentwoods and the Discovery
15 Bays.
16 So, these folks feel a community of interest, and
17 they want to hang onto that, even as they move from active
18 business people into a retirement community. So, I would like
19 you to keep that in mind as you take a look at the lines.
20 Also, over the years the people in that general
21 area, and I don't know if you saw the article, but last fall,
22 after the elections, I've been referred to as the last woman
23 standing in the Bay Area in terms of the Republican Party.
24 There's quite a group of Republicans in that general area. They
25 have felt in the past that they have been disenfranchized. They
26 want to at least feel that they have a Senate district where it
27 gives them some shot. It may not be perfect, but there's still
28 some viability in terms of their having their sense of having a
11
1 voice in what's going on. So, I would ask you to keep that in
2 mind as you look at that.
3 So briefly, what I am just saying to you is, take
4 a look at these communities of interest. Try to keep the cities
5 as intact as possible. Right now, in the 15th Assembly
6 District, the City of Pleasanton is divided up into three
7 different districts. And in some of the Assembly drawings I've
8 seen, Walnut Creek will become divided.
9 To the degree that you can, I would ask that you
10 try to keep communities together so that they have one voice
11 representing them. And certainly, to take a look at the fact
12 that the current district as it is now, we feel, has represented
13 us pretty well.
14 So, I'm sure you have to tweak to some degree,
15 but I would ask that you keep the integrity of the 7th Senate
16 District to the degree that you can.
17 And I appreciate the time for giving the input.
18 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, Assemblywoman.
19 Next, Hedy Chang, Council Member from Morgan
20 Hill.
21 MS. CHANG: I guess my timing was good.
22 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Excellent.
23 MS. CHANG: I'm from Bruce McPherson's district,
24 which is Santa Cruz.
25 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Can we have your name just for
26 the record, please.
27 MS. CHANG: My name is Hedy Chang, City of Morgan
28 Hill, Council Member.
12
1 Our district is Bruce McPherson's district, which
2 is Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey, and a portion of Santa
3 Clara County. And I'm trying to actually basically advocate for
4 our own area, which is Morgan Hill and Gilroy, in the rural
5 areas of south Santa Clara County.
6 I personally believe because the characteristic
7 of the area, which is rural, and also because of the population
8 mix, which we have about -- the minorities in there mainly has
9 very little Asian representation. So it actually collides with
10 the area from the Santa Cruz-Monterey, and that population mix
11 is very similar. And also because of the rural surrounding of
12 our area.
13 That whole area wanted to remain rural. Does not
14 want to look like the rest of the Santa Clara County. We do not
15 want to become big city. We wanted to be small city.
16 Otherwise, you know, people would say you're part
17 of the Santa Clara County; you should belong to that because of
18 the high tech.
19 Our situation is very similar to Santa Cruz.
20 We're a little bit high tech, but we're mainly residential, and
21 we have a lot of agriculture. And that portion of the number
22 itself, the portion that would make up for the Santa Cruz, make
23 it up to about 850,000 for the goal for the whole district.
24 Because if it's Santa Cruz, San Benito, plus Monterey, the whole
25 area is about 705,000, something like that. So plus Morgan
26 Hill, Gilroy, and San Martin, we add up to the number and meet
27 the goal closely.
28 Thank you very much.
13
1 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you very much.
2 Rod Diridon from the Santa Clara City Council,
3 followed by Jamie Matthews, also from the Santa Clara City
4 Council.
5 Since we didn't know whether or not we were going
6 to pass the budget, we didn't have any sound here today. It's
7 an economy measure. So, you're going to have to speak up so
8 that everybody in the audience can hear.
9 MR. DIRIDON: Mr. Perata, I will do so. My name
10 is Rod Diridon. I'm a Member of the Santa Clara City Council.
11 I'm here on behalf of the 22nd Assembly District to talk about
12 that redistricting and was told at the Assembly Redistricting
13 hearing that we ought to come here and let you guys know, in
14 case there are conference committees, or conflicts of energy,
15 where you guys will discuss these issues as well.
16 I'm here on behalf of the 103,000 people in the
17 City of Santa Clara to ask your consideration on two issues.
18 The first is regarding the 10,000 members of our population
19 which sit in our north Bay Shore Area of Santa Clara. That's an
20 area which the courts arbitrarily cut out of the 22nd Assembly
21 District during the last redistricting. It is a community of
22 interest based on local representation, based on the school
23 districts, based on public and municipal services such as
24 utilities, and Santa Clara owns their own public utility, as
25 many of you may know, and also based on local communities, such
26 as Little Leagues, library use, Little Leagues, and things like
27 that.
28 We'll ask that you reunite this, this element of
14
1 our community which was truncated out by, again, the last
2 arbitrary drawing of district lines by the courts.
3 Next, if the district lines are to significantly
4 change due to local or state demographic trends, we will ask on
5 behalf of the City of Santa Clara, and also on behalf of west
6 San Jose, that you consider the district to move south into the
7 Rose Garden and Willow Glen area of San Jose. This again is an
8 area which the courts arbitrarily truncated based on lines of a
9 map, rather than community interests, out of the 22nd Assembly
10 District.
11 A community of interest here includes historical
12 communities of interest. You can see this -- well, you'd know
13 it if you lived there -- but you can see it if you look up and
14 down the El Camino Real, where the trees are the same size and
15 same shape because it's one broad community. You can see this
16 based on the type of architecture which you find in the Rose
17 Garden and Willow Glen areas of San Jose, in addition to the
18 areas of Santa Clara that are close to it.
19 You can find this in community service use, such
20 as the YMCA, which is in the Rose Garden area of San Jose, but
21 is used by Santa Clara residents. It's our closest YMCA. And
22 you can find this by all sorts of other recreational uses, such
23 as restaurant uses where there's an incredible amount of synergy
24 between the downtown in Willow Glen, and also downtown Santa
25 Clara.
26 So, I'd ask also that you consider that if you do
27 have the chance to do so, and that you'll reunite us with that
28 community of interest as well.
15
1 With that, I'll let you get along your way.
2 Thank you.
3 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Jamie Matthews. Tough getting
4 in here, was it?
5 MR. MATTHEWS: Yeah, rough trip.
6 Thank you so much. I really do appreciate, as a
7 local official, having the opportunity to come here and address
8 you.
9 My name is Jamie Matthews. I'm an at-large
10 Council Member for the City of Santa Clara.
11 Mr. Chairman and Senators, thank you again for
12 allowing me to be here. Of course, I'm here to talk about the
13 22nd Assembly District. I believe the points were very well
14 made by my colleague, Mr. Diridon.
15 I would like to talk a little bit about the
16 reason that we're looking to reunite. I know the courts did
17 quite a few things, and you probably have heard that repeatedly,
18 so I won't belabor it, to make our lines that were artificial.
19 But from a local elected standpoint, communities
20 of interest is the community you represent. And 10 percent of
21 our population has been represented in a different way than the
22 90 percent of our population. This 10 percent of our population
23 is the most socio-economically challenged, the most diverse, and
24 the ones that really need to have the greatest amount of
25 representation to make them whole.
26 They also need to be, I think, and I know that
27 this is one of your goals, to be reunited with the greater of
28 Santa Clara for both those services and combining them, having a
16
1 single voice.
2 This is an area that's gone through tremendous
3 change. It's an area that's CBG eligible. We've certainly
4 done as much as we can to try to revitalize the area. They've
5 had the closure of the Agnews Developmental Center, which has
6 created tremendous change through the Sun Microsystem, and now
7 over 3,000 dwelling units will be constructed out in that area,
8 which will basically double the population of the North Bay
9 Shore. Whereas, where we had 10,000 people that are
10 disenfranchized, we may soon have 20,000 people just through the
11 development that we've been able to have plans set forth.
12 If because of these socio-economic changes in the
13 populations we need to move the district lines, I would
14 recommend that we move it towards Willow Glen and towards the
15 Rose Garden area, because we do have a common shared interest.
16 I have a personal interest as a fifth generation
17 native Santa Claran. My people came over with the Donner Party,
18 who didn't have a very good trip. And I don't think I would
19 have been the one that survived. But my ancestors were a little
20 faster than I was, and we did make it out of the mountains. And
21 my grandfather drove what was called the trolley. It was the
22 early light rail from San Jose to Santa Clara, right down the
23 Grand Boulevard of the Alameda, and it really is a continuous
24 community. It always has been. It shares that common interest
25 and heritage of being part of the mission grounds, being part of
26 the University grounds, and being part of subdivisions that were
27 built by the same developer.
28 So, I respectfully request that you consider to
17
1 make Santa Clara whole. And I thank you very much for the
2 opportunity to come here today.
3 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
4 Anna Ventura Phares from Watsonville City
5 Council.
6 MS. PHARES: Good afternoon. Can everybody hear
7 me?
8 I'm the Vice Mayor for the City of Watsonville.
9 I work in Santa Cruz County and I live in Watsonville.
10 I'm here, Mr. Chairman and Panel Members, to talk
11 about the communities of interest between Santa Cruz, Monterey,
12 and San Benito Counties.
13 As a daughter of a farmworker, I grew up in both
14 the Salinas Valley and the Santa Cruz Valley, Pajaro Valley, so
15 they are very -- I'm personally aware of the many communities of
16 interest regarding Latinos in both of the counties, including
17 San Benito County.
18 While I lived in Salinas, I was part of La Raza
19 Lawyers that -- and was a plaintiff in the Voting Rights Act
20 lawsuit with the County of Monterey regarding supervisorial
21 redistricting and judge redistricting, which were both found to
22 have been violations of Section Five, and now have, as a result,
23 supervisor districts with the first Latino ever supervisor in
24 that district, which is our Assemblyman Simon Salinas.
25 Because Monterey County is under Section Five, as
26 earlier noted, the voter dilution of Latino voters would cause
27 retrogression, and it's very important to allow that large
28 group, the fastest group in these counties, to be able to elect
18
1 their representative, as they have shown in the past that they
2 were discriminated against.
3 As you know also, as mentioned before, Monterey
4 County also, if there's any big changes, they would need to go
5 to the U.S. Department of Justice.
6 Watsonville, which is in the Santa Cruz County,
7 although it's not under the Voting Rights Section Five, it also
8 had a lawsuit by a group of people in the '90s and was found to
9 also have been in violation of Section Two of the Voting Rights
10 Act. This was found -- they also found in Watsonville that
11 there was racially polarized voting patterns, and they were
12 evident in Watsonville, and that the Latino majority minority
13 was not able to elect a representative ever in the history of
14 Watsonville.
15 These are two similarities. They have very
16 similar histories under the Voting Rights Act for these two
17 counties for Latinos in the electoral process. And the city, as
18 a result of the lawsuit, the city was changed to districts, and
19 now there are four Latinos out of the seven council members for
20 the City of Watsonville.
21 So as you can see, both counties have similar
22 histories as it relates to the Voting Rights Act.
23 The Senate district now has a high Latino
24 district, and we hope that it does not become diluted at this
25 point.
26 Having lived in both Watsonville and Salinas,
27 both counties, they're both -- one of the major industries are
28 agricultural and tourism, as you all know. These are very large
19
1 industries and very important, but they also cause low income
2 workers. And low income workers in both counties and in San
3 Benito County, which also has a large agricultural base, are
4 mostly Latinos, mostly immigrants from Mexico, and mostly
5 monolingual.
6 This community of interest is very important to
7 keep intact because this group has many special needs in these
8 three counties.
9 For example, when it comes to health, less than
10 50 percent of farmworkers and Latinos in general do not have
11 health insurance. There are epidemics, for example; dental
12 decay of children.
13 In affordable housing, we have a great need for
14 affordable housing. As you all know, Santa Cruz and Monterey
15 are one of the least affordable places in the state, and
16 farmworkers get paid the least, mostly out of -- you know, most
17 workers between 15 and 30,000 a year. So, they're also a great
18 community of interest there that this district should have a
19 special need to look into the issue of affordable housing for
20 farmworkers and Latinos.
21 Also in transportation, people live and work in
22 these three counties. They might live in Watsonville. They
23 work in the fields of Salinas Valley. They might work in San
24 Benito County, and we need to look into improving transportation
25 for commuting between these three counties.
26 Also our youth. Latino youth, there are more
27 youths than any other group. In Watsonville, a third, at least
28 a third of Latinos are under 18. And they also have special
20
1 needs that we should look into regarding, like I said, dental
2 health and educational needs.
3 The school district of Pajaro Valley, which is
4 mostly in Watsonville, is also in Santa Cruz County, because the
5 Pajaro Valley has the Pajaro River in between it, and on one
6 side is the unincorporated town of Pajaro, which is in Monterey
7 County, and Watsonville, which is on the Santa Cruz County side.
8 So, the people that live in Pajaro actually just cross the
9 bridge to do their shopping, to actually get their medical
10 services that they need on an emergency basis. So, there is a
11 strong link in the Pajaro Valley between Santa Cruz County and
12 Monterey County.
13 These issues are very important to Latinos, and
14 we hope that the district between -- the counties between
15 Monterey County, Santa Cruz County, and San Benito stay together
16 as one Senate district for these reasons.
17 Thank you very much.
18 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
19 John Laird from the Cabrillo College Board of
20 Trustees.
21 MR. LAIRD: Thank you very much for the
22 opportunity to speak today. I am John Laird. I'm a member of
23 the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees.
24 I also was Mayor and City Council Member until I
25 faced term limits in the City of Santa Cruz, and served on the
26 Congressional staff of Jerry Waldie. And through all those
27 years, I've observed 30 years of redistricting, and I just want
28 to say, this is the most public process, and one that's taken
21
1 public into account more than any other. You're to be saluted
2 on that.
3 I wanted to talk 15th State Senate District, and
4 I have a very simple message, which is, the community of
5 interest in the existing 15th is good, coherent, legal, and
6 should remain together. Population-wise, it's only 20,000 off.
7 But, there're all these different issues and
8 things in each community that link it together very specially.
9 It is one of the few State Senate Districts in the state that
10 has all three levels of higher education represented, with Cal
11 State, a University of California, and numerous community
12 college districts. They relate together in service area,
13 programs that serve the entire region, such that it's an
14 education neighborhood at the higher education level.
15 Ethnically, you've already heard that Monterey
16 County's a Voting Rights Act County, and basically shouldn't be
17 divided. And this district, which, with the exception of a
18 little bit of San Jose, takes in most of the nonurban coastal
19 and inland are just to the south of the Bay Area, is divided
20 into two Assembly districts that really take care of the ethnic
21 issues. There's a community of interest within each one that
22 forms the entire Senate district.
23 Environmentally, the Monterey Bay Marine
24 Sanctuary is the largest marine sanctuary anywhere in the United
25 States. What goes on onshore affects its health, and it knows
26 no county boundaries. It really cuts across in the Senate
27 district in a way that it's a good community of interest.
28 As Fred mentioned, marine sciences, there're
22
1 facilities all up and down this coast that also don't know any
2 legal boundary. And the transportation issues are special and
3 unique, whether you're stuck at the mouth of the Carmel Valley
4 on narrowing Highway 101 north of Morgan Hill, or trying to get
5 through the fish hook in Santa Cruz at rush hour.
6 Also, there's one other thing that has really
7 affected this region universally, and that's the affordability,
8 the cost of living. The ability to buy a house on the Monterey
9 Peninsula or in Santa Cruz County is out of the reach of over 80
10 percent of the people that are working people in each of those
11 counties right now. We have law enforcement officers that
12 commute from the Central Valley to the coast. We even have one
13 that commutes from Redding and stays in Santa Cruz four days a
14 week. They cannot afford to live there. Our teachers, our law
15 enforcement officers, people that do the people's work in our
16 region, and it unites the entire Senate district and the entire
17 region.
18 And also, agriculture is a very strong presence
19 and one that is a community of interest, that if you head in any
20 direction, you don't catch in the same way. The Pajaro Valley,
21 which is cut between two Assembly districts but united by the
22 15th Senate District, if it were in its own county, would be
23 something like 15th in agricultural production statewide. And
24 it is the Senate district that unites this and all these
25 interests.
26 So, whether it's ethnicity, education,
27 environment, transportation, affordability, all those issues are
28 unique geographically and in the Senate district. And I really
23
1 hope that in your deliberations, you'll keep it intact.
2 Thanks for the opportunity to speak to you.
3 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
4 Linda Hermann, Berryessa School Board.
5 MS. HERMANN: Good afternoon. Could I give you a
6 little map so you know where Berryessa is.
7 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Certainly.
8 MS. HERMANN: I'm Linda Ray Hermann, Berryessa
9 School Board, but also a part of the Berryessa Citizens Advisory
10 Council, a neighborhood group.
11 And as you can see, I circled Berryessa. It's
12 part of San Jose, and it's right next to Milpitas, and that
13 makes it always kind of jeopardized because, being it's so close
14 to another city, you know, it's always sort of cut in different
15 ways. And in this particular case, we're looking at the
16 Congressional district, and we're in Congressional District 13,
17 and part of Berryessa is in 16, and part of Berryessa is in 13
18 for the Congressional district.
19 We would like, again, the community interest
20 idea, that we could see Berryessa, you know, reunited in a
21 Congressional district which includes that small portion. I
22 think there's a way of taking some population from someplace
23 else so that Berryessa could stay together in the Congressional
24 district and one representative.
25 Right now, we're somewhat neglected by the
26 representative in Congressional District 13. He doesn't come
27 our way too often.
28 So, that's one thing. I think also for the
24
1 school board, it's always good to have that united area for
2 Berryessa.
3 There's also -- one of the things that might be
4 possible is going down along the edge of the west side. I said
5 there that possibly we could take some of the population from 16
6 and place it over into 15, because we do have an increase of
7 population in District 16. So, there would have to be some
8 moving around. Possibly also, I guess, along the south end of
9 the Morgan Hill area as part of 16, so that's a possibility,
10 too. But maybe you have more of a community of interest along
11 the west side.
12 Now, there's also something that I wanted to sort
13 of bring up. It's more as an individual citizen.
14 More of the groups have expressed what I am
15 expressing to you, or the citizens of Berryessa have expressed
16 to me as a representative, and also to someone else that's going
17 to speak.
18 But my own individual now, as a citizen, I think
19 also it would be wise to have the Senate district to take from
20 Senate District 10, instead of having Berryessa united with
21 Fremont and Milpitas, keep it in San Jose and include it in
22 Senate District 13, because it's very difficult to have
23 representation actually in the Senate because, again, Berryessa
24 being just a small portion of Senate District 10, it can be
25 neglected. It isn't a lot of population there. Where, if it
26 was with its -- united with its neighbors, who it usually
27 associates with, which is the east side, Evergreen, it would be
28 more practical.
25
1 Also, same thing with the Assembly District 23.
2 If it could be united with Assembly District 23 instead of being
3 right now with Assembly District 20, I believe.
4 So, if we could bring Berryessa back into San
5 Jose, uniting it with the neighbors it has most of the
6 communities of interest, if there's a way of doing that, I think
7 that would be better representation for all of our citizens in
8 the Berryessa area. And there are around 95,000 to 100,000
9 people in Berryessa.
10 Thank you very much.
11 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
12 Mike Rotkin.
13 MR. ROTKIN: Senator, thank you for inviting us
14 to speak today. I do appreciate your willingness to involve,
15 have so much public involvement in the process.
16 I'm a former three-time Mayor and 18-year Council
17 Member from the City of Santa Cruz.
18 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Tell her your name.
19 MR. ROTKIN: Mike Rotkin, R-o-t-k-i-n.
20 The reason that I'm emphasizing that is because
21 I've had a great deal of experience trying to deal with
22 practical problems that involve the requirement of
23 interjurisdictional cooperation.
24 And I'm here to argue for keeping as much as
25 possible the existing 15th Senatorial District intact, perhaps
26 taking 20,000 plus that you need to remove from the district
27 from the Santa Clara County side.
28 This is not just based on sort of historical
26
1 accident. We actually have a bio-region where things are
2 interconnected. We have an air district that connects San
3 Benito County, Monterey, and Santa Cruz. It's treated as a
4 single air district, and it's appropriate, because in fact, what
5 happens to air quality in one part of that area affects every
6 where else.
7 We have a bay, as has been pointed out to you,
8 where when there are solid waste or runoff issues related to
9 agriculture or other issues in any part of the whole region in
10 the three counties, it directly affects what happens around the
11 entire Bay.
12 I know for a fact that when it comes to getting
13 state funding and other kinds of issues, there are many regional
14 transportation questions. It's really helpful for us to be able
15 to cooperate with each other. Many of our problems cannot be
16 solved at the level of a single city government, or a county
17 government for that matter, and require cooperation across these
18 jurisdictional lines. And I think it's been very helpful to
19 have a district that unites us.
20 I think it would be a serious problem for us if
21 we were not able to have that kind of connection. It was
22 already pointed out that the Pajaro River Watershed Flood
23 Protection Agency is connected there, and we've had a great deal
24 of help from the Senate and from the Assembly in the past, but I
25 think it would be much more difficult if we were split up into a
26 number of smaller districts that didn't unite those counties.
27 As someone who's been on the board of directors
28 of many nonprofit human service agencies and health agencies, we
27
1 have organizations that would have, I think, a very difficult
2 time coordinating. We actually have single organizations that
3 have separate offices, perhaps, but combined administration that
4 are Tri-County organizations.
5 So again, I think my general message here is that
6 there really is more than a kind of an historical or simply
7 accidental connection among these three counties, and keeping an
8 intact Senatorial district would really be helpful to actually
9 solving real problems. It has been in the past, and I don't
10 know whether I'm going to run for office there again or not, but
11 whoever's in that position in Santa Cruz city government, or
12 Watsonville, or Monterey, or Salinas, any of these areas, it's
13 really critical that they be able to cooperate at a level and
14 get the involvement of the State Senator in that area to help
15 them solve problems. Without that connection, I think it would
16 be very difficult.
17 Thank you again.
18 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
19 We have two members of the NAACP. I'd like to
20 have them come forward at this time, Chris Elias and Helen
21 Rucker.
22 MR. ELIAS: Good afternoon, Chairman Perata and
23 Members of the Hearing Committee.
24 Chris Elias is my name, and I'm a resident of San
25 Jose, living in the 13th Senatorial District.
26 Thank you for the opportunity to comment and
27 afford me the opportunity here to provide an input on the
28 redistricting discussions before you. And welcome to our city
28
1 and our district.
2 I'm the Vice President of Advocacy and Public
3 Policy for the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP. And as you may be
4 aware, NAACP is the largest and the nation's oldest civil rights
5 organization. We are the premier advocates for civil rights in
6 our communities, conducting voter mobilization as well as
7 bringing equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
8 We urge you to not divide the minority
9 communities, the African American community, the Asian and
10 Latino communities, because by doing so, you end up diluting our
11 votes.
12 We encourage you to emphasize emerging of the
13 multi-racial categories into the smallest race category. This
14 is necessary to help boost the numbers of the minority
15 population for each district, enabling them to receive federal
16 funding.
17 We urge you also to respect our communities and
18 the communities of interest that exist in this region, and do
19 not split them up into multiple districts. This is of special
20 importance in order to continue to minimize the difficulty that
21 we have had historically getting our voices heard.
22 And we allow -- ask you to please allow us to
23 allow for the maximum input of the African American, the Pacific
24 Islanders, Latino communities, into the meaningful -- to be
25 meaningful by truly considering it when you draw the lines.
26 We urge you also to preserve our existing force
27 in the districts, the area. Don't divide them up any farther.
28 Thank you for your time. At this time I'll turn
29
1 it over to my colleague here to go ahead and make her points.
2 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
3 MS. RUCKER: Helen Rucker. I'm from the City of
4 Seaside, the big City of Seaside on the Monterey Peninsula.
5 I just wanted you to know that I'm a former City
6 Councilwoman and former Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Seaside,
7 and I've been working with all of the redistricting committees,
8 from the local water district, and the education committee, and
9 all the rest of them, because this is of great interest to us.
10 With the closure of Fort Ord on the Monterey
11 Peninsula, we have a community of interest, the African American
12 community, like myself, that was brought to the Monterey
13 Peninsula through the Army. I married a soldier, and that's how
14 I got there. And I find it -- found it the place that I wanted
15 to retire, and since my husband's death, has been home for me.
16 And many people like myself are still there, but
17 we are fewer in numbers. And therefore, the Monterey Peninsula
18 Branch of the NAACP has had to form coalitions to get our voices
19 heard.
20 We are particularly proud of the representation
21 that we have gotten from our representatives in the 27th
22 District and in the 15th Senatorial District in the past. They
23 have really listened to us, and in coordination with working
24 with the NAACPs in Salinas and in Santa Cruz, it really lends to
25 our voice, although we are small in number.
26 We also are committed to coalition building, and
27 because many of the problems that we have in our daily lives
28 coincide with the problems of the merging Latino population,
30
1 particularly in my city of Seaside, we have formed coalitions.
2 We have one of the biggest coalitions in the State of California
3 that's called the Coalition of Minority Organizations, that
4 consists of the NAACP branches, and LULAC, and ACLU, and the
5 Filipino American community, and anybody we can get in who has
6 like interest to have our voices heard.
7 I merely come before you today to tell you that
8 the 15th Senatorial District as presently constructed has been
9 good for us. We're not lost. Our voices are heard, and we
10 implore you, with the few modifications that Mr. Keeley talked
11 about, if we could keep that district intact, we could be
12 assured that the African American voices will be heard in the
13 future as it has in the past.
14 I thank you very much for giving me the
15 opportunity to speak today.
16 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, Ms. Rucker.
17 Rebecca Garcia, who's with the Cabrillo College
18 Board of Trustees. I apologize for not recognizing that
19 earlier.
20 MS. GARCIA: Your apology accepted.
21 Mr. Chairperson, my name is Rebecca J. Garcia.
22 I'm an administrator at the Santa Clara County Office of
23 Education here in San Jose, but I live in Watsonville in Senate
24 District 15.
25 I am in my third term as representative of
26 Trustee Area Five, which represents Watsonville on the Cabrillo
27 College Board of Trustees. Cabrillo College community districts
28 include Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, and San Benito
31
1 County.
2 I'm here this afternoon to advocate for the
3 maintenance of existing boundaries of the 15th District as they
4 relate to these three counties: Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San
5 Benito. The community of interest for community colleges in
6 Senate District 15 are many. The colleges, as I mentioned or
7 have not mentioned, are Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County,
8 Hartnell College and Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey
9 County, and Gavilan College in San Benito County. All four
10 colleges have similar demographics, with Latinos being the
11 majority ethnic group.
12 Particular to Hartnell, Gavilan and Cabrillo,
13 most of the Latino students come from farmworker backgrounds,
14 are low income, and many have English as their second language.
15 Consequently, all the colleges have English as a second language
16 programs, and some offer Spanish classes, such as Cabrillo in
17 the early childhood education.
18 Because of the low economic status of many of our
19 students, our financial aid programs are also similar in all
20 four colleges.
21 Regionally, the four colleges have created
22 partnerships. For example, Cabrillo College is the lead trainer
23 for Cisco Computers. Cabrillo College and Hartnell College are
24 partners in the Governor's new teacher and reading development
25 program. We also get support for this partnership from the
26 California State University Monterey Bay Education Program. As
27 you know, Cal State Monterey Bay is also in the 15th Senate
28 District.
32
1 Each of the community colleges are also members
2 of the Monterey Bay Educational Consortium, along with Cal State
3 Monterey Bay, and UC Santa Cruz, which is also in the 15th
4 District. The community of interest amongst these institutions
5 of higher education, UC Santa Cruz, Cal State Monterey, and the
6 four community colleges, are very strong.
7 The four community colleges meet periodically to
8 address issues common to all. In fact, just last night I
9 received a phone call from a colleague on the Monterey Peninsula
10 College Board of Trustees, and we decided we wanted to have our
11 next joint meeting for October. Some of the issues we want to
12 address are the hopeful Governor's signed budget and the impact
13 of the High School Exit Exam on our local community colleges.
14 Cabrillo College, Hartnell College, Monterey
15 Peninsula College, and Gavilan College do have community of
16 interest. I would recommend that any loss of residents occur in
17 Santa Clara County, where their communities of interest are more
18 urban; whereas, our counties' are more rural and agriculture.
19 And as you know, often associated with rural and agriculture
20 areas, there are issues of farmworker problems, such as low
21 economic status, need for affordable housing, lack of hair care,
22 and failure in education.
23 We in the four community colleges in Senate
24 District 15 support the special needs of these residents.
25 Please consider our community of interest as you make your
26 recommendations for redistricting.
27 Thank you.
28 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
33
1 Jackie Maruhashi.
2 MS. MARUHASHI: Good afternoon. There's
3 actually a group of us, so we're part of the Coalition of Asian
4 Pacific Americans for Fair Redistricting, Santa Clara County.
5 I will try keep it short, because there are a lot
6 of us, and if you can refer to my written testimony for more
7 detail, I'd appreciate it.
8 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
9 Why don't you all come up in the front row. If I
10 could just ask you avoid repetition in your remarks, it would be
11 wonderful.
12 MS. MARUHASHI: My name is Jaquelyn Maruhashi.
13 I'm a staff attorney with the Asian Law Alliance in San Jose,
14 California. Asian Law Alliance has been a member of the
15 Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans for Fair Redistricting in
16 Santa Clara County when it was created back in May, 1990.
17 CAPAFR-Santa Clara County consists of many Asian
18 Pacific American community organizations and individuals, some
19 of whom you'll hear today.
20 As you probably know, the Asian Pacific American
21 population has grown tremendously in the past ten years, and
22 it's for this reason CAPAFR's redistricting work, and our
23 priorities and goals have been guided by two basic principles.
24 First, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which requires
25 legislatures to redistrict in such a manner that does not dilute
26 minority voter populations. And secondly, the Legislature can
27 and should balance many factors, such as the one person-one vote
28 mandate, race, communities of interest, party registration,
34
1 compactness, contiguity, and incumbency in developing a
2 redistricting plan.
3 In particular, CAPAFR-Santa Clara County's
4 concerns for Santa Clara County include the following: first,
5 maintaining the same number of representatives for our region.
6 Currently we have four Senators and six Assembly Members
7 representing Santa Clara County. We do not want to lose any of
8 our representatives in this redistricting process.
9 Second, to minimize minority fragmentation in the
10 cities of Cupertino and Santa Clara, while keeping these cities
11 intact. Currently Cupertino is split between several Senate
12 districts, while Santa Clara City is divided between several
13 Senate districts.
14 Placing the urban portions of the Evergreen area
15 in one district. Currently portions of it are divided between
16 two Senate districts.
17 Finally, we believe that the current Senate
18 District 13, with the inclusion of the rest of Cupertino, the
19 City of Santa Clara, and the urban portions of the Evergreen
20 area will be a viable district for our community. In other
21 words, we're requesting the nesting of Assembly District 22 and
22 23 with some modifications.
23 The statewide CAPAFR is presenting a proposed map
24 for the State of California for the Assembly districts, and in
25 that are proposed Assembly District 22 and 23, would make up the
26 Senate District 13 that we are talking about.
27 We have been working to ensure that the Asian
28 Pacific American community voice is heard in the redistricting
35
1 process. Today you will hear from several of the community
2 leaders who make up-CAPAFR Santa Clara County.
3 Thank you.
4 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
5 MR. MO: Good afternoon. My name is Matthew Mo.
6 I have lived in the Evergreen area for 17 years. Also, I spend
7 10 years in the real estate business in Evergreen.
8 As you know, Evergreen is an area in the City of
9 San Jose. Currently a lot of the Evergreen area is now in
10 Senate District 13, while the other half is in the current
11 Senate District 15.
12 Many years ago, the Evergreen area used to be
13 mostly agricultural with the orchards and the cattle ranches.
14 Over the years, Evergreen has many new development projects. It
15 is my belief that there are almost no farmers living in the
16 Evergreen area today.
17 Many people living in Senate District 13,
18 including the Evergreen area, are similar. Many are employed in
19 the high tech business as opposed to the agricultural industry
20 in Monterey and Salinas.
21 In addition, the Evergreen people go west towards
22 other parts of Senate District 13 for their shopping, dining and
23 entertainment, and college education. Moreover, people in the
24 Evergreen area share the same transportation concerns with the
25 people who live in the rest of Senate District 13.
26 Finally, as an Evergreen resident, may I ask that
27 this Committee consolidate our community into Senate District
28 13.
36
1 Thank you very much.
2 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
3 MR. LU: My name is D.K. Lu. I won't talk long
4 because my meter is up in a few minutes. Don't worry about it.
5 I'm a resident of Mountain View for about 24
6 years -- no, 27 years, since 1974. And I have worked within the
7 community as a Planning Commissioner, Asian New Year Festival,
8 Private Industry Council, Downtown Revitalization, Silicon
9 Valley Workforce Investment Board, and California League of
10 Conservation Voters.
11 That gives me a pretty good perspective of our
12 communities.
13 In addition, I work as a homebuilder to support
14 all these extracurricular activities. Because I was that, I'd
15 like to echo my support for the 23rd District kept as a whole,
16 because right now I believe the City of Cupertino somehow was
17 carved out in 1990 in the last Census. The reasons, you heard
18 of them, because of the common characteristics they all share.
19 One thing that was not mentioned is that, for
20 example, we have Moffett Field nestled between Sunnyvale and
21 Mountain View. That would be of tremendous interest to these
22 four communities: Cupertino, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and
23 Santa Clara. So, for that reason alone, I would support to keep
24 District 23 intact.
25 And as a former commissioner and homebuilder, you
26 know how difficult it is trying to revise rules and regulations
27 where you have different problems.
28 But when we -- it's not 23? I just changed the
37
1 district number -- 13, lucky 13.
2 My point is that we'd like to keep District 13
3 intact.
4 Thank you.
5 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
6 MR. WONG: Good afternoon. My name is Gilbert
7 Wong, and I'm speaking on behalf as a Cupertino resident and
8 CAPAFR. I was born here in the Santa Clara Valley, and I've
9 been a Cupertino resident since 1991. I'm very active in the
10 community, and a Board Member of the organization of Chinese
11 Americans Silicon Valley.
12 Currently I'm a property manager for my family
13 business, and I was growing up in East San Jose, Los Gatos,
14 Cupertino, as well as working in Silicon Valley. I'm very
15 familiar and knowledgeable of the whole Santa Clara Valley.
16 I have several concerns regarding State Senate
17 redistricting. First, Cupertino is split up in two districts.
18 I'd like to see all of Cupertino represented in one district,
19 with one state senator speaking on our behalf.
20 I believe that Cupertino should be in Senate
21 District 13 because we have more in common and can meet
22 interests with the cities of Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa
23 Clara, and portions of San Jose. For example, the Cupertino
24 Union School District and the Fremont Union High School District
25 includes all of Cupertino, half of Sunnyvale, parts of Santa
26 Clara and San Jose. Also, all these cities are home to high
27 tech companies like Apple, Compaq, Applied Materials, Sun Micro,
28 Yahoo, Intel, et cetera. So you can see, we have similar
38
1 concerns in education and technology, to just name a few.
2 Lastly, Santa Clara County has 10 representatives
3 in the State Legislature: 4 State Senators and 6 Assembly
4 Members. I would very much like to keep our 10 representatives
5 as our voice in Sacramento for the folks in Silicon Valley.
6 Thank you for your time and concern.
7 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
8 MS. ENG: Good afternoon. My name is Lynette Lee
9 Eng. I am here on behalf of the Organization of Chinese
10 Americans, Silicon Valley, better known as OCA-SV. OCA is a
11 national nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization of
12 concerned Chinese Americans. OCA-SV, like the national
13 organization, is dedicated to securing the rights of the Chinese
14 Americans and Asian American citizens, and permanent residents
15 through legislative and policy initiatives at all levels of the
16 government.
17 As a civil rights organization, we would like to
18 urge that your considerations respect the Voting Rights Act of
19 1965 by preventing the fragmentation of minority communities in
20 the City of Cupertino. As you may know, the City of Cupertino
21 is currently divided between Senate Districts 12 and 13.
22 Similarly, we request that your Committee
23 minimize the current fragmentation of minority communities in
24 the Evergreen area as well. The Evergreen area is currently
25 divided between Senate Districts 13 and 15.
26 Thank you again.
27 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
28 MR. NGUYEN: Good afternoon. My name is Hung
39
1 Nguyen. I'm on the Executive Committee with the local NAACP
2 branch here, and I think you just heard from our Vice President,
3 Chris Elias.
4 I'm also here representing as a member of the
5 Coalition of Vietnamese American Professionals Alliance. We're
6 here in Silicon Valley.
7 And basically not to repeat everything that
8 everyone else has already said, but I think the purpose of this
9 redistricting every ten years, we have the opportunity of
10 empowering our citizens to be more responsible and more active
11 in the community, and that's why we're here. Everybody has
12 their lobbying efforts and their opinions.
13 And I think I just want to remind everybody that
14 we need to be mindful of our -- one of the founders of the
15 State, which is Father Junipero Serra. He came here centuries
16 ago, and he had a motto: Siempre Adelante. That means we
17 always move forward. And then our State Motto is Eureka.
18 I think California, despite the energy crisis,
19 can still be a shining light on this Western Hemisphere. And I
20 think we can take the leadership of making sure that our
21 citizens continue to be empowered, and to be equally
22 represented, and have a fair chance at representation and
23 empowerment within our community.
24 And I think this is ultimately a matter of
25 community building, no matter where you are in the State of
26 California. We need to continue to work together as coalitions
27 and as people who are mindful of what this great state can be,
28 so that once again we can say, "Siempre Adelante, and Eureka."
40
1 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
2 MR. SANTIAGO: Good afternoon. My name is Amor
3 Santiago, and I'm the President and CEO of Asian Americans for
4 Community Involvement.
5 For over 28 years, AACI has been the largest
6 advocacy, health and human service provider in Santa Clara
7 County, and has recently expanded its programmatic reach to
8 include Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz, and San Mateo
9 Counties. Part of that is a reflection of the growth of our
10 population that we target.
11 I want to also say hello to Senator Perata. I
12 don't know if you remember me. I'm one of the many students.
13 This is my first occasion to actually come in front of you.
14 When you were our government teacher in Encinal High, we said
15 back then, you need to run for office. So again, I haven't had
16 a chance to touch base since I've been here.
17 We are concerned with participation and
18 representation of our constituents at all levels of American
19 society, and that's part of our job. And an important and
20 necessary aspect includes the ability to serve in public office.
21 We believe that it's in the best interests of our Asian Pacific
22 residents of Santa Clara County that cities and areas -- again
23 to echo my colleagues -- of San Jose not be split between
24 Assembly and Senate districts.
25 I am also a resident of Evergreen and in the 15th
26 District, and would like to see my participation weigh in with
27 the 14th District.
28 So again, thank you for your consideration.
41
1 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
2 MS. MARUHASHI: We have one other person, and
3 that will complete our testimony.
4 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Good timing.
5 MR. SINGH: My name is Kim Singh. I'm the
6 Director of the Asian American Public Policy Institute. I also
7 happen to be a computer software engineer, and I have my own
8 company, Megabyte.
9 But I'm here to speak more on behalf of keeping
10 communities of interest together, whether they are the API
11 communities in Silicon Valley, specifically Cupertino, where
12 there's a large Chinese American population, in Santa Clara
13 where there's a large Indo-American population, or in south San
14 Jose where there is a large Vietnamese American population.
15 But also speaking on behalf of the high tech
16 companies in Cupertino, which show more of a synergy with what's
17 happening in Mountain View, in Sunnyvale, and not to split them
18 up into different districts. It's very important, because, you
19 know, I just came in from my work. It's very important that
20 those of us who have only X number of hours to spend to meet
21 with elected officials, that, you know, we have few elected
22 officials who represent us. You know, as a result, you don't
23 have to meet too many to represent our interests, whether it is
24 the API community, whether it's the Silicon Valley interests,
25 too.
26 Also, making a case for the fact that we
27 currently have four State Senators and six Assemblymen. I see
28 Senator Polanco over there, and we have worked in the past. But
42
1 would like to see that, as in the State of California, because
2 of the Census 2000, we give more seats in Southern California.
3 We do not want to lose the ten that we have representing us from
4 this area.
5 CHAIRMAN PERATA: That's why Senator Polanco is
6 here, to make sure that we don't take any from Southern
7 California.
8 [Laughter.]
9 MR. SINGH: Anyway, I assume I'm the end of the
10 panel of the various API representatives. And as you can see,
11 we have representatives, a broad spectrum of Filipino Americans,
12 South Asian, Chinese American, and Vietnamese American. So, we
13 are getting our act together.
14 I do appreciate if you can keep our interests in
15 mind. Thank you.
16 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
17 Thank you for a cogent presentation.
18 We're going to have to take a few minutes' break
19 for the court stenographer to get her hands to recirculate. So,
20 be back in five minutes.
21 [Thereupon a brief recess
22 was taken.]
23 CHAIRMAN PERATA: We're going to reconvene the
24 meeting. I want to thank everybody for their adhering to the
25 time limit and for the cogency of your remarks. It makes for
26 not only an expeditious hearing, but a great record. So, thank
27 you all.
28 A lot of pressure on the next group not to screw
43
1 it up. Is Bill Hughes here from the Berryessa Citizens
2 Advisory? Welcome.
3 MR. HUGHES: Thank you. I'm Bill Hughes. I'm an
4 activist in Berryessa, which is part of San Jose Council
5 District Four. It's composed of over 97,000 citizens.
6 You have a map in front of you about Berryessa
7 that Linda Hermann gave you.
8 We're trying to unify Berryessa for Congressional
9 district purposes. We're a very diversified but unified city
10 council district, and our city elementary school district and
11 county redistricting leave us unified there. And the present
12 State Assembly and Senate boundaries are okay.
13 Our problem is Congressional districts in which
14 we're split in half. Our District 16 Congressman or
15 Congresswoman comes to Berryessa and is available to us. But
16 when I asked at meetings of all the major organizations in
17 Berryessa if anyone had ever seen our Congressman from District
18 13 in Berryessa, no one ever had. This is a sad example of our
19 representative form of government.
20 We would like to have all of Berryessa
21 district -- all of Berryessa moved to Congressional District 16
22 where we can have a little more important to say. I'll give you
23 another map, too.
24 But this request has been made by the Berryessa
25 Citizens Advisory Council. They're the major neighborhood
26 association, has over 200 people, the Berryessa Seniors that
27 have over 400 people, United Neighborhoods of Santa Clara
28 County, that's an organization of most of the major neighborhood
44
1 associations in Santa Clara County, and that represents
2 thousands. Note the title, United Neighborhoods. That's what
3 we're trying to do.
4 I'll give you two letters here and another map
5 from some of these other groups, and other letters are in the
6 mail to you.
7 Thank you.
8 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
9 Carol Fuller.
10 MS. FULLER: My name is Carol Fuller. I am a
11 resident of Santa Cruz City for 29 years, and I grew up in Santa
12 Clara County, actually, in San Jose. And I am speaking to you
13 today as a citizen and a grassroots person.
14 I'm on my local Democratic Central Committee, and
15 I have spent a lot of time through the years, not only in
16 Democratic politics and local candidate campaigns, but for
17 Planned Parenthood, and other community health issues, and other
18 issues affecting women and children largely.
19 And I would like to ask you, you've heard about
20 the community of interest in San Benito, Monterey, and Santa
21 Cruz Counties, but I would like to add the perspective as
22 someone who's done a lot of door-to-door kinds of political work
23 to respect the integrity of these counties and the existing
24 Senate District 15, because it's very -- each election, we see
25 how few people are voting, and how the age of the average voter
26 is rising all the time.
27 I think people are very stressed. Housing is
28 very expensive. Most families have now two wage earners, and
45
1 just a lot of stresses and a lot of demands, and life is very
2 complex in this society we live in now.
3 So, to get on people's agenda, I would like to
4 ask you not to do too much violence to our district, because
5 most people, it's stunning the number of people who don't have
6 any idea who their State Senator is, or who their Assemblyperson
7 is. And now with term limits, it's even worse.
8 So, to get people involved, there just needs to
9 be some continuity of follow-through in these different
10 districts. So, I'd like to ask you to respect the integrity of
11 that boundary.
12 And I did grow up in San Jose, and I know that
13 even -- and we speak of that as "over the hill," even though I
14 grew up there, and my family still lives here. So, that is the
15 part of the district that's probably the least integrated into
16 the 15th Senate District as it exists right now.
17 Thank you very much.
18 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
19 Joel Szabat.
20 MR. SZABAT: Thank you, Senator. Thank you,
21 Senators, for your courtesy in coming down here today.
22 Last month the Public Policy Institute of
23 California -- Joel Szabat, Executive Director of CACEO,
24 C-A-C-E-O.
25 Last month, the Public Policy Institute of
26 California did a study, issued a study, which showed that in
27 minority communities, turnout can be as high as 33 percent
28 higher if the minorities live in a district with the plurality
46
1 of a majority of their same minority, which doesn't necessarily
2 make English sense, but it makes logical sense.
3 The study was only done looking at African
4 American and Latino legislative and Congressional districts. No
5 API districts were evaluated for one very good reason. For the
6 last 10 years, there has been no API plurality district out of
7 the 172 Congressional and legislative districts in California.
8 This despite the fact that 10 years ago, the African American
9 community in California was 7.4 percent of the state's
10 population, and there were 10 African American plurality or
11 majority districts.
12 In the Asian American population, it was 9.6
13 percent, yet there were zero Asian American plurality or
14 majority districts.
15 With the last Census, the population of the Asian
16 Pacific Islander community in California has grown to nearly 12
17 percent.
18 Now, there is a common fallacy that the Asian
19 Pacific Islander community is too dispersed to have concentrated
20 districts, but it is a fallacy.
21 Senator, I did distribute some maps, both of --
22 one of the Bay Area, and one of the L.A. area, Los Angeles-
23 Orange County area, which show that there is a reasonable
24 possibility to create as many as 10 API plurality legislative or
25 Congressional districts.
26 We've already submitted extensive written
27 testimony, so I'll just highlight briefly what we're talking
28 about.
47
1 No less than four of those districts can be
2 created right here in the South Bay and the East Bay Area. From
3 a line going from Seven Trees up through Berryessa and Milpitas,
4 that's enough for an Assembly district that would be an API
5 plurality. And another neighboring one in Alameda County from
6 Fremont, Newark, and up to San Leandro. So, in that one area,
7 you have enough for two Assembly districts, one State Senate
8 district, and one Congressional district that would be plurality
9 API.
10 You could also create plurality API Assembly and
11 Congressional districts based on San Francisco, and extending
12 down through Daly City to San Bruno.
13 There are five additional districts in the Los
14 Angeles-Orange County area, but unless there are specific
15 questions from the Senators, I will leave that to the maps that
16 we've already submitted to the Committee.
17 But in summary, we at CACEO recognize that race
18 cannot be a sole or a primary factor in your determination.
19 Fortunately, there's no rule against it being a primary factor
20 in our testimony. But it can be a factor in your decision
21 making.
22 Now, we're willing to wager that at the end of
23 the day when the district lines are drawn, that there will be
24 Latino and African American majority districts created in
25 California. The Asian American community is not asking for any
26 special treatment, but we are asking, and we think we have the
27 right to expect, to have the same consideration that's given to
28 other ethnic communities in California.
48
1 For that, we thank you again for your time and
2 consideration.
3 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
4 Charles Scott.
5 MR. SCOTT: I'm Charles Scott.
6 In the interest of disclosure, I am the Chair of
7 the San Benito County Republican Central Committee. I am,
8 however, not here for that purpose today.
9 I am here to state that the San Benito County
10 originally was formed from what was originally Monterey County.
11 Since that date, we have always been aligned with Monterey,
12 Santa Cruz, and south Santa Clara Counties. Our economic
13 interests are tied to those counties; our social interests are
14 tied to those counties.
15 We are a county of great land size when you look
16 at the map in District 28 and Senatorial District 15.
17 We are, however, a very small community in
18 population. We are approximately 50,000 individuals; 35,000 who
19 live in the northern part of this county in the City of
20 Hollister.
21 It would be very easy during these negotiations
22 and during this redrawing to just leave us off of the coastal
23 plain and add us somewhere else, like the San Joaquin Valley.
24 The eastern side of our county is formed by the
25 hill range that constitutes essentially the spine of this
26 state. It also separates us by approximately 30 miles of those
27 hills between us and San Joaquin County.
28 We in the county look at those maps. We look at
49
1 the approximately 50,000 individuals that have to be moved out
2 of District 28, and we wonder where those cuts will come from,
3 how those alignments will be made.
4 We ask that you leave us within District 15 for
5 the Senatorial District. As the very able Assembly District 27
6 representative stated to you, we are part and parcel of the
7 economic viability of this coastal plain. We ask that you leave
8 us within District 28, and leave us within District 15
9 Senatorial.
10 Thank you.
11 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
12 Dan Haifley.
13 MR. HAIFLEY: Thank you, Chairperson Perata and
14 Committee Members.
15 My name is Dan Haifley, H-a-i-f-l-e-y. I'm
16 Executive Director of O'Neill Sea Odyssey. We provide a marine
17 science and ecology program to schools and community centers
18 throughout Central California. We served 4,000 low-income youth
19 last year, for example.
20 We are based in Santa Cruz, and we benefit
21 greatly from the leadership of our current Assembly Member whose
22 district emphasizes environmental protection and has several, as
23 has been mentioned before, marine science institutions,
24 educational institutions within that district, and with whom my
25 organization works.
26 We support a Senate District 15 which would
27 maintain the boundaries of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito
28 Counties. These three counties share characteristics and
50
1 communities in common. Three of these, and these have been
2 mentioned before, include a common watershed, the Pajaro River
3 watershed. In fact, watershed is part of the educational lesson
4 that we teach to the kids, but it's also a defining
5 environmental characteristic for our area.
6 I also mentioned the 27 marine science, education
7 and research institutions in our area which are clustered along
8 the Monterey Bay.
9 And lastly, the Monterey Bay National Marine
10 Sanctuary, which is the cornerstone of our area economically,
11 educationally, and is the primary natural characteristic of our
12 area.
13 We need the full attention of a future Senator to
14 the issues and concerns the environmental community and the
15 educational community have in our area, and we would ask you to
16 retain those three counties within that district.
17 Thank you.
18 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
19 Sal Alvarez.
20 MR. ALVAREZ: Good afternoon. My name is Sal
21 Alvarez. I'm here representing myself for the most part, but I
22 am the Chair of the 28th Assembly District, Simon Salinas'
23 District, for the Democratic Party. Member of the La Raza
24 Roundtable, which is approximately 31 Mexican American
25 organizations, Santa Clara County. The statewide Chaplain for
26 LULAC, and involved in a number of other Latino causes.
27 Formerly the Legislative Representative for the United
28 Farmworkers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
51
1 I want to welcome you here to the home of Cesar
2 Chavez, where he started organizing not too far from here at a
3 time when there was very poor representation. As you know now,
4 we have Assemblyman Manny Diaz representing the East San Jose,
5 and also now Simon Salinas in the Salinas upper area of the
6 Evergreen-Santa Clara County area.
7 We're fortunate to have Senator Liz Figueroa on
8 the other part of it, which is the Alameda County and parts of
9 Santa Clara County.
10 The question that the Mexican American community
11 is looking at from variety of synergies, whether it's the Latino
12 Caucus of the Democratic Party, or the Latino Legislative
13 Caucus, or LULAC, or MALDEF, or any of the other organizations,
14 is how do we solve the problem that we addressed in the 1970s,
15 1980s, 1990s, and now the year 2000, is that there would be a
16 Latino Senatorial district carved out in this area.
17 The Boatwright hearings focused a lot of
18 attention around that issue, and Alquist seat was one that was
19 designed to at least give the possibility of a Mexican American
20 winning a Senatorial seat in at that time Northern California.
21 We're pleased to have Senator Ortiz here now, and of course
22 Senator Figueroa.
23 So, that's the question. Where is the Mexican
24 American community going to have political representation in the
25 California Senate in this part of the world, namely the Bay
26 Area?
27 There have been some conversations that have
28 ranged from, why don't we put the 28th and the 23rd, Manny
52
1 Diaz's district, and Simon Salinas in the same Senatorial
2 district, and there's lots of community of interest that could
3 be discussed, including Evergreen area where I've lived for the
4 last 35 years. I've lived in San Jose 60 years.
5 But the Evergreen area, which has been addressed
6 by the Asian community has the largest Mexican American
7 professional population of anywhere in Northern California.
8 That's the Evergreen area where I live.
9 So, you have a significant Mexican American
10 population in the Evergreen area. You have a significant Asian
11 population. So, one possibility is to look at the community of
12 interest from East San Jose all the way into the Salinas
13 Valley. There's from our point of view and argue a tremendous
14 community of interest. Lots of flow of traffic coming in from
15 Salinas, San Benito into Santa Clara County, as there is over
16 the hill the other way, you know, coming from Tracy, but it's
17 flowing this way. And it's going to be flowing even more with
18 Cisco.
19 So, you can argue that's -- a reasonable argument
20 can be made that there's a real community of interest between
21 the Salinas Valley and Santa Clara County.
22 Who's going to represent that area with regard to
23 the traffic flow and all the other issues? What's been proposed
24 is anywhere from keeping the McPherson seat the way it is, the
25 15th, to then now carving into, bringing the 13th into the
26 middle between those two areas, and bringing in a third
27 Senatorial district, and I oppose that. That's not going to be
28 the best -- to the best interest.
53
1 So, I hope I take a serious look at the large
2 Mexican American population in East San Jose, and the growing
3 and large Mexican American population of the Salinas Valley as a
4 possibility.
5 In any case, I'm here to urge the Committee to
6 look very seriously at answering that age-old question that
7 we've had. We have not had representation in the State Senate
8 from East San Jose. We have not had representation in the State
9 Senate from the Salinas valley. And I hope you can solve that
10 problem. Otherwise, ten years from now, we'll be back again,
11 saying the same thing we did in the'70s, '80s, '90s, and now
12 again.
13 So, I urge you give it serious consideration to
14 how you would redraw the lines so that we have a Mexican
15 American in the State Senate.
16 Thank you very much.
17 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
18 Alejandro Chavez and Pedro Castillo.
19 MR. CHAVEZ: Senators, Chairperson Perata.
20 My name is Alejandro Chavez, and I am from
21 Watsonville, California.
22 And I am here today to urge you to make certain
23 that Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, San Benito County
24 continues to be included within the boundaries of the 15th
25 Senatorial District.
26 I urge you to enforce the Voting Rights Act, and
27 to not divide our communities of interest. Our commonalities,
28 our community of interest lies in the tourism industry,
54
1 educational collaboration as spoken before by others,
2 agricultural industry, for example, the strawberry industry,
3 lettuce industry, and wine industry, and of course our children,
4 our youth.
5 As a person who has worked in various arenas,
6 including the agricultural based arena, youth advocacy arena,
7 labor arena, now serving in the public sector as an Aide to a
8 County Supervisor of Monterey County, I can tell you that we
9 face a crisis in the 15th District, up and down from Santa Cruz,
10 to King City, to Gilroy. Our children, for the most part, come
11 from diverse backgrounds, from farmworkers. They're migrant
12 students. They're children from, yes, the high tech industry as
13 well.
14 In other words, the interesting thing about the
15 diversity is that either survival needs, or because of busy life
16 styles, because of work, our youth are suffering tremendously.
17 In Salinas alone, we have had eight murders already, due in part
18 to gang violence this year. We're seeing an increase in drugs
19 on the streets in both the poverty stricken areas of the 15th as
20 well as in the more affluent areas, including Carmel and Santa
21 Cruz. Our youth face each and every day the issues of gangs,
22 drugs, issues of formal education, as well as overcrowded
23 conditions.
24 Lawsuits are pending against school districts,
25 for example, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, and yet
26 we are still unable to address these issues.
27 However, it is imperative that you give us the
28 opportunity to continue to try to solve these issues as a whole.
55
1 Leaving Monterey County, San Benito, Santa Cruz County as whole
2 in order to begin the process of solving these complex issues.
3 I ask you to take into consideration other
4 issues, such as the Monterey Bay Sanctuary, the Elk Horn Slough,
5 the Pajaro River, as areas of more commonalities among our
6 community in the 15th District. Please make certain you allow
7 for the 15th District to battle these issues together on a
8 united front.
9 Even though some of these issues are negative, it
10 is a positive that we can learn from one another, and we must
11 work with one another. Our strength together in these three
12 counties is to be able to pull together and address these issues
13 united. We are so different in this arena in comparison to the
14 Central Valley, as well as San Luis Obispo County, and parts of
15 northern Santa Clara County, or the southern part of Santa Clara
16 County.
17 Make sure we look at the geographic natural
18 boundaries as well. Do not split up Santa Cruz, San Benito, And
19 Monterey Counties. It is crucial when we talk about having a
20 future for the Central Coast of California.
21 I also want to put for the record that I am
22 giving you a copy of what Supervisor Fernando Armenta from
23 Monterey County has actually asked me to give you, a copy of his
24 testimony as well, so I'm giving you that as well.
25 Thank you so much.
26 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
27 DR. CASTILLO: Senator Perata, Chair and Members
28 of the Senate Committee on Elections and Reapportionment, my
56
1 name is Dr. Pedro Castillo. I'm a Professor of History and
2 founding Co-Director of the Chicano Latino Research Center at
3 the University of California at Santa Cruz.
4 I'm also a resident of Watsonville, and member of
5 the Santa Cruz and Watsonville League of United Latin American
6 Citizens, as well as the past State Director of the California
7 State LULAC.
8 My comments are related specifically to the 15th
9 Senatorial District, which includes Santa Cruz, Monterey, San
10 Benito, and part of Santa Clara County.
11 My recommendation to you this afternoon is that
12 you maintain the existing boundary of the 15th, which includes
13 Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito County. You should reduce
14 the population in Santa Cruz County by 20,000 to come in
15 compliance with the new average population per district figure
16 of roughly over 846,000 based on the 2000 Census.
17 This recommendation is based on maintaining
18 strong communities of interest that currently exist in the 15th
19 Senatorial District, which includes Santa Cruz, Monterey, and
20 San Benito Counties. These three counties are a region which
21 are defined by a shared social, political, and economic
22 interest.
23 First the economic interest. These three
24 counties are rural in nature, in agriculture, and its related
25 infrastructure is a primary revenue generating industry in three
26 counties. Watsonville produces over 40 percent of California's
27 strawberries. Salinas is likewise a major agricultural center,
28 the lettuce growing center of the state. Moreover, tourism is a
57
1 significant industry in all three counties. Finally, Monterey
2 and Santa Cruz Counties form part of the Monterey Bay Marine
3 Sanctuary.
4 Two, educational communities of interest. There
5 is a regional educational community of interest binding Santa
6 Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito Counties. We have various
7 community colleges: Cabrillo, Monterey Peninsula, Gavilan, and
8 Hartnell. You have California State University Monterey Bay,
9 and you have the University of California at Santa Cruz. With
10 the recently approved dual admission program of the University
11 of California, this regional educational community of interest
12 will allow more students to attend local community colleges in
13 the region and then transfer to the University of California at
14 Santa Cruz.
15 All of these institutions of higher learning have
16 entered into collaborative working relationships involving
17 students, faculty, and facilities.
18 Third, cultural and political communities of
19 interest. Monterey County is subject to the Voting Rights Act,
20 and the strength of the Latino community must not be diluted in
21 these three counties. The voting strength of the Latino
22 community in Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito Counties is a
23 cohesive group and should not be weakened or watered down by
24 your redistricting plan.
25 In the last ten years in these three counties, we
26 have seen an increase in the number of Latino elected officials
27 to the city council, to the school boards, and to the board of
28 supervisors. More than 74 percent of the population of
58
1 Watsonville is Latino. Roughly more than 50 percent of the
2 population of Salinas is Latino, and a significant number of the
3 citizens of Hollister are Latino.
4 Finally, let me conclude by saying that what you
5 have here is a kind of multicultural coalition that came
6 together. You have the NAACP from Monterey County. You have
7 the LULAC from Salinas and Pajaro Valley. You've got the Asian
8 Pacific Islander group, and you also have the Central Committee
9 from the Republican Party coming together, recommending that, to
10 ensure the voices of communities of interest, you maintain the
11 27th and the 28th Assembly Districts and not dilute their
12 strength. These two districts should be included in the 15th
13 Senatorial District. And you can get to the target average
14 population by eliminating residents from Santa Clara County.
15 Thank you very much.
16 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
17 Gordon and Rachel Haskell.
18 MR. HASKELL: My name is Gordon Haskell. I live
19 in Santa Cruz.
20 Fifty-five years ago, I testified before a Joint
21 Legislative Committee on Housing, 1946 and '7, to try to deal
22 with the post-War housing problems which we first saw were going
23 to develop in the ensuing period. So, it just shows what goes
24 around comes around, if you stay around long enough.
25 Now I want to testify before you, to urge you not
26 to break up the 15th Senatorial District. And again I want to
27 focus on housing. The fact is, we have lots of housing for rich
28 people in our three-county area. As the Silicon Valley has
59
1 spilled over, a lot of mansions of the 2 and 3 million dollar
2 variety are available. But ordinary working people have a hard
3 time living in the area now.
4 And the commonality of it is that we have become
5 a commuting area for Silicon Valley. And then, in addition to
6 that, we're a beautiful tourist area that people like to live
7 in.
8 But for ordinary people, like my daughter moved
9 from Arizona two years ago to teach in the Pajaro District. She
10 couldn't afford to live there. She moved to Gilroy, and now
11 she's moving to Sacramento because the availability of housing
12 for ordinary people is so hard to reckon with.
13 Now, being in the same Senatorial district is not
14 going to solve that problem by itself. But at least it makes it
15 possible to coherently address it as far as the State Senate
16 deals with housing issues.
17 So, we urge you to please keep our 15th District
18 as intact as possible.
19 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
20 MS. HASKELL: My name is Rachel Haskell. Thank
21 you, Mr. Chairman and Members of this Committee for your
22 patience on a long afternoon.
23 I don't represent much of anything except a whole
24 bunch of Democrats, fine people, I want to tell you, and a lot
25 of them here today. We finally have a fine Assemblyman that you
26 may have met, Mr. Keeley.
27 Now, I have no particular expertise to give you.
28 You've heard an awful lot here. I agree with everything on
60
1 keeping the 15th District as we all hope you will keep it.
2 My reasons for that fall more or less along the
3 same track, except a little more personal. I view this as a
4 large family, members of my family. Watsonville, I have walked
5 every inch of Watsonville. You people who are there, my
6 goodness. From Cesar Chavez and Farmworkers Union, and the
7 whole thing, I've done it.
8 Seaside, oh yes, many times. When we closed Fort
9 Ord, remember that one. The first military -- first one to be
10 closed and turned over to civilians, well, we all worked on that
11 one with the people of Seaside and Monterey. Very proud to have
12 an educational facility there.
13 Of course, it goes without saying, the marvelous
14 Monterey Bay Sanctuary, very much united with all the people
15 there on the Monterey Bay, the people who live in Monterey.
16 So, we just very, very much urge you to please,
17 in your thinking, don't destroy our family. It's worked awfully
18 well in all the ways that you've heard it.
19 And if you must take a distant cousin, take that
20 one in Santa Clara. Thank you very much.
21 [Laughter.]
22 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
23 Dirk West.
24 MR. WEST: My name is Dirk West. I live in Santa
25 Cruz.
26 I want to thank the Board for opening up this
27 discussion on redistricting, and someone like myself being able
28 to express an opinion.
61
1 But humility makes me say that I could not follow
2 that act, and I simply want to go on record as supporting
3 maintaining an integral Senate district with the least amount of
4 disruption to the voters.
5 Thank you.
6 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you. Wise man.
7 Darrell Darling.
8 MR. DARLING: Darrell Darling from Santa Cruz
9 City and County.
10 Wisdom would dictate that I just say second, I
11 second Dirk West's statement. But nobody accused me of great
12 wisdom.
13 So, I will just ask that you look at that large
14 blue area on the map, Monterey Bay. That defines who we are.
15 Rachel said it one way. Virtually everyone else that you've
16 heard from here today has said it, each in our own way.
17 I want to say it from a business perspective. I
18 spent the first half of my adult life as a United Methodist
19 pastor, and spent lots of years in community service in the
20 nonprofit sector. The close to second half of my adult life has
21 been spent as an owner and operator with my wife of a bed and
22 breakfast on the ocean in Santa Cruz.
23 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Do you have a card?
24 MR. DARLING: We'll get to that.
25 [Laughter.]
26 I just want to say two things, and I'm departing
27 from my notes here.
28 Think Monterey Bay. And the reason that I say
62
1 that, I'm going to say anecdotally. One, and I'll come around
2 to the main point, UC Santa Cruz has been through an English --
3 several years' study of all the educational research institutes
4 in the world, has concluded that UC Santa Cruz is number two in
5 the United States in physical sciences. Surprisingly in
6 physical sciences.
7 But I say surprisingly, on the other hand, it's a
8 no-brainer. You've heard from the educational sector, and the
9 integration of 27 educational institutions.
10 But what also needs to be factored in is the
11 integration of that body of water, the Monterey Bay, and the
12 agricultural industry. These two industries, agriculture and
13 tourism, form the economic -- the economy, define the economy of
14 Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, and San Benito County.
15 The second thing I want to say anecdotally is
16 that I have no embarrassment in identifying myself as a resident
17 and a business person, pastor, citizen of Monterey Bay. Where
18 do I live? In Santa Cruz. I have no embarrassment. As a
19 matter of fact, I say with pride, I am a part of, an advocate
20 of, and in Rachel's definition, a citizen of Monterey Bay.
21 We want you very much -- and I, in the way of
22 disclosure as well, I Chaired the 27th Assembly District for the
23 Democratic Party for four years, joining my Republican friend,
24 and together we say: Don't take Tres Pinos away from us.
25 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
26 Cynthia Matthews.
27 MS. MATTHEWS: Good afternoon. I'm Cynthia
28 Matthews of Santa Cruz. I'm a former two-term council member
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1 from the City of Santa Cruz, former mayor.
2 I've worked most of my adult life in the area of
3 health care and women's issues for a community-based
4 organization.
5 Others have spoken very eloquently about the
6 environmental, economic, educational shared interests of the
7 Monterey Bay area. And I'm not going to duplicate those
8 comments, but I want to join them in asking you to retain the
9 integrity of the 15th Senate District with Santa Cruz, Monterey,
10 San Benito Counties.
11 And I want to make that point specifically from
12 my perspective. Historically, nonprofits have been organized in
13 our area on a county-wide basis, and that has been a large part
14 of our organizational effectiveness. We relate directly with
15 the governmental agencies, the business organizations, the
16 educational institutions. And really, everything that we do is
17 based on community partnerships.
18 A lot of that is also directly related to state
19 policies and state resources. When we talk in health services,
20 never talk about doing it on our own. It's always in
21 cooperation with our county health department. And all of that,
22 as you all know, is integrally woven with state policies and
23 state resources.
24 We have in Santa Cruz-Monterey Counties, San
25 Benito area, developed a real culture of collaboration. And
26 again, I think that's part of the secret of our success.
27 Whether we talk about teen programs, senior programs, Healthy
28 Families, Healthy Start, all of these depend on the integration
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1 and cooperation of regional agencies.
2 Also, you may not be aware, increasingly there
3 are mergers between the nonprofits and cooperation between the
4 governmental agencies in the areas I'm talking about, public
5 service, health services, and social services, between Monterey
6 County, Santa Cruz County, and San Benito County. My own agency
7 has merged into a much larger area serving this region. Others
8 in recent years include Second Harvest, our Seniors Council,
9 children's programs, other health agencies.
10 So, there's increasingly as we work towards
11 better economy of scale and effectiveness, increasing
12 cooperation, merger relationships regionally. So, that's so
13 key, and again, I want to bring it back to everything we do in
14 the area of nonprofits and service organizations relates in some
15 way or another to state policies and state resources.
16 So again, I just want to underline the multiple
17 communities of interest that we share, but emphasize that this
18 area is not just a part of our identity. It's a part of our
19 effectiveness in serving the people of our community.
20 I urge you to keep that Santa Cruz, Monterey, San
21 Benito County unit intact in the 15th Senate District.
22 Thank you.
23 CHAIRMAN PERATA: David Topkin.
24 MR. TOPKIN: Good afternoon. My name is David
25 Topkin. I'm here representing the Santa Clara Chamber of
26 Commerce.
27 We're on record in supporting, maintaining,
28 District 22 and Senate District 13. We all know it behooves
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1 Santa Clara County to have strong representation in the State
2 Capitol. As you are well aware, over 70 percent of the voters
3 ensured the passage of Measure A in Santa Clara County. This
4 vote demonstrates the demand for representation in Sacramento
5 and Washington by residents of Santa Clara County.
6 In a key, influential district, a community of
7 interest surrounding quality of life issues, embodied in
8 transportation, transit projects, inexplicably tied to housing
9 and the cost of living. This demand is so strong that it will
10 last for the next 30 years.
11 The decision to tax ourselves was not isolated in
12 its support for transportation and transit. According to the
13 Santa Clara Registrar of Voters, over 56 percent of the
14 registered voters participated in the 2000 General Election,
15 determining the passage of five additional bond measures by an
16 average of 74 percent. These included water, parks, library and
17 schools.
18 On June 5th, 2001, Santa Clara County held a
19 separate special school election for five school districts, and
20 all won approval by an average 77 percent.
21 As you know, this indicates a community of
22 interest that overwhelmingly supports strong governance in their
23 decision to tax themselves. As evidence, Santa Clara County
24 residents have tremendous stakes. At risk over the next ten
25 years and beyond, their own tax dollars. In the next decade,
26 our region will be stressed to solve our quality of life issues,
27 housing, transportation, high quality education, and energy,
28 each affecting our high cost of living.
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1 It is an expectation that Santa Clara County
2 residents will have adequate representation to meet these
3 challenges. They've grown accustomed to being provided the best
4 representation locally and in our state and our nation's
5 capitol.
6 Thank you.
7 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
8 Chris Stampolis.
9 MR. STAMPOLIS: Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name's
10 Chris Stampolis. I live at 1682 Street in Santa Clara.
11 I'm going to do some quick hat changes here, but
12 I'll keep it all within five minutes.
13 First, as one of the delegates from California to
14 the Democratic National Committee, I just want to thank you as
15 State Senators because very few people realize that the
16 districts you represent are actually bigger constituent-wise
17 than even what Majority Leader, Senator Tom Daschal, has to
18 represent for his entire State of South Dakota. So, it's a big
19 challenge, and thank you.
20 As the Chairperson for the 22nd Assembly District
21 Committee for the California Democratic Party, I wanted to let
22 you know a little bit about the discussions that we had, and I
23 know a couple of the colleagues on the committee came earlier.
24 We talked back and forth quite a bit, and really wanted to
25 convey to the Committee our concern that the City of Mountain
26 View continue to be part of the same district that it is
27 currently now in, the 22nd.
28 The constituents for Mountain View on the
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1 committee had a lot of dialogue back and forth, and their
2 general consensus was that they felt much more of an affinity
3 towards the cities of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara than they did to
4 the other cities that were around them to the north and to the
5 west. So, it's the first message to bring forward from that
6 perspective. We thought that that was important to share.
7 Switching hats, I also serve as the Chair of the
8 Planning Commission in Santa Clara. And I know that
9 Councilmembers Matthews and Diridon came here earlier, as well
10 as Mr. Topkin from the Chamber of Commerce.
11 As a Santa Claran, we're also very concerned that
12 the 22nd A.D. continue to exist, but especially that the City of
13 Santa Clara be seen as one entity within that. That's something
14 that both the A.D. Committee and then also it's just a resident
15 of the city that we can certainly concur on.
16 This past ten years was somewhat challenging
17 because the largest growth area of the city, which is north of
18 101, although ably represented by folks such as Assemblyman
19 Dutra and Senator Figueroa, really was represented by
20 Legislators who are focused in an entirely different part of the
21 Bay Area. So, when we had to deal with the Agnews project, now
22 turning into Rivermark, other issues in the Golden Triangle and
23 the other development there, it was somewhat challenging, where
24 on most issues you would go to Senator Vasconcellos and
25 Assemblywoman Alquist, on those you suddenly had to bring in
26 John and Liz. And although those were great, it would be better
27 if we were one city.
28 Finally, switching hats for the last time, my
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1 wife, Anna Song, is a member of the Santa Clara County Board of
2 Education, one of the functional county boards of education in
3 the state. Unfortunately, Anna's at a conference back in
4 Philadelphia right now, but she wanted me to bring forward the
5 statistic that she's the first Korean American woman, best as we
6 can tell, who's been elected at any level to any jurisdiction in
7 the State of California.
8 And when Anna ran this past time in November, her
9 district of interest is actually -- it's City of Santa Clara,
10 the Berryessa School District, and Milpitas. And out of that
11 district, with four people on the ballot, her very first time
12 running, she pulled 57 percent of the vote.
13 So, just something in terms of as you're looking
14 for communities of interest, and State Senate districts going
15 forward, that particular group there obviously is one that has
16 been extremely friendly to Asian Americans, and with Anna
17 serving in that capacity, she wanted to make sure I at least put
18 that forward.
19 So, thank you for letting me do the quick change
20 of hats, and enjoy your afternoon.
21 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you.
22 Bill Malone.
23 MR. MALONE: Hi. My name is Bill Malone. I live
24 in the City of Santa Cruz.
25 I want to talk about the 15th Senatorial
26 District. I've heard that there may be talk about expanding it
27 into San Luis Obispo County, and I would recommend against that.
28 The first point I'd like to talk about is
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1 community of interest. I'm a citizen and I live in the City of
2 Santa Cruz. And I feel comfortable with the existing area that
3 is in the senatorial district. It's more like an extended
4 neighborhood. On the local news in the evening, we hear about
5 what's happening in these various areas. We hear about what's
6 happening in Salinas, in Monterey, Carmel. So, we kind of know
7 what's going on in this area.
8 We don't know what's going on -- well, we don't
9 hear too much about what's going on in San Luis Obispo, for
10 instance.
11 The Mercury News, the newspaper, again, they keep
12 us informed on what's going on in this area. When I drive
13 around, when I shop, when I go to recreate, go down to Point
14 Lobos, Big Sur, this is my little world. I'm sure other people
15 in this area feel likewise. This area we can kind of get around
16 in an hour or so.
17 So, this is another way, an extended
18 neighborhood, another way of saying a community of interest, I
19 feel. It's a contiguous area.
20 The second point I'd like to mention is a natural
21 division. When I used to live in L.A. and travel up north, I
22 always felt that the division between Northern California and
23 Southern California was the San Luis Obispo-Monterey County
24 border. There seems to be a change that happens in that area.
25 So, it seems to me you'd want to keep those areas separated so
26 there's alike areas represented.
27 And a third point is, and more practical point,
28 probably, is that if you were to expand the district into San
70
1 Luis Obispo, you'd be involving another government, another
2 county government. And it seems to me you'd want to keep it
3 simple.
4 If you do have to expand the district, maybe take
5 a little larger bite out of Santa Clara County, something like
6 that, but don't go into another county and make it more
7 complicated.
8 Just a few points. Thank you very much.
9 CHAIRMAN PERATA: Thank you, sir.
10 Is Sergio Sanchez here?
11 That concludes, I believe. I want to thank
12 everybody for being here, for your succinct and cogent
13 presentations. Very helpful to the Committee.
14 We have another hearing, if you really enjoyed
15 this one, in Sacramento on Tuesday. It'll be a little warmer up
16 there than it was here. But if you can't get enough of us,
17 you're more than welcome to come up there.
18 Thank you all. This Committee is adjourned.
19 [Thereupon this portion of the
20 Senate Elections and Reapportionment
21 Committee hearing was terminated at
22 approximately 3:10 P.M.]
23 --ooOoo--
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1 CERTIFICATE OF SHORTHAND REPORTER
2
3 I, EVELYN J. MIZAK, a Shorthand Reporter of the State
4 of California, do hereby certify:
5 That I am a disinterested person herein; that the
6 foregoing transcript of the Redistricting Hearing of the Senate
7 Committee on Elections and Reapportionment was reported verbatim
8 in shorthand by me, Evelyn J. Mizak, and thereafter transcribed
9 into typewriting.
10 I further certify that I am not of counsel or
11 attorney for any of the parties to said hearing, nor in any way
12 interested in the outcome of said hearing.
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
14 ______ day of __________________, 2001.
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_______________________
19
EVELYN J. MIZAK
20 Shorthand Reporter
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