SDCTA supports City of San Diego Proposition A (June 2016)
The SDCTA staff supports this amendment because it follows SDCTA redistricting principles and creates a clearer charter, where the Council, Appointing Authority and City Clerk will be able to exercise good governance while expanding the representation of all the City Council districts. The amendments would clarify the selection of the Redistricting Commission as well as the resulting "appointing authority," their voting regulation and use of the federal consensus resulting in a geographically diverse appointing panel. The proposition addresses the concern brought forward by the Grand Jury and community feedback in regards to the inherent conflict of interest that exists when elected officials draw voting lines. Finally, Staff recommends support because empirical evidence has shown that the likely effect of increased homogeneity in representatives due to the goal of one commissioner per existing district is likely to result in a more heterogeneous and thus representative City Council (i.e., better able to represent diverse interests). Contemporary studies also encourage the addition of commissioners to lower paid staff costs and increase the overall quality of the districts to avoid expensive judicialization, and this change also resets the size of population represented by each commissioner to the number of people when the Redistricting Commission was first formed in 1990. Staff wish to point out that future amendments on redistricting ought instead to reference the number of City Council districts instead of a discrete numerical figure.