Redistricting Task Force Could Get Additional Direction

[UPDATED] The City Council on Monday will have a chance to provide the redistricting task force with additional goals and considerations, including those focused on connecting council districts to Colorado Boulevard.

Currently, all seven City Council districts contain a portion of Colorado Boulevard, which has long been considered to be a major component of the city’s economic engine.

But that practice came into question 10 years ago when the Downtown Pasadena Neighborhood Association called on the city to include plans for a new downtown district.

“Each Council District has consistently been mapped to include a portion of Colorado and maintain a connection to the commercial corridor,” according to a city staff report. “This prior practice continues to be a talking point at current Task Force meetings and community workshops — whether the City should continue to maintain Colorado Boulevard as an element of commonality.

“It would be beneficial to know if the City Council is prepared to direct the Task Force in that regard (to maintain that connection as much as possible or if such a connection is no longer an area of importance), as well as to provide any other points of emphasis that the Task Force should consider as it moves forward in the process.”

Following every 10-year census count, the city utilizes that information to examine the people residing within existing City Council district boundaries to account for changes in population.

The City Council has established a 12-member Redistricting Task Force composed of Pasadena residents to examine population changes and recommend a redistricting plan to the council for consideration. 

The city’s Redistricting Task Force is currently in the pre-mapping stage of the redistricting effort, focused on education, training, and understanding of the parameters that govern the process. The task force has held four formal meetings, as well as participated in or observed five of the seven identical community workshops designed to provide the public with information on the redistricting process and solicit community of interest information. 

Like everything else, the process has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Typically, the city receives population counts ahead of the work of the task force. Due to data delays  caused by the pandemic, the work plan has been adjusted to begin community engagement prior to the release of data.

Preliminary population data is not expected until sometime in August, and final redistricting data for Pasadena is scheduled for release in September.

The city must complete the process and adopt any changes by Dec. 15.