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Visalia Looks To Increase Hispanic Representation With Council Districts

    

The valley city of Visalia will soon complete the transition from at-large elections to district elections for their city council. The change comes as a result of a voting rights lawsuit that claimed at-large elections cut the city’s substantial Latino population out of the political process. The transition is not exactly popular.

Carlos Medina has lived in Visalia for decades, He has been cutting hair at his barber shop across from Oval Park for nearly twenty years.

In that time, he says he has watched the slow decline of the city’s mostly Hispanic north side of town.

“So I just started getting a little more and more involved. And when I found about the reason we were getting some of the things done, it was because we weren’t getting the representation that we need on the north side,” Medina said.

"We should have the same. Not just because they are working in the fields, or they are working in lower jobs, or they live in the north side. They should be treated the same," Medina said.

By representation, Medina means a seat on the Visalia City Council.

The town of 129-thousand people has only ever had one Hispanic City Council member, despite being 46-percent Hispanic.

Even that one council member did not live in the city’s north side.

So Medina joined a lawsuit against the city led by civil rights attorneys Maggie Melo and John Sarsfeld.

John Sarsfeld and Maggie Melo

Melo says Oval Park has become rife with drugs and prostitution and is the symbol of decay on the north side.

“And even though there is a police station just very close to where we are, you see very police officers and police presence in this area. Which is where they are needed,” Melo said.

Melo says the lack of representation has allowed the city council to ignore vital issues facing residents on the North side, a problem that could be fixed if the area had a council district dedicated to it.

“They have no incentive to get this area cleaned up. Because they don’t have to look at it every day. They don’t have to deal with the ramifications of the crime. And they don’t have to really take too much of a concern into it because it is not in their back yard,” Melo said.

Visalia is not the only city in the valley going through this transition.

Merced is moving from at-large to district elections, although in that case voters in the city decided they wanted to do away with the old system.

The push is part of a larger effort by the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund to shift cities to district elections.

A bill is currently in the legislature to require district elections in every city over 100-thousand people.

Currently in Visalia, voters across the city elect all five council members at large.

That means voters through the city vote on the same candidates and the top two or three vote getters earn a seat on the council.

"Looking at the city chopped with lines and districts, it's heartbreaking to me to see our city chopped up into lines and districts," Councilmember Amy Shuklian

The existing city council was initially reluctant to move to districts but relented and struck a deal after realizing they were unlikely to win a court battle, says Mayor and Council member Steve Nelsen.

“That is a losing proposition. We felt that we could litigate the court system. It would probably cost us three-to-four million dollars. And at the end of the day we would probably end up losing,” Nelsen said.

Nelson is skeptical about districts, worrying that it will cause council members to be too focused on their own district over the city as a whole and lead to sub-par candidates.

He also rejects claims that the council is ignoring the concerns of north side residents.

Nelsen says encouraging more Hispanic residents to vote would be a better route to increase Hispanic involvement.

Another council member Amy Shuklian is more blunt.

She says moving to district elections will be bad for the city.

“Looking at the city chopped with lines and districts, it's heartbreaking to me to see our city chopped up into lines and districts,” Shuklian said.

The council is now considering 5 potential district maps, four submitted by citizens and one drawn by a professional demographer.

The goal is to have a district representing the north side be up for grabs when the next election rolls around in 2016.

Before a recent city council meeting, Demographer Doug Johnson says he has helped roughly 200 cities transition to districts but that it is no guarantee to fix the problems advocates see.

“Every city is different. And so yes, we have had cities where it has led to problems and confusion. And we have had cities where it has been a great decision and led to great gains in efficiency in government,” Johnson said.

Back at the barber shop, Carlos Medina says he is not looking for a silver bullet to all of the city’s problems, just a fair shot.

“We should all live the same. We should have the same. Not just because they are working in the fields, or they are working in lower jobs, or they live in the north side. They should be treated the same,” Medina said.

The council will have one more workshop before voting on what the new districts will look like.

They will be in effect for the next council election in 2016.

Jeffrey Hess is a reporter and Morning Edition news host for Valley Public Radio. Jeffrey was born and raised in a small town in rural southeast Ohio. After graduating from Otterbein University in Columbus, Ohio with a communications degree, Jeffrey embarked on a radio career. After brief stops at stations in Ohio and Texas, and not so brief stops in Florida and Mississippi, Jeffrey and his new wife Shivon are happy to be part Valley Public Radio.