One grid, one seat

That’s why the Sacramento Redistricting Citizens Advisory Committee is so important.

As reported in these pages last week, the downtown and Midtown parts of Sacramento—the grid, where it’s actually possible to navigate easily by street numbers and where you can’t swing your arms without pointing at an art gallery, coffee shop or tattoo parlor—is represented on the city council by three different council members.

And each of those council members is heavily invested in the other neighborhoods in their districts.

Meanwhile, redevelopment plans that focus on keeping the unique character of the grid as a place for funky fun, great art and performing arts, fantastic restaurants and nightclubs—and the home of a number of GLBT people, low-income artists and writers, and impoverished or homeless people—are left up to representatives with their hearts and hearths in other neighborhoods.

It makes good sense to keep a community intact, with a single representative on the city council. We hope that the council members, who will make the decision on council redistricting, do the right thing and support a plan that represents the grid in one piece.