City prepares to receive input on adjustment of districts

By Doug Spoon, Editor

As required by law, the City of Menifee will use 2020 federal census data as a basis for a re-evaluation of the City’s four districts for council representation and municipal voting purposes.

As adjustments to the borders of the districts are considered, the City will solicit public comment over the next three months. Two public workshops will be held in December and two more in January, and a special section of the City website will allow residents to provide input and create their own draft maps for consideration.
 

Andrew Westall of Bear Demographics and Research made a presentation to the City Council on Wednesday, reporting data from the latest census and discussing the redistricting process. According to the report, Menifee’s population for consideration in the report is 102,795. The goal is to create districts that are as even in population as possible, so each district’s elected City Council member has equal representation.

For each of the four Menifee districts, the law requires a deviation of less than 10 percent from their quarter share of the population. Currently, two of the districts are outside that range, so adjustments must be made. According to Westall, there does not appear to be enough disparity in ethnic and race factors to make that a consideration in the district distribution. Strictly population is being considered.

Westall provided the following data regarding the four current district populations and requirements. Keep in mind that a quarter of the total population would be 25,699:

District 1 (Northwest Menifee, primarily Sun City community): Population is 21,663. The deviation from the balanced split is -15.7 percent, or 4,036 underpopulated.

District 2 (Southwest Menifee): Population is 28,317. Deviation is +10.2 percent, or 2,618 overpopulated.

District 3 (Southeast Menifee): Population is 25,589. Deviation is -0.4 percent, or 110 underpopulated.

District 4 (Northeast Menifee, Heritage Lake, Romoland): Population is 27.226. Deviation is +6.1 percent, or 1,557 overpopulated.

Westall identified four questions for residents to ask themselves when providing public input to be considered in the redistricting process:

-- What streets, boundaries, or points of interest define your community?

-- Does your community have major geographical boundaries?

-- Is your community similar to other neighboring communities?

-- What are your shared interests?

Here is information on the four scheduled public workshops to provide information to residents and receive input. Residents can learn more about the redistricting process at this website at this link:

(Early December, exact date TBD): Sun City Library

Dec. 13: Menifee Library, 4 p.m.

Jan. 12: Kay Ceniceros Senior Center, 9 a.m.

Jan. 29: Marion V. Ashley Community Center, 10 a.m.

Census information shows the breakdown of city districts by population and ethnicity.