Guilford commission redistricting maps released

At yesterday's meeting of the Guilford County Commission redistricting committee, five proposed maps were passed around. Three were submitted by Skip Alston, the Democratic chair of the commission. One was filed by the Guilford County Republican Party and another was submitted by Keith Brown, an active member of the Guilford GOP.

It should come as no surprise that the contending maps differ along partisan lines. For Democrats, the goal is to pack as many Republicans as possible into three districts to give their own party the advantage in the remaining five. Republicans best bet is to pack Democrats into three majority minority districts and one Greensboro district that hovers around the Friendly Shopping Center to create Republican majorities in the remaining four districts.

Kudos to Keith Brown for posting his map online (link here) with an explanation of his rationale.

Brown's map is fairly compact, with a High Point minority strength district running in a straight line through rural-suburban Sumner 1 precinct into south Greensboro. A Greensboro minority strength district follows Interstate 40 from the West Wendover Avenue intersection out to Replacements Limited, making a detour through Glenwood, downtown and Fisher Park along the way. The second Greensboro minority strength district begins in Ole Asheboro and encompasses a wide swath traveling north to the Browns Summit area. It should be noted that Alston and Bruce Davis are drawn into the same district, and Carolyn Coleman is drawn out of a minority strength district altogether. All three are black Democrats.

The white Greensboro district is safely Democratic, encompassing the North Elm Street, Battleground Avenue, Friendly Avenue and West Market Street corridors. Incumbent Kay Cashion would have no problem winning reelection in it. Another district runs from Oak Ridge down to Jamestown, picking up some west Greensboro precincts along the way. Republican Linda Shaw lives in this district. It leans Republican, but is more competitive than her old district. A High Point district that includes the affluent Emerywood neighborhood and northern suburbs looks much the same as before. It looks safe for Republican incumbent Bill Bencini. Democrat Kirk Perkins is drawn into a southeast Guilford district that leans Republican and looks like the one currently represented by Republican Billy Yow. Finally, a new district splits conservative Summerfield and Stokesdale from other parts of the northwest and runs across the northern portion of the county.

The map submitted by the county GOP looks somewhat like Brown's, with two significant differences. It draws Coleman into a southern Greensboro minority strength district, giving her a good shot at reelection. The compromise splits the two Pleasant Garden precincts. No such luck for Alston and Davis, who are left to compete for a seat in the High Point-Greensboro hybrid minority strength district. Another difference between the two plans is that the GOP plan places Jamestown and Adams Farm in the white High Point district.

The three maps submitted by Alston protect incumbents and maximize the chances for the Democrats to maintain their majority on the commission. Like the Republican plans, the High Point minority strength district travels up into to south Greensboro, but this time it bypasses Precinct 59, where Alston lives. Alston's urban Greensboro districts runs west to east, picking up the Greensboro Coliseum and traveling beyond NC A&T University. Meanwhile Coleman's district curves around the eastern bulge of Alston's district, traveling from Lees Chapel Road down to Pleasant Garden.

Like the Republican plans, Alston's plans show a central-northwest Greensboro district that is tailor made for Cashion, a fourth Democratic representative. The second accomplishment of the Alston plans is to draw a fifth district that is favorable for Kirk Perkins, which is located in northeast Guilford County. Under this scenario, the southeast corner of the county does not have sufficient population to create a whole district before it bumps into High Point all the way around in the southwest corner. The problem is solved by allowing the southeast district to meander up through High Point. The result is that High Point is carved into three districts.

There was some mention that Alston's maps and any others submitted would be posted on the county website for public review, but I have not been able to find them there yet.

The deadline for members of the public to submit maps was previously set for Wednesday, but the committee extended it to 5 p.m. on Friday. Maps should be delivered to the legal department.

"I think if you'll give to Friday, that would be extra generous," Cashion said.

At yesterday's meeting, Alston again mentioned the possibility of the commission voting to put the board's structure and size to a referendum as an alternative to following the reduction from 11 to nine members (and from nine to eight districts) mandated by the NC General Assembly.

Perkins has said in the past that he doesn't see a problem with the board's size, but that he doesn't see anyone on the board championing a referendum and doesn't believe voters would approve it if it were put on a ballot. But today John Parks, a Democratic at-large member who would find himself exiled for two years due to a quirk in the state law, expressed strong support for a referendum.

"This is pure democracy," he said. "It's a decision that's not going to be taken lightly. It's going to last ten years."

Democratic constituents appear to be complacent about the maneuvering to change the board's structure and redraw lines.

"The Democrats are please out there with how it is," he said, "and I'm not sure they realize we're on the brink of change."