Raw Politics: Slicing And Dicing Denver
Redistricting Promises To Be A Recipe For Saucy Political Theater
By Penfield W. Tate III
For the GPHN
I am sure by now you are feeling sliced and diced, at least on a political level, on a regular basis. And indeed, you are.
These feelings are not just a product of the divisions that run through our country, it is the administrative process of democracy. It is the process where, based on population changes and shifts every 10 years, new boundaries are drawn to determine who represents us. We have just been through congressional and state legislative redistricting to determine who represents us in Congress and in the state legislature.
Now we are all about to be sliced and diced for a third time. Denver City Council has begun its process of council redistricting. This ultimately will determine your City Council person — who you vote for and who you reach out to and express your opinions and concerns. This is part of the administrative necessity of democracy that allows your vote to truly count.
Ideally, each new council district should have a population of 65,047, with allowable deviations. We are less diverse as a city than we were 10 years ago, and the huge demographic and population shifts — particularly downtown and far Northeast — will require that every district sees boundary changes. This requirement also prevents all of Park Hill being in one council district.
The process has begun with the public submitting 15 maps for consideration and City Council members submitting no fewer than six possible district maps, Maps A (brought by Candi CdeBaca), B (Jamie Torres), C (Kevin Flynn), D (Jolon Clark, Chris Herndon, Paul Kashmann, Chris Hinds, Stacie Gilmore, and Kendra Black), E (Amanda Sandoval), and F (Amanda Sawyer). Only councilwomen Robin Kniech and Debbie Ortega, both term-limited, have not sponsored maps.
From now until March 7 Council will have committee meetings debating the respective maps. Between March 7 and March 14, the committee will determine which are approved for filing. March 21 will be the first reading of the ordinance for the proposed maps, and March 29 culminates in the public hearing and adoption of an ordinance selecting the map to be put forward.
These maps will govern the April 23, 2023 mayoral and city council election. You can examine things for yourselves at tinyurl.com/DenverRedistrictingMap
In addition to the population requirements, maps must be drawn with certain equity criteria in mind to prevent gerrymandering. They must avoid cracking or diluting historically marginalized voters; avoid packing or concentrating historically marginalized voters; avoid stacking overall power against historically marginalized voters, acknowledge census undercounts in marginalized areas; and, consider past and future growth trends. (See aclu.org/video/stacking-cracking-and-packing for further discussion of the equity criteria.)
If you question the need for these equity criteria, consider this not-so-ancient Denver history. When Elvin Caldwell Sr. was elected to the Denver City Council in 1955, he became the first Black elected to a city council west of the Mississippi River. When he was appointed to the cabinet of former Mayor Bill McNichols in 1980, he became the first Black to serve on a Denver mayor’s cabinet. In 1983, Federico Pena became the first non-white elected mayor of Denver.
So how do these proposals impact Park Hill? Our neighborhood will likely end up in some combination of District 5 (Amanda Sawyer), District 8 (currently represented by Chris Herndon, who is term-limited from office) and District 9 (Candi CdeBaca). That means that, rather than the neighborhood being represented by one member of council, as is currently the case, three council members will represent different parts of Greater Park Hill.
With more than 20 maps in play, debating how this all shakes out is going to be an interesting process. Layer in the infighting with the current council, the fact that three council members and the mayor are term-limited, some council members may not seek re-election and the inherent desire of incumbents to craft districts where they can be easily reelected — and you have the recipe for good political theatre.
Here is the link to Redistricting Denver 2022: tinyurl.com/RedistrictingDenver
Log into a meeting and join in the fun. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Penfield W. Tate III is an attorney in Denver. He represented Park Hill in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1997 to 2000, and in the State Senate from 2001 to February 2003. He lives in Park Hill.
Mapping Denver
“Map A” (on right) is one of six redistricting maps being proposed by members of the Denver City Council.
Greater Park Hill is currently represented by one councilman — the term-limited District 8 representative Chris Herndon. In all of the proposed redistricting scenarios, Park Hill will likely end up in some combination of District 5 (currently held by Amanda Sawyer), District 8 (newly elected) and District 9 (currently held by Candi CdeBaca).
The following are the boundaries and demographics for proposed Map A.
• District 5 would include the area roughly from Colfax Avenue north to 23rd Avenue, and east from Colorado Boulevard to Quebec Street. (District 5 would be 13.5 percent Latino, 64.7 percent white and 12.6 percent Black.)
• District 8 would include much of north and south Park Hill, roughly running from Fairfax Avenue and 23rd Street east to the city limits. (District 8 would be 33.6 percent Latino, 40.1 percent white and 15.6 percent Black.)
• District 9 would include the northwest portion of Park Hill, stretching south to roughly 23rd Avenue and Fairfax Street. (District 9 would be 33 percent Latino, 46.9 percent white and 13.1 percent Black.)
Go to tinyurl.com/RedistrictingDenver to see similar geographic and demographic details of all the proposed maps.