Public-housing advocate Phyllis Corbitt can sue whomever she wants, but the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants today asked a federal judge to strike its name from her role as a plaintiff in the suit over how the Boston City Council re-set its district boundary lines, because she had no authority to hitch the group's wagon to a lawsuit over the issue. Read more.
I love my house. It’s a wonderful spot in a wonderful neighborhood. My neighbors and I watch out for one another. We bring over cookies and attend on another’s parties. We have neighborhood gatherings. We decorate for Halloween. We all vote. In droves. We take our community and our civic responsibilities seriously. It’s a fantastic neighborhood.
While we view ourselves as one neighborhood — our elected officials do not. They continue to “redraw” us into new political districts every opportunity they get. And they do it with an eye toward their own interests — not to the interests of this amazing neighborhood.
The Boston City Council will be voting on a final redistricting map this Wednesday October 31st. The latest proposal gaining momentum would remove two precincts Ward 19 Precinct 7 (Forest Hills, Arboretum, Bourne area) and Precinct 12 (another large section of the Bourne area) out of Jamaica Plain and that is one precinct too many!
Please contact your district Councilor and 4 at-Large Councilors to make sure that they will vote against such a plan.
As someone who lives in Ward 19/precinct 12, I’m personally incredibly upset that our precinct continues to be “traded” around as if there were no impact on my neighbors’ lives.
As a resident of Boston for twenty-eight years, I’ve had Stephen Lynch as my representative in Congress for ten. During that time:
Common Cause Massachusetts is hosting a Redistricting Olympics this summer. We will be taking citizen drawn Congressional, State House, and State Senate maps all summer, evaluating them, declaring a winner, giving out prizes and submitting the winning maps to the MA Legislative Redistricting Committee for consideration.
The purpose of the redistricting Olympics is threefold: to educate the public about the steps in the redistricting process, to initiate public participation in the political arena, and to pressure the legislature to draw the districts so that the citizens are appropriately represented.
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