An historic effort: Redistricting effort continues; Humboldt largely on sidelines

◼ History is being made in California, but on the North Coast, most people don't seem to care. - Times-Standard

...Known as the Voters First Act, Proposition 11 was narrowly passed by California voters in 2008 and for the first time took the power of redrawing congressional and legislative districts out of the hands of politicians and placed it in the hands of a 14-member citizen commission. Today, the commission -- the first of its kind in the nation -- is in the process of holding a series of 22 public-input meetings throughout the state in advance of releasing a draft version of its new district maps on June 10.

The problem, according to some with a keen interest in the process, is that none of those 22 meetings has occurred north of Redding in the inland part of the state or north of today's meeting in Santa Rosa along the U.S. Highway 101 corridor on the coastal side of the state. What some say is more troubling is an apparent lack of interest from many in the entire process....

When the commission was meeting in Redding, former state Assembly candidate Karen Brooks said she tried to recruit anyone and everyone to hop in her minivan to make the three-hour drive east for the meeting. She went alone.

”The sentiment was just, 'Why waste my time?'” Brooks said of those she unsuccessfully lobbied to make the trip....

Brooks said when she drove the three-plus hours to attend the Redding meeting, she was surprised to hear commissioners refer to it as a rural area.

”They said, 'This is our rural meeting coming to Redding,'” she recalled. “I said, 'No, this is like a big city for us.' I said, 'You need to go to a place like Eureka, or Quincy, or Big Bear, those rural areas that are resource based and agriculture based -- some of these places where generations of families have lived.'”

Forbes said the commission would like to visit the far reaches and small nooks of the state, but it just hasn't been feasible given budgets and timelines....

That's why, while the commission hasn't made it to the North Coast, it's held clusters of meetings in the San Francisco Bay Area -- in Santa Rosa, Oakland, Salinas and San Jose -- and in the Los Angeles area -- in LA proper, Long Beach, San Gabriel, San Fernando, Lancaster and Santa Ana.

Forbes also added that the commission has meetings scheduled for July with locations yet-to-be-determined. It's possible, he said, one of those could be held on the North Coast.

That would certainly make Brooks happy, and save some miles on her minivan. She's heading down to Santa Rosa today to make her voice heard. Having again attempted to recruit folks to join her, she'll be making the trip with only her mom, she said.

”This is really a historic event,” she said, adding that the commission has the power to break the “stranglehold” the Democratic and Republican parties have on state politics.