Senate Maps in the Lehigh Valley
It makes no sense than an inner city school in Allentown would be represented by someone in rural Berks County. Following are some bullet points to include: The portions of the City of Allentown that have been carved off in order to accommodate Pat Browne are a majority minority section of Allentown Of the 26,000 people there, 7600+ are Latino and there is a sizable African American population · 20% of the Allentown School District is being carved out and divided between two senate districts ASD has 16,600 students, of whom 11,600 are of Hispanic/Latino descent, only 1,780 are white The proposed 16th district would include the largest ASD high school, William Allen High School which is 91.5% minority enrollment. This HS will be carved off from the proposed 14th district, which has a significantly higher minority population The 16th would also be home to 2 of 4 middle schools and several elementary schools. Again, these minority populations would not be in the proposed adjacent VRA district (14th) The 16th District, which includes portions of the Allentown School District to the east, includes: PORTIONS of the Daniel Boone School District, which is 84.5% white and 4.7% Hispanic PORTIONS of the Schuylkill Valley SD, which is 83% white and 10% Hispanic PORTIONS of the Hamburg SD, which is 90.6% white and 6.3% Hispanic The 16th District is 47 miles end to end and would take on average an hour and 15 minutes end to end By comparison, the current 16th District is 30 miles long end to end and takes about 35 minutes to traverse The geographic center of the 16th District is the City of Allentown which provides very convenient access for the most racially diverse and economically disadvantaged areas of Lehigh County whereas the PROPOSED new 16th has a geographic center in rural Berks County Conclusions: · If the goal is to make a district in the Lehigh Valley that reduces municipal, county and school district splits, the City of Allentown and the Allentown School District must stay in one district · If the goal is to create a district with the strongest VRA argument, the City of Allentown and its diverse population should remain in one district · If the goal is for districts to have a diverse urban core with surrounding suburbs that area becoming increasingly diverse, one district must be centered in the City of Allentown with its regional suburbs and one must be centered in the City of Bethlehem with its regional suburbs I will not ever vote for any party that has to cheat to win a seat.