Fair Districts PA Maps -- Cumberland County

As a now retired Cumberland County Commissioner, please allow me this opportunity to voice my enthusiastic support for the proposed “People’s Maps” as advanced by Fair Districts PA. Following the census for several decades now, Cumberland County has seen significant growth; it remains the fastest growing county in the state – with a more than 10 percent increase in population in just the past decade. And yet, when it comes to legislative redistricting, the reapportionment process, especially in the last decade, has treated the people of Cumberland County like second class citizens. The Fair Districts PA maps put our county back together again. Instead of a county that is currently split among three state Senators -- with none of them residing here -- the Fair Districts PA map would afford Cumberland County its rightful claim to its own state senator once again; a state senator who will be fully accountable to the people of Cumberland County. One of the most egregious examples of gerrymandering occurred a decade ago when – without any advance notice or opportunity for public input – the finalized state senate district map grabbed up 12 municipalities in western Cumberland County and connected those municipalities over a mountain ridge with no roadway passage to the 30th Senatorial district whose population base is in Blair County and stretching over 100 miles away by car. That and the needless splitting of our county and our municipalities in other ways made no sense and was clearly a violation of the constitutional requirement that no county or municipality be divided “unless absolutely necessary.” As for the state House districts proposed for Cumberland County by Fair Districts PA, our county would have four compact and contiguous districts all primarily within Cumberland County without scrambling our county’s rightful prominence or needlessly splitting our county, its municipalities or communities of interest. Instead of six state House seats, with only three contained within the boundaries of Cumberland County at present and only three represented by citizens of Cumberland County, Cumberland County would now have four state representatives fully accountable to the people of Cumberland County. I respectfully request that the Legislative Reapportionment Commission adopt the Fair Districts PA maps and protect our county and its communities of interest. Thank you. Sincerely, Jim Hertzler Former/Retired Cumberland County Commissioner