Comments on LRC Senate MAp
While the LRC Senate map is somewhat better than the current one there are problems with it. These problems, which have been described in great detail by various people include : districts apparently drawn to protect incumbents, districts with greater than desired population and districts with less than desired population, districts that split up minority populations in a manner that makes it more difficult to elect a Latino Senator. Many people have commented especially on problems with the drawing of districts in Allentown and Bethlehem and how they reduce the opportunity to elect a Latino senator. I live in the 49th district where the proposed new district is about 10,000 people over the desired number. It would be appropriate to split off the extreme SE portion of the County including Corry and Spring Creek etc and put them in the lower population district to the east which includes Warren County. In fact many people in the SE corner of Erie County are more likely to shop etc in Warren than in Erie. The overly large population of the proposed district 49 means that I am underrepresented. There are areas in the SW around Allegheny County where the districts contain lower populations than desired. These districts should be redrawn to increase the populations in these districts. There is a large population in SE PA which is not reflected in the drawing of Senate districts I hope that the Commission will make changes to the Senate map to more evenly represent the populations of an area, to eliminate lines drawn to protect incumbents and to not dilute or inappropriately dived the Latino Populations in the Lehigh Valley in ways that reduce the likelihood of electing Latino representatives. Please consider revising Senate District 49 as I have suggested.