HomeMy WebLinkAboutSanta Ana Redistricting Coalition (2) 1-18-2022SANTA ANA REDISTRICTING COALITION
City Council District Map Submission
January 11, 2022
INTRODUCTION
The Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition (SARC) was established in September 2021 to ensure
community voices were heard in the Santa Ana city redistricting processes. Centering the lived
experiences and needs of low-income communities of color and working families, the SARC has
pursued maps and other redistricting outcomes that maximize opportunities for year-round
organizing and policy advocacy, working toward a city that treats everyone equitably and with
justice. Organizing across diverse communities builds bridges, better mitigates potential conflict
between groups, and deepens the foundation for collective work over the next decade.
SARC Participants
The committee includes 4 members that reflect Santa Ana's diverse communities.
●Latino Health Access
●Orange County Environmental Justice (OCEJ)
●Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO)
●VietRISE
Each member brings a deep connection and engagement with communities on the ground, with
a particular focus on community organizing and integrated voter engagement in the city of Santa
Ana.
Since September 2021, SARC members have been meeting both virtually and in person to
advance their collective work. To promote greater community engagement in redistricting, SARC
has (1) educated members and residents about redistricting, (2) created a space through which
they identify and articulate communities of interest (COI) important to them, (3) mobilized
community members to present testimony at public hearings, and (4) worked closely with them
to create city redistricting maps that best address the needs of low-income communities of color
and working families.
Members shared their communities of interest across the entire city of Santa Ana. A summary of
these communities of interest is provided in the following section.
This submission represents the culmination and collective effort of 4 months of engagement.
Page 2
Summary of Community of Interest
Community of Interest 1: Mobile home parks
Summary:The largest concentration of Mobile Parks is located within the western parts of
Santa Ana, particularly on 1st Street between Euclid and S. Daisy Ave. (see Figure A). The
majority of the population typically are low-income and senior residents who rely on Section 8
housing and SSA/SSI or disability income to pay their living expenses. Mobile homes in West
Santa Ana also contain a large population of low-income Asian and Latinx residents.
Figure A:
Source: Tenants United Santa Ana.
Guidance:Keep the concentration of mobile homes together. Place the concentration of
mobile home parks in two districts in order to maintain strong representation for the specific
needs of the mobile home park communities.
.
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 3
Community of Interest 2: Environmental Justice
Summary:South of 17th Street and east of Main Street has large concentrations of
environmental justice burdens. Communities between 1st Street and 17th Street also
experience many environmental justice burdens. Communities west of Main Street and south of
17th (especially east of Bristol Street) are also drastically impacted by environmental justice
burdens, aside from areas south of MacArthur and east of Fairview. The majority of the city is
impacted by water contamination, air pollution, or soil lead levels to some extent, but some
areas are more impacted than others. This map shows a composite of those issues put together
and measured based on the total pollution burden. Although the entire city is impacted to some
extent, the aforementioned areas are impacted more than the rest of the city as a whole.
Figure B:
Source: Caliper Corporation, Maptitude for Redistricting .
Guidance:Keep communities east of Main Street and south of 17th Street together and ensure
that communities north of MacArthur, and south of 17th Street have a substantial voice in their
respective districts. It is possible to draw 5 districts with a substantial voice on environmental
justice issues, but a district east of Main should be the strongest and leading environmental
justice district, so this district is of the utmost importance.
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 4
Community of Interest 3: Vietnamese population
Summary:There is a large concentration of Vietnamese residents living in West Santa Ana
who are predominantly mobile home residents, seniors, and low-income (see Figure C). This
population is becoming more vulnerable each year with the rising cost of rent and living
expenses. This community has a long history of organizing together to maintain the
sustainability of their housing and the longevity of mobile home parks.
West Santa Ana is an important gathering space for the Vietnamese community as it
contains the largest concentration of Vietnamese churches and temples in Little Saigon, such as
the Vietnamese Catholic Center and Hoa Nghiem temple This directly reflects the Vietnamese
population density in the area, where the majority of the 24,000 Vietnamese residents reside.
Figure C:
Source: Caliper Corporation, Maptitude for Redistricting.
Guidance:Keep the Vietnamese population west of the Santa Ana River together and extend
south using Fairview as a natural boundary to bring in an additional mobile home and a
significant concentration of Vietnamese residents south of Warner Ave.
Community of Interest 4: Low-Income Latinx Population
Summary:The city of Santa Ana is the home of the largest and most established Latinx
community in Orange County. This population intersects and makes up numerous other
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 5
communities of interest, including immigrants, tenants, low-income populations, and mixed
immigration status families. (see Figure D)
Many residents living in these neighborhoods are Low-income monolingual Spanish speakers
immigrants, which is reflected by the type of business and cultural richness within the city.
Figure D:
Source: Source: Caliper Corporation, Maptitude for Redistricting.
Guidance:We urge the council to adopt a map that allows for 5 districts where cohesive Latinx
communities have a real opportunity to elect candidates of choice, and thoroughly captures
Low-Income Latinx residents' cultural background and socioeconomic needs.
Community of Interest 5: Delhi Community
Summary:Through a series of in-person and virtual meetings, residents have expressed the
desire and need to keep the Delhi Community together. The Delhi Community is primarily
composed of low-income mixed immigration status Latinx families, who are heavily impacted by
environmental issues and eminent domain in their community. Therefore, the Delhi Community
is a key community of interest that must be taken into consideration and respected. All in all, the
Delhi Community needs a representative that can accurately represent and thoughtfully
consider their cultural background, socioeconomic needs, environmental justice demands, and
housing demands. (See Figure E)
Figure E:
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 6
Source: The City of Santa Ana Website-
https://www.santa-ana.org/sites/default/files/nip/Neighborhoods/Delhi-36x36%20Map.pdf
Guidance:Keep the Delhi Community together. The streets surrounding the Delhi Community
are S. Main St, E. Dyer Rd, S. Evergreen St, S. Standard Ave., and E. St. Andrew Pl.
Community of Interest 6: Soil Lead
Summary:While this map illustrates the severity of the soil lead crisis across the city, there are
several locations where the soil lead levels are substantially higher than the map indicates. The
Cedar Street neighborhood has soil lead levels 50x higher than the statewide limit. This impact
not only affects the developmental growth of children and results in learning disabilities, but it
also drastically affects other health conditions for children and adults. Many of these red areas
on the map and the community east of Main Street, are far past crisis levels and need to take
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 7
substantial steps towards remediation, justice, cleanup, and healthcare. Anything less would
indicate that the city doesn’t care about the impacts of the policy decisions that have been
dramatically poisoning residents for decades. Currently, residents are pushing for changes to
the General Plan, but residents should also have champions that live in these communities to
tackle these problems head-on.The needs to be the opportunity to elect a candidate of choice
on these issues and the communities east of Main Street (especially the Cedar Street, Madison
Park, Delhi Neighborhood, and the hotspot by Dyer) with this soil lead crisis (see Figure F). We
need representation in Central Santa Ana and Northern Santa Ana as well. The voices of these
communities are overlooked because of the current district lines, and we need to begin to rectify
this harm and ensure that these communities can live in dignity and health.
Figure F:
Source: OCEJ-UCI Soil Lead Study
Guidance:Keep communities east of Main Street whole to ensure that their voices are
considered and represented, especially when it comes to environmental justice demands. The
Cedar Street, Madison Park, and Delhi neighborhoods all suffer from this issue and are all
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 8
fighting for justice. We should also draw a central Santa Ana district to give them a voice in this
important issue since they are dramatically impacted. And where possible, allow impact and
influence for communities west of Main and east of Bristol in either horizontal or vertical districts.
If possible, also separate north Santa Ana across Main Street or across Bristol due to the large
concentration of soil lead in that part of the city.
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 9
SANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS
Summary
Highlights of City Council District Plan
The SARC plan for the City of Santa Ana centers on the Federal Voting Rights Act compliance
and communities of interest that reflect the needs of the City’s most impacted residents. With
districts drawn to population equality requirements, the plan also respects other redistricting
criteria established under state law, such as contiguity, making the lines easily identifiable, and
compactness when not conflicting with core principles.
Respect for the federal Voting Rights Act . The City Council District plan complies with Section 2
of the federal Voting Rights Act and includes 5 districts where cohesive Latinx communities
have a real opportunity to elect candidates of choice and maintain an Asian plurality district,
which provides the same opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.
Respect for communities of interest. The plan centered on communities of interest in the
drawing of City District lines. Immigrants, Latinx, AAPI, and other populations in need were
considered in identifying both communities of interest and geographic areas that were similar to
and different from one another.
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 10
Respect for population equality. The District plan includes districts whose total populations fall
within a 5% deviation of the ideal population of 51,942 persons per district, with a percentage
spread of less than 10%.
Respect for the requirement of contiguity. The plan draws contiguous districts.
Respect for the requirement of making boundaries easily identifiable.The Council district
boundaries are easily identifiable and understandable to residents and follow natural and
artificial barriers, streets, and the boundaries of the City.
Respect for the requirement of compactness. The plan draws compact districts where possible,
understanding that federal Voting Rights Act compliance and maintaining the integrity of
communities of interest may require drawing less compact districts.
Respect for nonpartisanship. The plan was developed to address community needs and
does not favor or discriminate against a political party.
Priorities for City Council Districts
●District A creates a Federal Voting Rights Act-compliant district and keeps the largest
community of Vietnamese residents and Mobile Home COIs together. It also includes the
most number of Vietnamese-speaking businesses, faith institutions (ex. Buddhist
temples and Catholic churches), and restaurants.
●District B maintains the integrity of the affluent long-time homeowner community
together.
●District C creates a Federal Voting Rights Act compliant district and maintains the
integrity of the affluent single-family homes and emerging Vietnamese communities
between Warner & S Raitt St to Warner & Bristol st.
●District D creates a Federal Voting Rights Act compliant district around cohesive Latinx
communities with mostly low-income Latinx communities that reside in mobile home
parks or apartment complexes, as well as the Willowick and Sullivan neighborhoods.
●District E creates a Federal Voting Rights Act-compliant district with the highest Latinx
population of 83.9% of Latinxs residents. This district includes numerous communities of
interest, including low-income communities, working-class communities, mixed
immigration status families, monolingual communities, tenant communities, and housing
cost-burdened communities.
●District F creates a Federal Voting Rights Act compliant district and maintains the most
impacted environmental justice communities together. This district includes the Logan
and Delhi neighborhoods.
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 11
District A
Total Population:51,571
Deviation:-328
Federal Voting Rights Act:SECTION 2 COMPLIANT DISTRICT
Group
Voting-Age
Population
Citizen Voting-Age
Population
Voter
Registration
Voter
Turnout
#%#%#%#%
Asian 16,139 31.2947 13,149 42.6279 9,993 41.6046 8050 42.5453
Contiguity:
●District A consists mainly of West Santa Ana (west of the Santa Ana River) and extends
south using Fairview as a natural boundary to bring in an additional mobile home and a
significant concentration of Vietnamese residents south of Warner Ave.
Communities of Interest:
●This district maintains the Asian CVAP at 42.63% and keeps the largest community of
Vietnamese residents and Mobile Home COIs together. It also includes the most number
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 12
of Vietnamese-speaking businesses, faith institutions (ex. Buddhist temples and Catholic
churches), and restaurants.
●It includes 12 mobile home parks which are predominantly occupied by Vietnamese
residents. Many residents are seniors, rely on Section 8 Housing, SSI and SSA to afford
their living costs. Prominent mobile home parks include Bali Hi Mobile Home, Kona Kai
Mobile Home, Park Terrace, Lake Park, Liberty Mobile, Quiet Village, Sandalwood,
Sands Estate, Bit O'Home, Sahara, Plaza Village, and Gables.
Compactness
●This configuration best ensures the inclusion and representation of Asian American
residents who live in the west end of Santa Ana in accordance with the Voting Rights
Act. These residents need representatives who can speak to them and provide
resources in their language and understand their cultural background and
socioeconomic needs.
District B
Total Population:51,644
Deviation:-255
Federal Voting Rights Act:SECTION 2 COMPLIANT DISTRICT
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 13
Group
Voting-Age
Population
Citizen Voting-Age
Population
Voter
Registration
Voter
Turnout
#%#%#%#%
Latinx 25,219 48.8324 12,240 48.0547 20,959 82.2857 9,582 45.7178
Contiguity:
●District B is contiguous. It is mostly divided by 17th Street and the 5 freeway. The
easternmost part of the district is divided by Lincoln Ave. at 1st Street, which then is
separated by S. Lyon Street and Major Street. These boundaries keep the district
compliant with the Federal Voting Rights Act and population balance.
Communities of Interest:
●District B keeps the most affluent and historic neighborhoods in the northern part of
Santa Ana together such as Floral Park, Park Santiago, Edna Park, and Casa Santiago.
This district keeps a high concentration of Vietnamese population west of the Santa Ana
River together.
Compactness:
●This configuration of District B is compact. It best ensures the inclusion and
representation of communities in northern Santa Ana in accordance with the Fair Maps
Act. It keeps a specific region together that allows residents to speak collectively with
one voice.
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 14
District C
Total Population:51806
Deviation:-93
Federal Voting Rights Act:SECTION 2 COMPLIANT DISTRICT
Group
Voting-Age
Population
Citizen Voting-Age
Population
Voter
Registration
Voter
Turnout
#%#%#%#%
Latinx 31,149 60.1262 20,110 72.7411 14,212 67.4898 10,435 0.658152
Contiguity:
●District C is contiguous. Its west side follows Bristol St. that turns into S. Bristol St. from
W Myrtle Street down to the city boundary. The city boundary borders the south portion
of the district and it connects with neighboring District F at E. MacArthur Blvd. The
westmost part of the district follows Main St. as the natural boundary. The District is
bounded on the northern side by W. 1 St. and borders S. Flower St. to connect with W
Myrtle St. These boundaries keep the district compliant with the Federal Voting Rights
Act and population balance.
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 15
Communities of Interest:
●This district is the second most impacted by environmental justice concerns in the city,
second only to district F. The pollution burden is bad to severe across the entire district,
the soil lead levels can exceed 50x the statewide maximum in many parts of the district,
and this district is one of the big soil lead epicenters in the city. The Santa Ana Memorial,
Heninger Park, and Wilshire Square neighborhoods are some of the biggest soil lead
epicenters in the city according to OCEJ-UCI studies. Action needs to be taken for the
low-income neighborhoods across this district, and we can only do this by empowering
the communities and ensuring that they have power and influence in the electoral
process.
Compactness:
●This configuration of District C is compact. It best ensures the inclusion and
representation of communities in northern Santa Ana in accordance with the Fair Maps
Act. It keeps the Heninger Park and Wilshire Square communities together and allows
residents to speak in one collective voice.
District D
Total Population:52,352
Deviation:453
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 16
Federal Voting Rights Act:SECTION 2 COMPLIANT DISTRICT
Group
Voting-Age
Population
Citizen Voting-Age
Population
Voter
Registration
Voter
Turnout
#%#%#%#%
Latinx 31,938 61.0063 18,023 75.9503 11,294 69.5658 8,005 68.4188
Contiguity:
●The district takes the Willowick neighborhood east of Harbor and North of 1st Street. It
also takes in the areas of central Santa Ana, south of 17th Street and west of Main
Streetand North of 1st Street. There are a few blocks between Flower and Main and
between 1st Street and 3rd Street that are taken out of the district due to population
equity. There is also the inclusion of the Sullivan neighborhoods and mobile home parks
between McFadden Ave. and 1st St. and Center St and Fairview St. This ensures
contiguity for mobile home parks in the highest concentration of mobile home parks in
the city via a central Santa Ana district.
Communities of Interest:
●Keeps the large concentration of mobile home communities together (12 total) around
the Sullivan neighborhoods, which has a concentration of 10 mobile home parks.
●The Willowick neighborhood also has two mobile home parks, hence the need to keep
these communities with the Sullivan neighborhood. The Willowick neighborhood is
currently split in the current map, despite fighting for shared issues. By continuing to
keep them separate, their power will continue to be limited, their voices will be split up,
and their organizing power will be diluted. By keeping them whole, we are able to
effectively empower the community and groups such as Rise Up Willowick and Sullivan
en Accion to ensure that they have shared influences and not be subjected to a vocal
minority.
●Eastern parts of the district don’t have the same burden around mobile home parks, but
they do have shared issues such as socioeconomic status and housing cost-burdened
challenges as mobile home residents.
●This district is also largely impacted by environmental justice burdens across the entirety
of the eastern side. The soil lead levels are over 10x higher than the state limit across
the entire east side, and the CalEnviroScreen shows that the entirety of the district is
extremely impacted by water, pollution, and air quality issues.
Compactness
●This configuration best ensures the inclusion and representation of the mobile home
communities throughout Santa Ana, as the largest and most concentrated community in
the city. This district is very impacted by income and housing burdens and must be kept
whole to ensure that their voices are heard. We kept the Sullivan and Willowick
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 17
neighborhoods with the Eastern part of the district because we wanted to empower them
to have a voice to speak about their concerns around housing, gentrification, and
economic justice. These are struggles that the Eastern side of the district knows very
well.
District E
Total Population:52,437
Deviation:538
Federal Voting Rights Act:SECTION 2 COMPLIANT DISTRICT
Group
Voting-Age
Population
Citizen Voting-Age
Population
Voter
Registration
Voter
Turnout
#%#%#%#%
Latinx 30,435 58.0411 17,806 67.8996 13,094 63.4061 9,603 61.2671
Contiguity:District E is contiguous. Its east side follows Bristol St. that turns into S. Bristol St.
from 1 St down to the city boundary. The city boundary borders the south portion of the district
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 18
and it connects with neighboring District A at S. Fairview St. The west side part also follows S.
Raitt St. between MacArthur Blvd. and W. Warner Ave. The northern part of the district is split
between W Monta Vista Ave and First Street at the Santa Ana Gardens Channel. These
boundaries keep the district compliant with the Federal Voting Rights Act and population
balance.
Communities of Interest:District E maintains a 67.9%Latinx CVAP. This district includes
numerous communities of interest, including low-income communities, working-class
communities, mixed immigration status families, monolingual Spanish-speaking communities,
tenant communities, and housing cost-burdened communities.This district also includes
pockets of emerging Vietnamese communities between Warner & S Raitt St to Warner & Bristol
st.
Compactness:District E is compact and follows natural boundaries. This configuration ensures
the inclusion and representation of low-income and working-class Latinx residents and pockets
of emerging Vietnamese communities. District E is in accordance with the Fair Maps Act.
District F
Total Population:51583
Deviation:-316
Federal Voting Rights Act:SECTION 2 COMPLIANT DISTRICT
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 19
Group
Voting-Age
Population
Citizen Voting-Age
Population
Voter
Registration
Voter
Turnout
#%#%#%#%
Latinx 32620 63.2538 17839 82.857 11903 75.8153 8439 75.02
Contiguity:
●Eastern Santa Ana (east of Main Street) comprises the majority of this district. It
excludes the segment South of MacArthur Blvd. and East of Main St. The majority of this
district is south of 1st Street due to the immense environmental justice burdens, but also
takes in the Logan, French Park, and French Court neighborhoods, south of 17th/the 5
Freeway and west of Grand, because of their similar environmental justice burdens.
Communities of Interest:
●This district has a population of 51,583 but a CVAP of 21,537. This means that this
district has a CVAP of 41.7%, making it the lowest CVAP percentage district of the entire
city. This district includes numerous communities of interest, including low-income
communities, working-class communities, mixed immigration status families, tenant
communities, and housing cost-burdened communities.Data filters of low-income and
housing-burdened census tracts also indicate that this district is by far the most impacted
in the city. This is specifically seen in the historically impacted Delhi community, which
faces serious gentrification threats.
●Not only is this one of the most vulnerable districts in the City of Santa Ana, but it is also
the most impacted district by environmental issues according to the CalEnviroScreen
and UCI soil-lead analysis data. This district includes the Delhi neighborhood, the
Madison Park neighborhood, and the Cedar Street neighborhood, all three of which are
well-known to be impacted by environmental burdens.. Soil lead levels in this district are
anywhere between 2-50x higher than the statewide limit of soil lead levels. Therefore, it
is crucial that these neighborhoods are kept together to ensure that their socioeconomic
needs, environmental justice demands, and housing demands are accurately
represented and thoughtfully considered.
Compactness
●This configuration best ensures power for the low-income and most impacted
communities within Santa Ana. Be it on issues of gentrification like in the Logan
neighborhood and Delhi neighborhood; housing-burden throughout the entire district;
low-income issues throughout the entire district; environmental justice issues throughout
the entire district; or specific levels of soil lead across the Madison Park, Delhi, and
Cedar Street neighborhoods, we need representation that can speak to the issues and
struggles of this district. It has been far too long that these communities have been
overlooked and cracked apart. We need to empower them with representation, a
representation that we can only have by keeping them whole.
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition
Page 20
Santa Ana City Council Redistricting Public Map Submission
Santa Ana Redistricting Coalition