Boston Redistricting: Don't Crack District 2, Don't Pack District 4!

We represent diverse constituencies within District 2, which includes Chinatown, Leather District, Bay Village, the South End, and South Boston. 

Since the start of district elections in the 1980s, the large, politically active neighborhood of South Boston has represented the dominant voice within the district.  But over the past decade, as our neighborhoods have changed, new constituent voices have emerged, and old barriers have started to break down.

We believe that the top goal of redistricting should be to increase opportunities for historically under-represented communities, while keeping neighborhoods as intact as possible.  But instead of improving the balance of power between neighborhoods in District 2, Docket #0985 proposes to remove the heavily Latino and Asian precincts of Ward 9 Precinct 1 (Villa Victoria) and Ward 7 Precinct 7 (Mary Ellen McCormack), as well as the smaller South End precinct of Ward 4 Precinct 3.

The result is further "cracking" of the Chinatown/South End community of interest, which has historically voted together, and a blow to the growing voice of communities of color throughout the district.

We stand with the Communities of Color Coalition on Redistricting and its demand of "Don't crack 2, don't pack 4!"  In order to deliver on the promise of Boston's majority-minority status, it is important to keep District 2's most diverse precincts and all existing South End precincts intact. The Coalition has proposed a map that would improve the balance of power between District 2 neighborhoods by simply reuniting the two Dorchester precincts known as the "Polish Triangle" (Ward 7 Precincts 8 and 9) with District 3, while keeping all South Boston, South End, and Chinatown precincts intact. We urge the City Council to move us forward, not backward, on the path toward political equality.

Sophia Kim, Asian American Resource Workshop

Deborah Backus, Castle Square Tenants Organization

Elaine Ng, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center

Marie Moy and Henry Yee, Chinatown Resident Association

Lydia Lowe, Chinese Progressive Association & Chinese Progressive Political Action

Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción

Stephen Fox, Rutland Square Association

Samuel Hurtado, South Boston en Acción