The five-member nonpartisan Seattle Redistricting Commission voted to finalize Seattle’s first-ever redistricting map plan.

The Commission voted 4-1 on the plan, with former Seattle mayor and Commissioner Gregory Nickels dissenting because Magnolia was split between Districts 6 and 7, a major point of contention in the waning days of the process.

The final map does not…

After initially promising to only make minor changes to the District 6 and 7 boundary at their previous meeting, the Seattle Redistricting Commission voted to consider two different amendments to their final draft map plan that split the University of Washington from the neighboring University District.

These amendments come just 6 days before the Commission takes a final vote…

On Saturday, October 8, the Seattle Redistricting Commission held its final public forum for Seattleites to give feedback on their Seattle City Council draft map proposals. Over the course of the two-hour forum, over three-quarters of testifiers urged the Commission to adopt Redistricting Justice for Seattle (RJS) coalition’s map proposal.

“After overwhelming citywide interest and support for the RJS map throughout this whole process, the Seattle Redistricting Commission should live up to their commitment to a public-informed and -led process by adopting the RJS map,” said coalition leader Andrew Hong…

The Commissioners—who named respecting communities of interest as a primary concern—landed on a map plan that reflects most of the Redistricting Justice for Seattle (RJS) coalition’s top priorities.

“After five months of organizing across Seattle, our coalition is happy to see that Commissioners listened to our city’s historically excluded residents,” wrote the RJS coalition. “We are thrilled to see Commissioners themselves voice the importance of keeping historically redlined and disproportionately impacted communities intact and empowered.”

The Commission’s singular draft map proposal mirrors…

As Seattle Redistricting Commissioners release their individual proposals, the Redistricting Justice for Seattle (RJS) coalition—in the interest of increased community engagement, transparency, and equity—has submitted its own map proposal, which resulted from engaging over 200 Seattleites and over 20 community-based organizations. (The proposal in its entirety, as submitted to the Commission, can be viewed here.)

“We want to help the Commission hear everyone’s voices, not just the more privileged folks who have the time,” wrote Andrew Hong, RJS coordinator. “So we engaged communities of color beyond slated public forums to ensure equity in the process. Our map was drawn by community to keep communities of interest together.”

RJS organizers stressed the importance of including Seattle’s often excluded neighborhoods in redistricting—ones that historically faced both physical urban planning and nonphysical districting division, like South Seattle, Chinatown-International District, and the Central District.

“Neighborhoods should be kept together, not divided,” Joseph Lachman of Asian Counseling and Referral Service said. “Whether it’s highways built to demolish and split physical neighborhoods populated by communities of color or it’s districting to dilute and split the votes of those same communities, the outcomes are the same. Dividing us up inflicts harm and cements inequity.”