Boston City Council redistricting: Dividing neighborhoods. Again.

I love my house. It’s a wonderful spot in a wonderful neighborhood. My neighbors and I watch out for one another. We bring over cookies and attend on another’s parties. We have neighborhood gatherings. We decorate for Halloween. We all vote. In droves. We take our community and our civic responsibilities seriously. It’s a fantastic neighborhood.

While we view ourselves as one neighborhood — our elected officials do not. They continue to “redraw” us into new political districts every opportunity they get. And they do it with an eye toward their own interests — not to the interests of this amazing neighborhood.

The Boston City Council will be voting on a final redistricting map this Wednesday October 31st. The latest proposal gaining momentum would remove two precincts Ward 19 Precinct 7 (Forest Hills, Arboretum, Bourne area) and Precinct 12 (another large section of the Bourne area) out of Jamaica Plain and that is one precinct too many!

Please contact your district Councilor and 4 at-Large Councilors to make sure that they will vote against such a plan.

As someone who lives in Ward 19/precinct 12, I’m personally incredibly upset that our precinct continues to be “traded” around as if there were no impact on my neighbors’ lives.

In the 10 years I’ve lived at this address, I’ve been represented on the City Council by Rob Consalvo, Matt O’Malley and now, potentially, by Charles Yancey.

In Ward 19/Precinct 12, we are already politically divided from the rest of our neighborhood as we have been given a different US Congressman, a different state senator and a different state representative than our neighbors.

Dividing us further by redrawing us into another City Councilor’s area is one difference too much.

We are a neighborhood. We deserve the respect of our elected officials to be treated as such.

How is our neighborhood to have any voice in the process if we continue to be traded around politically like this and never have an opportunity to build a real relationship with our elected officials? It’s not surprising to me that the outcome of all of this horse-trading, is that we continue to be the “leftover” precinct and continue to our voices at the table be fragmented.

We are part of Ward 19. We should continue to have the same representation as our neighbors, because our concerns and needs are the same as theirs.

Here’s what you can do. SHARE this blog post on Facebook and Twitter.

*This Weekend:*
Please email the district councilor and 4 at-large councilors using the
following addresses:

- Matthew.O’[email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]

*Monday October 29th:*
Please call these Councilors below

- District Councilor Matt O’Malley at 617-635-4220
- At-Large Councilor Felix G. Arroyo 617-635-4205
- At-Large Councilor John Connolly at 617-635-3115
- At-Large Councilor and Council President Stephen Murphy at 617-635-4376
- At-Large Councilor Ayanna Pressley 617-635-4217

Help our councilors to see us as one neighborhood. Like we see ourselves.