The San Francisco Elections Commission has moved up to Friday its special meeting to consider removing its three appointees helping to redraw the city’s 11 supervisory districts ahead of the fall races for the even-numbered seats. Its doing so has added an explosive element to the already chaotic redistricting process that is supposed to wrap up next week.

Groups such as the League of Women Voters, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, and ACLU SF Chapter have raised concerns to the elections body about its trio of appointees on the San Francisco Redistricting Task Force. They include queer task force member Chasel Lee, along with vice chair Ditka Reiner and Raynell Cooper.

“For months, dozens of historically and systemically excluded communities in San Francisco have put in substantial time and effort to tell the task force about their communities of interest and how their communities should be respected in the draft maps. Yet, with just a few days left in the mapping process, the needs of many of those groups have been left out of the draft supervisor maps made by the task force,” wrote the league and law caucus in an April 6 letter to the elections commissioners.

The oversight body had voted Wednesday to hold a special meeting on Sunday to consider removing its redistricting appointees, as the Bay Area Reporter reported in an online story April 6. But it announced Thursday it would instead meet tomorrow (April 8) at 1:30 pm in Room 416 at City Hall.

Its decision to wade into the matter days before the redistricting task force is to send a final map to the Board of Supervisors by April 15 has angered not only the task force members but also local leaders. Mayor London Breed and gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) both denounced the elections commission “last minute political inference” on Thursday.

“This undermines and corrupts what is supposed to be a transparent and non-partisan process. This is neither transparency nor good government,” stated Breed. “The Elections Commission should recognize that a decision to remove members of the public who have served this city for months would destroy the integrity of the redistricting process. Let’s finish the process as it’s designed and allow the appointed members of the body to exercise their independence free from threats or attacks.”

Wiener called it a “shocking and unprecedented step” and a “power grab” in a statement early Thursday when the special meeting was still set for Sunday. If the elections commission were to appoint new people to the redistricting task force then “those appointees will take their seats under a shadow, literally the day before the task force is required to publish its final map,” stated Wiener.

He was referring to the fact that to meet the April 15 deadline called for in the city’s charter, the task force must publish its proposed final map by Tuesday, April 12, to comply with a 72-hour public notice rule. Even if new appointees are approved Friday, they would be parachuting into a process that has been underway for months, noted Wiener.

Any new appointees, he stated, “would cast that critical vote, affecting San Francisco governance for a decade, without having participated in the months-long public process and many hours of public comment that the Task Force facilitated.”

District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney, whose district boundaries will see major changes due to it gaining the most new residents over the last decade amid a glut of new housing development, also told the BAR he opposes the move by the elections oversight body.

“I do not support removing the task force members appointed by the Elections Commission. While there are decisions they’ve made that I’ve disagreed with, the independence of the redistricting task force is essential and must be protected. They should continue to serve and complete their work,” stated Haney, who could be resigning from the board if he is elected later this month to the vacant 17th Assembly District seat.

Wiener specifically called out District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston and District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin for “leading the charge to get the Elections Commission to take this inappropriate, unprecedented step, based on his unhappiness with the proposed lines for his own district.”

Preston has made no secret about his displeasure with the maps the redistricting task force has proposed, as they will carve up his district into multiple other supervisor districts. For instance, the Haight and Lower Haight are currently proposed to be moved into District 8 with the LGBTQ Castro district, similar to how those neighborhoods had been combined in the district represented in the late 1970s by gay supervisor Harvey Milk, back when it was known as District 5.

“The most conservative forces in this city realize they can’t win district elections in a fair fight, so they’re not just moving the goalposts, they’re throwing the rules out the window,” Preston tweeted on Tuesday, asking people to “speak out against this blatant gerrymandering.”

Other areas of today’s District 5 would end up in Districts 1 and 2, while its remaining neighborhoods of Alamo Square, Japantown and the Western Addition are proposed to be combined with the Transgender District in the Tenderloin. LGBTQ leaders from both the Tenderloin and western South of Market have lambasted the plan to split them apart and have repeatedly called on the redistricting task force to keep them together in the future District 6.

In the early hours of April 7 the redistricting task force had voted to place on the agenda of one of its meetings in the coming days a resolution opposing the removal of the three commissioners. Chair the Reverend Arnold Townsend had pledged to show up at the Sunday meeting to speak out about the matter.

Task force member Matthew Castillon made the motion to have the body vote on a resolution opposing the elections commission’s decision and offered to write it.

“I cannot think of anyone who has higher integrity than these three people,” he said.

None of the three directly addressed the elections commission’s decision during the meeting, though Cooper hinted to it at one point.

“I will try not to be overly self defensive given though the earlier events in this place could be a place I am coming from,” he said.

In the meantime, the redistricting task force continued with its work, regrouping at 3 pm Thursday for another marathon session to redraw the city’s local political map. As it stood going into the meeting, gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s residence on Valencia Street would be drawn into District 9.

If that were to be adopted then he would need to move in order to run for reelection to the District 8 seat in November. Mandelman is currently the lone LGBTQ supervisor on the board.

San Francisco’s 11 supervisory districts are redrawn every 10 years based on census data so that they each have roughly similar populations. Things the task force considers include boundaries, neighborhoods, and communities of interest.

For information on the task force meetings, visit its website here.

Information for the elections commission special meeting can be found at its website here.

UPDATED 4/7/22 to add comment from Supervisor Matt Haney.

Help keep the Bay Area Reporter going in these tough times. To support local, independent, LGBTQ journalism, consider becoming a BAR member.

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The local business owner offers free help to people with plumbing problems after the winter explosion

February 22, 2021 6:32 PM

Ozzy Mora

Posted: Feb 22, 2021 6:32 PM

VICTORIA, Texas – Last week’s winter storm left many Texans without electricity or water.

Pipes became a much bigger problem across the state when power was restored.

Pipes burst.

According to experts, this happens when the water inside freezes and expands. Pipes don’t always burst once they are frozen, rather thawing is the bigger problem.

In Victoria, residents also struggled with water pipe leaks and breaks caused by the winter storm.

Community members have made it their business to help one another.

Neighbor helps neighbor with polar plunge.

Roger Padron Jr. is one of the many helpful neighbors who do just that.

Padron currently owns Padron & Sons Remodeling in Victoria.

Born in Galveston, raised in Port Lavaca, and now living in Victoria, Padron wanted to help the community.

Last week, Padron posted on social media offering his services for free to anyone who needs or cannot afford a plumber.

I’ve helped 40 to 50 people with plumbing problems in the past four days,” said Padron. “I’ve seen everyone fighting online, everyone looking for plumbers, and many of them are from the older generation, and I kept moving … tried to help as many people as possible.”

Padron has mainly helped elderly people in Victoria. He said he would keep going until the job is done or when it just isn’t feasible.

“It breaks my heart, a lot of the older generation, they could hardly afford anything, I try to help and give back as much as possible,” said Padron. “It was a struggle to find supplies in stores to help people right now.”

Padron has limited supplies but does his best with what he has.

He has not asked to be paid to help residents with plumbing issues, but is open to donations or materials to help those who really need it.

“I ran into broken pipes and clogged valves – I saw a bit of everything,” said Padron.

Recently, Governor Greg Abbott waived certain regulations for registered and qualified apprentice plumbers.

“These exemptions will help meet the sanitation needs of Texans who have suffered burst pipes and other related damage from the harsh winter weather,” Abbott said in a statement.

If you would like to ask Padron for help or assistance, you can call him at 361-894-2419.

COPYRIGHT 2021 FROM CROSSROADS TODAY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, SHOWED, REWRITTEN, OR REDistributed.

The post Native enterprise proprietor presents free assist to these with plumbing points after winter blast appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

This storm is blowing through the northeast, mixing in cold air and producing snow from Pennsylvania to New York and New England.

On site, 3 inches to a half a foot of snow is possible on Thursday morning and early afternoon from New York to New England.

Behind this storm system, a wintry mass of air is pouring into the central and southern United States, and frost warnings are issued for two dozen states.

In Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, Thursday morning temperatures are almost freezing.

The coldest air flows Thursday evening through Friday morning into the east coast and the deep south, where nearly four dozen record lows are possible.

Tennessee and Alabama were hit hard again on Wednesday. Flooded rain and noxious winds reached more than 100 km / h.

In Giles County, Tennessee, three people were rescued from floods after more than two inches of rain fell in just a few hours.

Throughout the Gulf Coast states, including Alabama, golf ball-sized hail and noxious winds moved through the area, causing damage.

Copyright © 2021 ABC News Internet Ventures.

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