Dave's Redistricting App

[Brittain33]

The MA map currently looks as awful as it does as an attempt to make sure no Republicans under any circumstances would win any seat.

No, that's not true. It's about incumbent protection with crazy combinations resulting from seats lost to other states. It's quite close to the map drawn in the 1990s with the contribution of Gov. Weld who wanted the 5th to be Republican accessible.

[Brittain33]

It's complicated by the fact that 6 of the 10 reps live in Boston and its nearby suburbs. To provide for the incumbents requires districts that spoke out from Boston. But they don't call it the Hub for nothing.

I wouldn't consider Salem to be a suburb of Boston, but yes, this is the biggest scandal of the map. Framingham, New Bedford, Nantucket, and Taunton all having reps living within 10 miles of downtown Boston is ridiculous.

[Brittain33]

It's complicated by the fact that 6 of the 10 reps live in Boston and its nearby suburbs. To provide for the incumbents requires districts that spoke out from Boston. But they don't call it the Hub for nothing.

I wouldn't consider Salem to be a suburb of Boston, but yes, this is the biggest scandal of the map. Framingham, New Bedford, Nantucket, and Taunton all having reps living within 10 miles of downtown Boston is ridiculous.

We agree on the map, but I'll respectfully disagree about Salem. It's very much a part of the the north suburbs of Boston.

Perhaps not a nearby suburb like Malden or Quincy. Let me phrase it this way: It's reasonable for an Essex-based district to include Salem and be shaped the way it is, and for the rep to be from Salem. It's not really comparable to districts that start in Boston and reach out in all directions.

[Brittain33]

I recently learned about the race riot in Cicero in the 1950s (?) when a black family tried to move into town... they were driven out by mobs of white people. You can see the outcome today in the sharp right angle delineating largely Hispanic neighborhoods of Cicero from African-American neighborhoods. The town still has almost no black residents.

[Brittain33]

I recently learned about the race riot in Cicero in the 1950s (?) when a black family tried to move into town... they were driven out by mobs of white people. You can see the outcome today in the sharp right angle delineating largely Hispanic neighborhoods of Cicero from African-American neighborhoods. The town still has almost no black residents.

When I was in Chicago, about 1970, a black family moved in on the west side of Cicero Blvd/Ave/St (the dividing line between Chicago and Cicero) in the afternoon, a mob formed, and the block captain moved them out that evening, with his boys moving out all their furniture. And that was the end of that. Nobody seemed to wonder why law enforcement seemed absent.

That must have been it. I read about it in The Warmth of Other Suns, a great book.

[Brittain33]

Donations are being accepted to help Dave continue to work on the app (I believe he's doing this full-time or close to full-time now). I chipped in $5; can't really afford more than that, thanks to my employment status, but considering how much I've used it, I figured I should give him something.

I donated a nice chunk of change for all the joy it's brought me. I hope its affiliation with a left-wing group doesn't cost it support from any who'd otherwise donate...