[Call to Order] [00:00:06] AT THIS TIME, WE WILL TAKE PUBLIC COMMENT ON ANY MATTER OF PUBLIC INTEREST WITHIN THE BOARD'S JURISDICTION. PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE TIME CONSTRAINTS SINCE WE ONLY HAVE THE BUILDING UNTIL 8 P.M. AND BECAUSE WE WANT TO GET RIGHT INTO THE WORKSHOP, GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENTS WILL BE LIMITED TO THREE MINUTES PER PERSON AND 10 MINUTES TOTAL. IS THERE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT? SEEING NONE. [REDISTRICTING WORKSHOP] WITH US TODAY TO PRESENT INFORMATION AND ANSWERS, ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT ARISE ARE RYDER TODD SMITH FROM TRIPEPI SMITH AND CHRIS [INAUDIBLE]. I WILL NOW TURN THE MEETING OVER TO RYDER TODD AND TRIPEPI SMITH. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, SUPERVISOR, APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE TONIGHT AND ESPECIALLY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC. MY NAME IS RYDER SMITH AS NOTED, THIS IS CHRIS, SO IT WILL BE THE RYDER AND CHRIS SHOW THIS EVENING . ANY TIME SOMEBODY IS FOOLISH ENOUGH TO HAND ME A MICROPHONE AND GIVE ME AN AUDIENCE THESE DAYS. COVID HAS INSPIRED ME TO HAVE A MOMENT OF APPRECIATION. SO TODAY I JUST WANT TO TAKE A MOMENT AND APPRECIATE TONY'S CAFE. ONLY BECAUSE I DROVE FROM L.A., WAS HUNGRY WHEN I ARRIVED. YELP DIRECTED ME THERE I HAD AN AMAZING SANDWICH WITH MY COWORKER AND IT REMINDED ME OF THE ENDURANCE OF SMALL BUSINESSES IN AMERICA AND THEIR CAPACITY TO CARRY ON. SO THANK YOU TO THAT STAFF FOR MAKING THAT HAPPEN FOR ME AND PROVIDED ME WITH A MEAL. SO SYDNEY, ARE WE BROADCASTING MY SLIDES UP HERE? I THINK THAT'S THE MISSION AT HAND. AWESOME. SO FIRST NOTE IS THAT SPANISH LANGUAGE TRANSLATION IS AVAILABLE IF YOU DESIRE SPANISH LANGUAGE TRANSLATION FOR THOSE THAT ARE LISTENING IN. IT IS A SELECTION OPTION ON THE ZOOM. OTHERWISE, THE MEETING IS ALSO BEING RECORDED, SO OUR CONVERSATION HERE TODAY IS GOING TO BE RECORDED. AND IMPORTANTLY, I JUST WANT TO NOTE THAT ALSO MEANS WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE USE THIS MICROPHONE. IF YOU HAVE A COMMENT OR A QUESTION FROM THE AUDIENCE SO THAT WE CAN MAKE SURE WE CAPTURE THAT AUDIO AS PART OF THE RECORD AND TO MAKE SURE THAT THE AUDIENCE AT HOME CAN HEAR IT ON ZOOM AND TO MAKE SURE EVERYBODY IN THE ROOM CAN HEAR IT AS WELL. NEXT SLIDE. WE'VE ALREADY INTRODUCED OURSELVES, WE'LL GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE. OK, SO TODAY'S GOALS, SO NUMBER ONE, REDISTRICTING IS A COMPLEX PROCESS. YOU DO IT ONCE EVERY 10 YEARS, SO IT'S NOT THE KIND OF THING THAT YOU GET TO DO EVERY DAY. YOU TAKE A COMPLEX PROCESS THAT YOU DO VERY INFREQUENTLY, AND THAT IS A RECIPE FOR NOT KNOWING A LOT ABOUT IT. AND GIVEN THIS KIND OF ESOTERIC PROCESS, THE COUNTY HAS CONTRACTED WITH NATIONAL DEMOGRAPHICS CORPORATION TO PROVIDE THE DEMOGRAPHY SERVICES FOR REDISTRICTING. THE EXPERTS ON THAT SPACE. NEILSEN MERKSAMER, THE LAW FIRM, WHICH IS THE PREEMINENT LAW FIRM ON DISTRICT REDISTRICTING CVRA IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND OUR FIRM TRIPEPI SMITH TO DO OUTREACH WORK. SO WE HAVE EXPERTISE IN THE ROOM, AND WE'RE REALLY LUCKY TO HAVE CHRIS HERE WITH US TONIGHT IN PARTICULAR, GIVEN HIS HISTORY AND EXPERTISE IN THE SPACE. SO WE BROUGHT EXPERTS TO THE TABLE TO HELP AND EMPOWER YOU. NOW WE MIGHT BE EXPERTS IN THE REDISTRICTING PROCESS, BUT YOU ARE EXPERTS IN THE COUNTY OF MERCED. SO AFTER WE'VE HAD A CHANCE TO SHARE OUR EXPERTISE, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU ON YOUR EXPERTISE ABOUT MERCED. AFTER WE'VE GONE THROUGH THAT, THEN WE'RE GOING TO GET INTO SOME MAPPING TOOLS. AND I REALLY LOVE THESE MAPPING TOOLS BECAUSE THEY ARE VERY HELPFUL AT EMPOWERING THE PUBLIC TO KIND OF UNTIE THIS KNOT THAT IS DISTRICT FORMATION OR THE REDISTRICTING PROCESS. YOU KNOW, THERE ARE VERY FEW PUBLIC POLICY CHALLENGES WHERE YOU ACTUALLY EMPOWER THE PUBLIC TO GET HANDS ON TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. AND IN THIS CASE, THROUGH TOOLS AND SOME OF THE PAPER TOOLS THAT ARE UP HERE, YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY AND ACTUALLY TRY TO UNWIND AND SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. INDEED, THE NDC WOULD TELL YOU THAT WITH THE PUBLIC MAP SUBMISSION PROCESS, THE DREAM SCENARIO IS THAT IT'S A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC WHO SUBMITS THE MAP THAT IS ULTIMATELY THE MAP THAT IS ADOPTED BY THE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. SO WE WELCOME AND INVITE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THIS PROCESS AND INDEED THE LAW ENCOURAGES THAT. AND THEN LAST BUT NOT LEAST, MERCED'S A BIG COUNTY, LITERALLY ALL THE COUNTY IS NOT IN THIS ROOM TONIGHT. SO PART OF THE HOPE IS THAT YOU LEAVE HERE TONIGHT, EMPOWERED WITH KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION, AND YOU GO BACK AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, WE ARE GETTING SOME SERIOUS REVERB, MY APOLOGIES. YOU TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS ABOUT THIS AND MAKE SURE THAT THEY LEARN ABOUT IT TOO AND SHARE YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND THEN COME BACK AND PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCESS BECAUSE WE STILL HAVE SOME KEY IMPORTANT HEARINGS COMING UP. GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE. THE OTHER REASON YOU SHOULD CARE IS, FIRST OF ALL, FUNDAMENTALLY, [00:05:03] DEMOCRACY WORKS BETTER WHEN PEOPLE ARE ENGAGED. SO THIS IS, I THINK WE UNDERSTAND THIS REALITY. YOU ARE IN THIS ROOM. CONGRATULATION. YOU'RE THE ELITE FEW. YOU'RE THE ONE PERCENT IN MERCED COUNTY THAT ARE HERE PARTICIPATING IN THIS PROCESS. BUT YOUR PARTICIPATION HELPS MAKE DEMOCRACY BETTER. YOU'RE ALSO EXPERTS ON THE COMMUNITY. AS I NOTED, CHRIS AND I, CHRIS ACTUALLY HAS A GOOD HISTORY OF WORKING IN MERCED COUNTY AND MYSELF, LESS SO. BUT ULTIMATELY, RELATIVE TO BOTH OF US, YOU ALL ARE THE EXPERTS ON MERCED COUNTY. SO IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU GET YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD AND SHARE ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST AND NEIGHBORHOODS. AND THEN LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THIS IS A ONCE IN A DECADE OPPORTUNITY. THE WORK WE'RE DOING HERE BETWEEN NOW AND MID-DECEMBER, THAT'S GOING TO BE WITH US FOR 10 YEARS. SO IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE HEAR FROM PEOPLE NOW IS WE'RE GOING TO BE MAKING DECISIONS THAT WILL LAST FOR A 10 YEAR PERIOD UNTIL THE 2030 READ CENSUS IS DONE AND WE REDISTRICT IN 2031, NEXT SLIDE. SO OUR AGENDA, WE'RE GOING TO GO OVER PROCESS RULES, GOALS. TALK ABOUT NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. YOU'RE GOING TO HEAR THE TERM COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST A LOT TONIGHT. SOME OF YOU WERE HERE AT A PRIOR MEETING AND GAVE US SOME REALLY GOOD FEEDBACK ON COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. WE'RE GOING TO WANT TO HAVE SOME OF THAT CONVERSATION AGAIN TONIGHT. WE'RE GOING TO GO THROUGH MAPPING TOOLS AND WHICH CHRIS IS GOING TO DEMO. ACTUALLY, WE'RE BOTH GOING TO DEMO SOME TOOLS AND WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT NEXT STEP, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT AND WE'LL GET OUT OF HERE IN FAIRLY, YOU KNOW, ON TIME. SO OUR GOAL WAS TO START AT SIX AND WE SHOULD BE DONE BY 7:30 AND CERTAINLY BY 8:00 BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING TO KICK US OUT OF THE BUILDING EITHER WAY. SO WE'VE GOT TO BE DONE. UM, ONE OTHER THING I WANT TO NOTE, TOO, FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE ON ZOOM DURING SOME OF THE THIS PROCESS, LIKE THE Q&A PHASE, WE WON'T BE TAKING OFF YOUR AUDIO, BUT WE WILL BE ALLOWING USE TO USE, ALLOWING YOU TO USE THE CHAT FEATURE TO CHAT QUESTIONS TO US AND MY COMPATRIOT OVER HERE, SYDNEY IS GOING TO BE TAKING SOME OF THOSE QUESTIONS, BEING ABLE TO FLIP INTO US SO THAT WE CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS. SO HOPEFULLY FOLKS AT ZOOM ON ZOOM CAN JUST SUBMIT THOSE CHATS AND THEY'LL BE GOING TO PANEL MEMBERS HERE ON THE ZOOM. OK, NEXT SLIDE. SO JUST A QUICK NOTE ABOUT WHERE WE ARE IN THIS REDISTRICTING PROCESS, SO WE DID TWO PUBLIC HEARINGS IN JUNE AND AUGUST AND THEN WE'RE DOING MAPPING WORKSHOPS TONIGHT IS ONE OF THOSE MAPPING WORKSHOPS THAT WE'RE DOING TONIGHT. WE DID ANOTHER ONE TWO WAY BACK IN JULY, SO IT FEELS LIKE IT HASN'T BEEN THAT LONG, BUT TIME GOES BY AND YOU'RE HAVING FUN. THE CENSUS DID RELEASE THE DATA FOR THEIR FEDERAL DATA BACK IN SEPTEMBER, BUT THAT EXCUSE ME, THEY RELEASED SORRY, THEY RELEASED IN AUGUST. BUT THEN THEY HAVE TO MODIFY THAT DATA TO REALLOCATE THE PRISON POPULATION IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. AND THEN AFTER THEY RELEASED THAT DATA, THEY ALSO FOUND SOME STAFFERS AND SOME OF THE DATA WAS AVAILABLE. SO WE REALLY DIDN'T GET THAT DATA UNTIL LATE INTO SEPTEMBER WHEN THEY HAD TO RERELEASE. THAT'S WHY WE GOT A SEPTEMBER 20TH AND TWENTY SEVEN DATE UP THERE. THIS IS ABNORMAL IN A NORMAL YEAR. THIS PROCESS, WE WOULD HAVE HAD THE DATA BACK IN APRIL, MAY, CERTAINLY, AND WE WOULD HAVE HAD A LONG TIME TO GET TO THIS PROCESS. SO YOU'VE HEARD THIS MANY TIMES, AND I WILL JUST REITERATE IT AGAIN TONIGHT. WE ARE IN A TIME CRUNCH BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE TO WIGGLE. WE DON'T HAVE ANY WIGGLE ROOM IN THE BACK END. WE HAVE TO GET THROUGH THIS PROCESS BY MID-DECEMBER. AND BUT WE WEREN'T GIVEN DATA TO REALLY TAKE ACTION ON UNTIL EARLIER ON. NOW THE COUNTY WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT WAS ACTIVE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION. SO WE COLLABORATE WITH THEM TO INNOVATE ON WAYS TO INVOLVE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEFORE THE DATA WAS AVAILABLE, SUCH AS HAVING CONVERSATIONS ABOUT COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. SO THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF PROACTIVE WORK TO TRY TO MAKE SURE WE INNOVATE AROUND THIS KIND OF REALITY THAT WE WERE GIVEN, WHICH IS THE DATA WASN'T MADE AVAILABLE TO US EARLY AND WE CONTINUE TO INNOVATE AROUND THAT SPACE WITH MEETINGS LIKE THIS. WE'LL BE LOOKING AT DOING OUR NEXT PUBLIC HEARING ON NOVEMBER 16TH. THERE'S SOME KEYNOTES THERE IN TERMS OF DRAFT MAPS THAT ARE DUE, AND CHRIS CAN EXPLAIN SOME OF THE DETAILS ON THAT DURING THE COURSE OF HIS PRESENTATION. AND THEN ULTIMATELY, WE'RE LOOKING AT A HARD DATE DECEMBER 7TH TO ADOPT THE FINAL MAPS BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. AND I WILL JUST NOTE THAT BECAUSE AS A JUNE PRIMARY. AS WITH MOST COUNTIES, THE REALITY IS WE HAVE TO HAVE THOSE DONE BY THEN SO THAT WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT WE GET THE INFORMATION TO THE REGISTRAR OF VOTERS SO THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY HAVE A COUNTY CLERK RECORDER SO WE CAN ACTUALLY GET PRECINCTS DRAWN UP AND GET THROUGH THE ENTIRE PROCESS OF BEING READY TO ACTUALLY HAVE EFFECTIVE DEMOCRACY WORK. SO WE'VE GOT TO GET THROUGH THAT DATA PROCESS. SO WE HAVE HARD DATES WE HAVE TO HIT. THAT'S NOT A DATE WE IMPOSE ON OURSELF, IT'S ONE THAT'S BEEN IMPOSED BY US FROM THE OUTSIDE. ALL RIGHT, NEXT SLIDE. AND I THINK THIS IS WHERE I HAND THE MICROPHONE OVER TO CHRIS AND TAKE IT AWAY, MY FRIEND. THANKS, RYDER. JUST TO ELABORATE A LITTLE BIT MORE ON THE TIMELINES, WE'RE ANTICIPATING A DECEMBER 7TH ADOPTION. THE ACTUAL LEGAL DEADLINE IS JUST A WEEK LATER, DECEMBER 15TH THAT'S BUILT INTO THE ELECTIONS CODE, AND THEN THE REGISTRAR'S OFFICE WILL HAVE ABOUT A MONTH TO TAKE THOSE LINES AND IMPLEMENT IT. IT'S SORT OF A COMPLICATED PROCESS. THEY'VE GOT TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THE VOTERS ARE ASSIGNED TO THE RIGHT DISTRICTS. AND OF COURSE, THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE ALL OF THE CITIES IN THE STATE LINES AND EVERYTHING [00:10:01] ELSE TO BE DONE AT THE SAME TIME. AND SO THE THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF A DELAY IN TERMS OF THE CANDIDATE FILING PERIODS COMPARED TO A NORMAL YEAR. THEY ARE GOING TO OPEN UP THE IN LIEU FILING PERIODS IN EARLY JANUARY MAY RUN INTO FEBRUARY. AND THEN THE CANDIDATE FILING PERIOD FOR THE JUNE ELECTION OPENS IN FEBRUARY AND RUNS THROUGH MARCH. SO THAT'S KIND OF THE COMPRESSED TIMELINE. THAT'S WHY WE'RE IN SUCH A CRUNCH, BECAUSE IF WE PUSH IT BACK ANY FURTHER THAN THE REGISTRAR'S OFFICE GETS SHORT SHRIFT IN TERMS OF WHAT THEY HAVE. IF YOU GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. SO THAT'S SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SORT OF PROCESS AND TIMING, WHAT I WANT TO TURN TO NOW IS A LITTLE BIT OF DISCUSSION OF THE RULES, HOW WE DECIDE HOW THE LINES GET REDRAWN AND THE LEGAL GUIDELINES. THE LEGAL CRITERIA THAT GOVERN THAT PROCESS AND THE WAY REDISTRICTING WORKS, GENERALLY SPEAKING, IS FEDERAL LAW SETS OUT A COUPLE OF BROAD PARAMETERS THAT HAVE TO BE COMPLIED WITH AND THEY SORT OF SUPREME OVER EVERYTHING ELSE. AND THEN ALL OF THE GAPS IN BETWEEN ARE FILLED BY STATE LAW AND THE PRIMARY FEDERAL LAW REQUIREMENTS ARE, FIRST OF ALL, POPULATION EQUALITY. THAT'S THE REASON WE DO THIS EVERY 10 YEARS BECAUSE THE SUPREME COURT HAS SAID THAT ANY JURISDICTION USING DISTRICTS HAS TO CHECK THE POPULATION PERIODICALLY TO ENSURE THAT THERE'S ROUGHLY EQUAL AMOUNT OF POPULATION IN EACH OF THE DISTRICTS SO THAT EVERYBODY HAS ROUGHLY EQUAL VOTING POWER. THAT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECTLY EQUAL, BUT THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF TOLERANCE THERE, BUT IT DOES NEED TO BE ROUGHLY EQUAL. AND SO THAT'S THAT'S WHAT DRIVES IT. AND THAT'S THE NUMBER ONE OVERARCHING CONSIDERATION IN ALL OF THIS. AND THEN NEXT, MOST IMPORTANT UNDER THAT IS COMPLIANCE WITH THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT. AND AS A YOU KNOW, HISTORICALLY SPEAKING, MERCED COUNTY HAS HAD A DISTRICT, DISTRICT, ONE THAT HAS BEEN DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO COMPLY WITH THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AT THE REQUEST OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. AND SO THAT THAT IS THEN, AS I SAID, THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT CRITERION AND THEN STATE LAW BASED ON SOME CHANGES THAT WERE MADE IN THE ELECTIONS CODE JUST A FEW YEARS AGO, IT USED TO BE THAT THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF DISCRETION IN TERMS OF HOW THEY DREW THE LINES AS LONG AS THEY COMPLIED WITH THOSE FEDERAL LAW REQUIREMENTS. PRETTY MUCH ANY REASONABLE LINES WERE GOING TO BE OK. AS OF 2019 THE FAIR MAPS ACT PASSAGE, NOW THE LEGISLATURE HAS SAID THAT THERE ARE SPECIFIC CRITERIA THAT HAVE TO BE FOLLOWED AND THEY HAVE TO BE FOLLOWED IN THE SPECIFIC ORDER AND THEY'RE LISTED HERE ON THIS SLIDE. THE FIRST GEOGRAPHIC CONTIGUITY. SO WHICH MEANS YOU DON'T HAVE THE DISTRICT JUMPING ALL OVER, YOU CAN GET THROUGH FROM ANY PART OF THE DISTRICT TO ANY OTHER PART. USUALLY PRETTY, PRETTY EASY TO COMPLY WITH ANY COUNTY. SECOND, AND THIS IS THE ONE THAT WE'RE GOING TO SPEND PROBABLY THE MOST TIME ON THIS EVENING IS COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT IS NOT DIVIDING COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST IN NEIGHBORHOODS ANYMORE THAT IS NECESSARY. IT DOESN'T MEAN NOT AT ALL, IN SOME CASES, IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO COMPLY WITH CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS, BUT WE'RE GOING TO MAKE AN EFFORT TO MINIMIZE THOSE DIVISIONS. RIGHT BELOW THAT AND SORT OF RELATED IS AN EFFORT TO MINIMIZE THE DIVISION OF CITIES AND CENSUS DESIGNATED PLACES. AGAIN, IT'S NOT AN ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT. YOU KNOW, THE CITY OF MERCED IS LARGE ENOUGH THAT THERE'S REALLY NO WAY THAT YOU'RE GOING TO DRAW DISTRICTS WITHOUT DIVIDING IT AT LEAST ONCE AND PROBABLY MORE. BUT AT LEAST THAT'S THERE'S AN EFFORT TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT BY CITIES AND CDP'S. MORE EASILY IDENTIFIABLE BOUNDARIES, SO SORT OF NATURAL AND MAN-MADE BOUNDARIES THAT PEOPLE LOOKED AT WOULD UNDERSTAND AS THEIR [INAUDIBLE]. SO ROADS, RAILROADS, CANALS, MOUNTAIN RANGES, PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING THAT JUST KIND OF MAKES SENSE. AND THEN FINALLY, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LIST, COMPACTNESS, THE IDEA IS THAT THE DISTRICTS ARE KIND OF MORE SQUARE AND MORE KIND OF SMALLER GEOGRAPHICALLY, IF POSSIBLE, THEY'RE NOT MEANDERING ALL OVER THE COUNTY AGAIN, THOUGH THIS IS THE LEAST IMPORTANT IN THE EXTENT THAT A LESS COMPACT DISTRICT IS REQUIRED TO COMPLY WITH THESE OTHER HIGHER RANGE REQUIREMENTS. THAT'S THAT'S PERMISSIBLE AND IN FACT, REQUIRED. SO AND I SHOULD ALSO MENTION YOU HAD THE TRADITIONAL REDISTRICTING CRITERIA, AS I SAID, THE COUNTY HAD A LOT OF DISCRETION BEFORE, AND SO IN ADDITION TO THE THE RANKED PRIORITIZED CRITERIA THAT WE JUST TALKED ABOUT, THERE WERE OTHER TRADITIONAL CRITERIA THAT REDISTRICTING JURISDICTIONS OFTEN TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION, YOU KNOW, AVOIDING MOVING VOTERS MORE THAN IT WAS NECESSARY SO THAT THEY WERE YOU WERE MINIMIZING THE IMPACT OF HAVING THEM SHIFT FROM ONE ELECTION CYCLE TO THEM MINIMIZING HEAD ON HEAD CONTEST BETWEEN INCUMBENTS SO THAT THEY ALL STAYED IN THEIR DISTRICTS. THOSE UNDER THE CURRENT LAW ARE THINGS THAT CAN STILL BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT, BUT THEY HAVE [00:15:03] TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT ONLY TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY DON'T CONFLICT WITH THE STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS. SO AS I SAID, FOR EXAMPLE, MERCED IS GOING TO HAVE TO GET SPLIT JUST BECAUSE OF ITS SIZE. HOW YOU GO ABOUT DIVIDING IT, THOUGH, YOU MAY TAKE THOSE TRADITIONAL CRITERIA EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE NOT IN THE STATUTE. SO THAT'S WHEN YOU MAY BE TAKING THEM INTO ACCOUNT IN TERMS OF HOW YOU DRAW THE LINES. THERE'S STILL A LOT OF WAYS THAT YOU CAN DRAW THOSE BOUNDARIES AND STILL COMPLY WITH STATUTORY CRITERIA. GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE. AND JUST A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE THE FINELY RELEASED CENSUS DATA, AS WRITER SAID, THESE ONLY CAME OUT JUST A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO. AND SO WHAT WE HAVE HERE ARE THE BROAD DEMOGRAPHICS OF EACH OF THE CURRENT DISTRICTS. AND WHAT YOU'LL SEE IS THAT, SO JUST TO TAKE A STEP BACK IN TERMS OF POPULATION EQUALITY, THE WAY WE FIGURE THIS IS YOU TAKE THE TOTAL POPULATION OF THE COUNTY, YOU DIVIDE BY THE NUMBER OF SEATS, FIVE SUPERVISORS AND THAT GIVES YOU YOUR IDEAL DISTRICT POPULATION. AND THEN THE SUPREME COURT HAS BASICALLY SAID YOU WANT ALL OF THE DISTRICTS ESSENTIALLY TO BE WITHIN PLUS OR MINUS FIVE PERCENT OF THAT IDEAL POPULATION, ROUGHLY SPEAKING. THE CURRENT DISTRICTS BASED ON THE 2020 CENSUS ARE NOT WITHIN RANGE. YOU'LL SEE THAT DISTRICTS ONE AND FOUR ARE SUBSTANTIALLY UNDERPOPULATED, EACH CLOSE TO NINE PERCENT. UNDERNEATH THE IDEAL, DISTRICT FIVE, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS SUBSTANTIALLY OVERPOPULATED ABOUT 11 PERCENT OR 11 AND A HALF. DISTRICT TWO IS ABOUT FIVE AND A HALF PERCENT, SO STILL NOT QUITE AS OVERPOPULATED AS FIVE, BUT STILL SUBSTANTIALLY. THEN DISTRICT THREE IS THE ONE THAT'S KIND OF PRETTY CLOSE TO THAT IDEAL SO THAT THESE NUMBERS ARE REALLY GOING TO BE DRIVING A LOT OF THE DECISIONS MADE IN THIS PROCESS BECAUSE DISTRICT FIVE IS GOING TO HAVE TO LOSE A FAIR AMOUNT OF TERRITORY AND POPULATION AND DISTRICTS FOUR AND ONE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GAIN AND DISTRICT TWO IS GOING TO HAVE TO LOSE SOME TO FOLLOW. SO IT'S GOING TO BE A LITTLE BIT OF A PUZZLE TO PUT ALL OF THAT TOGETHER. GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE. SO NOW THE MEAT OF THE PRESENTATION, THE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST AND WHAT WE'RE REALLY LOOKING FOR FROM THE PUBLIC. COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST IS A VERY BROAD PHRASE. YOU KNOW, IT'S REALLY CAN HAVE A LOT OF DIFFERENT MEANING DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE AND AND WHAT TYPE OF JURISDICTION YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. BUT BROADLY, WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR IS, YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE THE COMMUNITIES THAT YOU RELATE TO AND THAT YOU INTERACT WITH IN TERMS OF YOUR DEALINGS WITH THE COUNTY OF MERCED? MOST IMPORTANTLY, WE WANT TO KNOW KIND OF WHAT IS THE INTEREST THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT AND THAT COULD BE VERY BROAD, COULD BE ECONOMIC INTERESTS, IT COULD BE SOCIAL INTERESTS. IT COULD BE ANY ANY NUMBER OF THINGS THAT RELATE TO THE TOWN AND WHAT THE COUNTY DOES. YOU KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, 10 YEARS AGO, WE WERE DOING THE CITY OF PHOENIX, IN ARIZONA, AND SOME FOLKS CAME IN AND THEY SAID TO THE CITY COUNCIL, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE THESE HISTORIC BRICK BUILDING HOMES DOWNTOWN AND HOW YOU DEAL WITH THEM IN THE PLANNING PROCESS IS IMPORTANT TO US. AND SO WE THINK WE HAVE A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST THAT SHOULD BE COMBINED INTO A SINGLE DISTRICT. AND, YOU KNOW, THE COUNCIL DID DO THAT. YOU KNOW, PROBABLY IT'S NOT BRICK HOMES IN MERCED AND SOMETHING ELSE, BUT IT GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF SORT OF THE BREADTH OF THE CONCEPT THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT. IT REALLY CAN BE ANY SORT OF INTEREST THAT THAT PEOPLE ORGANIZE THEIR THEIR POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ACTIVITIES AROUND. BUT THE SECOND PIECE OF IT, WE ALSO NEED TO KNOW WHERE IT IS. IT'S NOT VERY HELPFUL, YOU KNOW? YOU MAY HAVE A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST WITH FOLKS SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY, AND THAT'S GREAT. BUT IF THEY'RE NOT CONCENTRATED IN A SINGLE PLACE, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO PUT THEM INTO A SINGLE DISTRICT. AND SO WE'RE LOOKING FOR FEEDBACK NOT ONLY ON WHAT THE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST ARE, BUT WHERE THEY ARE, SO THAT WE CAN FIGURE OUT THAT THEY'RE MALLEABLE AND THAT THEY CAN BE COMBINED IN A SINGLE DISTRICT. YOU KNOW, WE HAVE SOME EXAMPLES HERE OF OTHER POSSIBLE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST OPTIONS. YOU KNOW, NEIGHBORHOODS, OBVIOUSLY, SOMETIMES SCHOOL DISTRICTS MAY BE RELEVANT AREAS AROUND PARKS. IT'S REALLY KIND OF OPEN ENDED. AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR. THE FEEDBACK FROM YOU, FOLKS FROM, YOU KNOW, AND WE HAVE OTHER WAYS OF TRYING TO IDENTIFY IT BASED ON PLANNING RECORDS IN THE LIGHT. BUT REALLY, TESTIMONY FROM THE PUBLIC IS THE BEST WAY FOR US TO TO LEARN. AND THIS IS WHERE YOUR EXPERTISE COMES IN. GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. SO AS I SAID, YOU KNOW, WHAT WE'RE ASKING FOR IN TERMS OF IDENTIFYING THESE COMMUNITIES IS EACH OF THESE PIECES, WHERE IS IT? WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS THE COMMON INTEREST, YOU KNOW? HOW IS IT IMPACTED BY THE COUNTY? BECAUSE IF, IF, IF THE COMMUNITY OF INTEREST IS STATE PARKS, YOU KNOW, THAT MAY NOT BE [00:20:04] SOMETHING THE COUNTY HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH. THAT'S MAYBE NOT AS WELL. WE'RE REALLY FOCUSED ON ON COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST THAT INTERACT WITH THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT. AND THEN, YOU KNOW, TELL US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT WHY IT'S A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST AND YOU END UP OVER HERE. HI, I WAS WONDERING IF COULD GO BACK TO THE SLIDE WITH THE 2020 CENSUS. MY QUESTION IS THAT WHY DO YOU ONLY HAVE ONE SLIDE ON LIKE THE 2020 CENSUS DATA AND WHY IS IT ONLY ABOUT RACE? LIKE HOW COME YOU'RE NOT PRESENTING ABOUT RELIGION OR AGE OR THE PRISONER DATA? LIKE WHERE THE PRISON POPULATION? WHAT IS THE RACE, AGE AND HOW COME LIKE, YOUR DATA IS SO SMALL? AND LIKE YOU HAD TIME TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER, IT JUST SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE HIDING SOME DATA AND WE'RE NOT BEING TRANSPARENT IN PRESENTING ALL OF THE DATA. WELL, THE SHORT ANSWER IS THAT THIS IS JUST A SNAPSHOT AND THERE WILL BE A LOT MORE DATA PRESENTED AS THE MAPS COME OUT. THE REASON WE HIGHLIGHT THESE, FIRST OF ALL, THE TOTAL POPULATION IS BECAUSE WE HAVE TO COMPLY WITH AN EQUAL POPULATION REQUIREMENT. AND THEN THE RACIAL DATA ARE WE TYPICALLY LIST BECAUSE THOSE ARE RELEVANT TO THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT. IN TERMS OF THE DATA THAT WILL ACTUALLY BE PRODUCED BY THE DEMOGRAPHER, THERE WILL BE OTHER DATA RELATED TO AGE RELATED TO IMMIGRANT STATUS RELATED TO RENTERS VERSUS HOMEOWNERS. SO IT WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE. IT'S JUST AN EXAMPLE FOR PURPOSES OF THIS PRESENTATION. IN TERMS OF THE PRISONERS, AS RYDER MENTIONED, THE PRISON POPULATION ACTUALLY UNDER STATE LAW WAS REDISTRIBUTED BACK TO THEIR LAST KNOWN PLACE OF RESIDENCE. SO IT'S BUILT INTO THESE NUMBERS ALREADY. IN OTHER WORDS, THEY'RE NOT COUNTED AT THE PLACE WHERE THEY'RE INCARCERATED. THEY ARE COUNTED [INAUDIBLE] SO THERE ARE NOT THOSE THOSE NUMBERS ARE NOT SEPARATED OUT IN THE SAME WAY. LET'S GO BACK TO OUR SLIDE THAT WE HAVE THERE. AND THEN I THINK THE BOTTOM LINE IN RED, CHRIS, IS A PRETTY IMPORTANT POINT, TOO, ABOUT PARTY AFFILIATION. YEAH, WELL, JUST BEFORE I GET TO THAT. SO THE FIRST PART OF THIS IS IDENTIFYING WHAT YOUR COMMUNITY OF INTEREST IS. THE OTHER PART IS TELLING US WHY IT BELONGS IN THE COMMON DISTRICT. YOU KNOW, IT MAY OR IT MAY BE THAT YOU FEEL THAT IT WOULD BE BETTER REPRESENTED BY NOT BEING FROM A DISTRICT. THAT IS, SOMETIMES SOME SOMETIMES PEOPLE FEEL THAT THEY WOULD RATHER BE DIVIDED AMONG DISTRICTS SO THAT THEY HAVE THE EAR OF MORE THAN ONE REPRESENTATIVE. AND SO THAT IS SOMETHING WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW AS WELL. BUT RIGHT TO RYDER'S POINT, THE ONE THING THAT THE ELECTIONS CODE SPECIFICALLY SAYS IS THAT A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST CANNOT BE DEFINED WITH WITH RESPECT TO AN INCUMBENT OR A POTENTIAL CANDIDATE OR WITH POLITICAL PARTY. THOSE ARE THE EXEMPTIONS FROM THE STATUTORY DEFINITION OF WHAT A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST CAN BE. OBVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW, POLITICAL PARTIES, PROBABLY NOT QUITE AS RELEVANT IN A NONPARTISAN SEATS, BUT. WE HAVE INCLUDED THAT. QUESTIONS. NOW WE GOT A COUPLE MORE QUESTIONS TO GET TO. WE'LL GET TO THEM AS SOON AS WE FINISH THE REST OF THE DAY. A COUPLE MORE SLIDES, CAN WE GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE? SO I JUST WANT TO SUMMARIZE, WE WERE HERE, AS I MENTIONED ON JULY 13TH, WE HAD A GREAT CONVERSATION IN THIS ROOM WITH A FEW FOLKS AND WE ACTUALLY HAD A REMOTE LOCATION DOWN IN LOS BANOS AS WELL. GOT SOME ADDITIONAL FEEDBACK FROM THAT AUDIENCE DISCUSSING COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. SO THIS IS JUST A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE SUBMISSIONS THAT WE ACHIEVED IN THE COURSE OF THAT CONVERSATION THAT NIGHT AND THE NEXT SLIDE. AND THEN SUBSEQUENT TO THAT, WE ALSO RECEIVED ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS THROUGH THE RAW MERCED COUNTY WEBSITE THAT HAS BEEN UP WHERE PEOPLE WERE ALSO ABLE TO SUBMIT ADDITIONAL COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST INFORMATION, OF COURSE, THAT REMAINS AVAILABLE AS WE SPEAK RIGHT NOW, SO THERE'S PLENTY OF WAYS TO CONTINUE SUBMITTING. THIS IS NOT THE ONLY FORUM IN WHICH TO DO THAT. THERE ARE MULTIPLE FORMS AVAILABLE TO GET THAT DONE AND SUBMIT YOUR AND IDENTIFY COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE SO AS I HAD PROMISED, WE WERE GOING TO DO Q&A AND BE ABLE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS, SO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CHRIS'S PRESENCE AND MY PRESENCE HERE. MORE CHRIS THAN ME, BLUNT ABOUT IT. I'M REALLY GOOD AT CARRYING A MICROPHONE AND WE'LL TAKE Q&A AND REMIND EVERYBODY THAT IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS IN THE AUDIENCE AS WELL, OR EXCUSE ME, IN THE ZOOM AUDIENCE THAT ASK THOSE THROUGH CHAT AND SITTING WILL BE FIELDING THOSE. AND I AM SURE HE HAS ONE QUESTION THAT WAS SUBMITTED EARLIER. SO I'M GOING TO GO TO HER AND WE'LL COME BACK TO YOU OK, GIVE ME ONE SECOND. I'M GOING TO READ THIS OFF, YOU WANT. SINCE IT'S SO HARD TO GET THE EXACT SAME DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN EACH DISTRICT, [00:25:02] WHAT IS THE PERCENTAGE OF ALLOWED DEVIATION FOR EACH DISTRICT? THAT SOUNDS LIKE A PERFECT QUESTION FOR YOU, CHRIS. YEAH, YEAH. SO AS I SAID, YOU KNOW, AS A ROUGH SHORTHAND WE USE PLUS OR MINUS FIVE PERCENT FROM THE IDEAL. IT'S ACTUALLY A TOTAL RANGE OF 10 PERCENT. SO IF ONE OF THE MOST UNDERPOPULATED IS FOUR PERCENT UNDER, THEN THE MOST OVER COULD BE SIX. BUT. IT'S THAT 10 PERCENT AROUND THAT IDEAL POPULATION IS THE ALLOWABLE DEVIATION. SO ROUGHLY, YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY ONE THOUSAND DIVIDED BY FIVE AND THEN YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE FIVE PERCENT FROM WHATEVER THAT IDEAL DISTRICT COUNT IS, AND THAT'S GOING TO BE THE WHAT DRIVES YOU IN TERMS OF HOW MANY ACTUAL PEOPLE YOU CAN DEVIATE FROM. THAT'S RIGHT. AND OBVIOUSLY, YOU NEVER REALLY END UP WITH A PERFECT BALANCE ACROSS EACH DISTRICT BECAUSE PRECINCT, EXCUSE ME, CENSUS BLOCKS ARE NOT PERFECT, SO YOU CAN'T GET A PERFECT YOU CAN'T CUT CENSUS BLOCKS EITHER. YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T. AND THAT'S A VERY COMPLICATED PROCESS. WERE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS SUBMITTED? OK, LET ME COME BACK OVER HERE, SINCE YOU HAD YOUR HAND UP FIRST. I'LL JUST HANG ON TO THE MIC. IF THAT'S OK, I WANT TO TRY TO PREVENT COVID SPREAD. HI, MY NAME IS [INAUDIBLE] AND I MY FIRST QUESTION IS HOW COME TODAY YOU DIDN'T PROVIDE ANY HANDOUT LIKE A PRINTED HAND OUT OF THE POWERPOINT? AND THEN BECAUSE THE LAST MEETING YOU DID AND THEN YOU KNOW, THE CENSUS, YOU KNOW, THE DISTRICT IS LIKE IT TAKES 10 YEARS FOR US TO DRAW THE REDISTRICTING. AND IN THAT 10 YEARS, THINGS HAVE CHANGED, YOU KNOW? AND ON JULY 13TH, ON THE WORKSHOP, WE SPOKE ABOUT HOW WE WANTED YOU GUYS TO PRESENT ON THE 2020 CENSUS. AND ON AUGUST 10TH, WE MADE PUBLIC COMMENT SAYING THAT WE WANT A PRESENTATION ON THE 2020 CENSUS SO WE CAN UNDERSTAND THE POPULATION LIVING HERE IN MERCED COUNTY SO WE CAN DRAW YOU A GOOD MAP SO THAT THE PEOPLE'S VOICE CAN BE HEARD. AND TODAY, ON AUGUST 19TH, WE ARE HERE AND YOU'RE GIVING US A VERY BULLSHIT CENSUS IS REALLY YOU'RE NOT GIVING US THE DATA AND WE TOLD YOU WE WANT TO KNOW THE RACE, INCOME, RELIGION, AGE. WE WANT TO UNDERSTAND OUR POPULATION, THE DEMOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND, SO WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE'S VOICES ARE HEARD. AND SO I DON'T THINK YOU'RE BEING TRANSPARENT IN GIVING US THE INFORMATION. I DIDN'T HEAR A QUESTION THERE, SO WE'LL MOVE ALONG. SO THE FIRST QUESTION WAS WHY WE DON'T HAVE A POWERPOINT HANDOUT FOR YOU, I DON'T HAVE AN ANSWER FOR YOU ON THAT QUESTION. THE POWERPOINT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD ON THE ACADEMY'S WEBSITE OR THE DRAW MERCED COUNTY WEBSITE AND AVAILABLE FOR PEOPLE TO GET ACCESS TO THAT. WE DO HAVE SOME MAPS UP HERE WHICH I WANT TO MAKE AVAILABLE. WE HADN'T HAD THEM OUT YET. YOU'RE ALL FREE TO COME AND GET THEM, BUT THEY ARE GERMANE TO THE KIND OF MAP DRAWING PRACTICE THAT WE HAVE HERE, AND WE'LL BE EXPLAINING SOME OF THESE MAPS LATER. BUT I'LL BE COMING AROUND TO HAND THOSE MAPS OUT HERE SHORTLY AS WELL. WE HAVE THEM UP HERE IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH FOR NOW, DID I SEE ANOTHER HAND GOING UP? NO, I DIDN'T. OK. BUT ONE QUESTION. OH, HANG ON ONE SECOND. I HAVE A QUICK QUESTION IN REGARDS TO WHEN YOU SET UP A DISTRICT, YOU'RE SEPARATING IT LIKE SHE WANTS RELIGION, INCOME, EVERYTHING, ISN'T IT BY CITY, ISN'T IT HOW YOU TRIED TO DO IT IS BY CITY/ BECAUSE ALL OF I'M ONLY SPEAKING OF LOS BANOS, LOS BANOS WERE ALL ONE CITY, DOS PALOS IS CLOSE TO US, SANTA NELLA IS CLOSE TO US, EL NIDO, YOU HAVE TO DRIVE A LITTLE BIT, BUT WE'RE ALL KIND OF COMPACT. WOULDN'T YOU JUST MAKE YOUR DISTRICTS BY CITY AND TRY TO WAVE A LINE TO MEET THE POPULATION AND NOT SEPARATE EVERYBODY APART, THEIR INCOME OR THE RELIGION OR NATIONALITY, EVERYTHING ELSE? AND IT'S SORT OF THE ANSWER IS YES AND NO. AS WE WENT THROUGH THE STATUTORY CRITERIA, CITIES ARE A AN IMPORTANT PRIORITY AS PROVIDED IN THE ELECTIONS CODE. TO THE EXTENT THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT RELIGION OR ANY OF THE OTHER ITEMS WOULD BE POTENTIALLY RELEVANT TO THE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. AND SO THOSE ARE A HIGHER PRIORITY IN TERMS OF THE ELECTIONS CODE. SO YOU MAY END UP DIVIDING A CITY POTENTIALLY TO UNIFY A COMMUNITY WITHOUT MAKING ANY PREDICTIONS ON HOW THAT PLAYS OUT. IN THIS CASE, IT'S YOU KNOW, LOTS OF DIFFERENT CHOICES TO BE MADE, BUT CITIES ARE CERTAINLY A HIGH PRIORITY AND UNIFYING THEM TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE. AND IT MAY BE THAT CITIES HAVE A COMMON INTEREST THAT WOULD MAKE THEM A COMMUNITY OF JUST TOGETHER. JUST TO PICK AN EXAMPLE, LOS BANOS AND DOS PALOS MAYBE HAVE ENOUGH OF A COMMON INTEREST THAT THEY SHOULD. YEAH, AND I WAS JUST GOING TO NOTE, SO I BROUGHT THIS SLIDE [00:30:04] BACK UP TO BECAUSE GERMANE TO YOUR POINT, THE LAW ATTEMPTED TO ADDRESS THE PRIORITIZATION OF THIS, BUT THEY DID MAKE IT SUBJECT NUMBER THREE. WHAT IS NUMBER TWO, UNDIVIDED INTEREST, RIGHT? SO THERE'S OFTENTIMES AFFILIATION COMMITTEES OF INTEREST AROUND CITIES THEMSELVES AND SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THEY HAVE. SO YOU OFTEN WILL SEE THOSE GROUPED TOGETHER, BUT ULTIMATELY IT'S PART OF WHAT THE COMMUNITY OF INTEREST DISCUSSION IS TONIGHT. AND I WILL RECOLLECT OR THE BEST OF MY RECOLLECTION, AND THIS WOULD BE EVIDENCED IN THE NOTES. WHEN WE DID THIS MEETING BACK IN JULY, THE COMMUNITY OF LOS BANOS IDENTIFIED THAT THEY WERE THEY WERE A COMMUNITY INTEREST ON THEIR OWN, AND THEY DID NOT WANT TO SEE THEIR TOWN OF LOS BANOS CUT UP RIGHT. SO THERE WAS BEEN SOME PUBLIC COMMENTARY TO THAT EXTENT THAT THAT WAS EXPRESSED IDENTIFIED AS COMMUNITY OF INTEREST. IF YOU ARE TELLING ME TONIGHT WHEN WE GET INTO OUR COMMITTEES OF INTEREST DISCUSSION THAT YOU FEEL THAT SAME WAY TOO, THAT WOULD ALSO GO ONTO THE RECORD AS PART OF THE DISCUSSION. OK, HANG ON ONE SECOND. HI, MY NAME IS JOE CASTILLO. MY SPOUSE AND I ARE RESIDENTS IN DISTRICT FOUR. AND I SEE AN INTERESTING STAT THERE IN DISTRICT FOUR HOW THE POPULATION'S GONE DOWN. AND THEN I'M LISTENING TO ABOUT HOW WE CAN FIND A COMMON INTEREST IN MERCED COUNTY. AND THEN I SEE ANOTHER INTERESTING COMMENT, I GUESS IN A PRIOR MEETING IS DELHI IT'S ON THE NORTHERN WELL, IT'S ON THE SOUTHERN BOARD MERCED COUNTY BORDER WITHIN WITH STANISLAW COUNTY. AND IT IS INTERESTING, I AGREE WITH THAT STAT THAT DELHI HAS MORE COMMON INTEREST WITH TURLOCK, TURLOCK IS TEN MINUTES AWAY AND THE CITY OF MERCED'S A HALF HOUR AWAY. IF YOU WANT TO GO TO THE MOVIES AND GO 10 MINUTES AWAY TO GO TO A MOVIE IN TURLOCK, WHICH IN TURN LOOKS LIKE 70000 POPULATION, AND I'M JUST THINKING OUT LOUD, AND MAYBE IT'S A QUESTION IS HOW COULD I DON'T? I'M HAPPY WITH MERCED COUNTY. I'M JUST TRYING TO FIGURE IN MY MIND HOW WE CAN FIND A COMMON INTEREST FOR DELHI, MAYBE BEING MORE CLOSELY RELATED AND INTEREST TO LIVINGSTON, WHERE RODRIGO IS OUR SUPERVISOR. BUT I'M JUST THINKING BECAUSE IN DELHI OUR POWER, OUR POWER MUNICIPALITY AND OUR WATER COMES FROM A MUNICIPALITY IN TURLOCK, WHICH IS STANISLAUS COUNTY. SO JUST AUTOMATICALLY PEOPLE LEVITATE TO TEN MINUTES AWAY AND TO ANOTHER COUNTY VERSUS, YOU KNOW SOMEWHERE ELSE IN MERCED COUNTY, BUT LIKE I SAY, I'M HAPPY WITH MERCED COUNTY AND WAS TRYING TO FIND OUT. AND THAT'S WHAT THIS WHOLE PROCESS IS ABOUT I GUESS IS HOW WE CAN, HOW WE CAN FIND MORE COMMON INTEREST IN DELHI, WHERE PHYSICALLY, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE GO MORE JUST 10 MINUTES AWAY TO COUNTY. YEAH, THANK YOU. SO IT SOUNDS LIKE, FIRST OF ALL, WE HAVE A WHOLE DISCUSSION TO BE HAVING TO ABOUT COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST SHORTLY, AND I THINK THAT'S THE EXACT KIND OF FEEDBACK WE WANT TO HEAR, SO YOU'RE FORESHADOWING WHAT IS TO COME. NICELY, JOB DONE, AND I JUST WANT TO SAY PERHAPS THAT COMMUNITY OF INTEREST IS UNITED IN THEIR INTEREST IN ANOTHER COUNTY, AT LEAST IN THE SERVICES, RIGHT? SO IF THEY HAD A SHARED INTEREST OF WHERE THEY'RE GETTING SOME OF THEIR SERVICES, THAT COULD BE A CRITERIA FOR SOME OF THEIR COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST THAT THEY HAVE. IF THAT'S KIND OF YOUR OBSERVATION TO KEEP [INAUDIBLE] WHEN WE GET INTO THAT PARTICULAR DISCUSSION. BUT JUST MAYBE COMMENT, THOUGH, THAT THROUGH REDISTRICTING PROCESS DOES NOT MEAN THAT OR IT WILL BE ASSESSED OR EVALUATED WITHOUT MOVING TO ANOTHER COUNTY, YOU WOULD RETAIN IN MERCED COUNTY. OH YEAH, SORRY, I SHOULD BE CLEAR ABOUT THAT. THERE'S ACTUALLY BEEN A FEW QUESTIONS THAT COME UP ABOUT ANNEXATION PROCESS AND PEOPLE WANTING TO BE ANNEXED IN THAT AREAS. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANNEXATION. SO AND I WAS I WAS I SENSED YOU WERE PRO MERCED. YOU SAID IT AS MUCH IN YOUR COMMENTS, SO NOT ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE. HANG ON ONE SECOND. I DO THINK THAT THE DATA SHOULD HAVE PRESENTED IN CITIES BECAUSE DURING OUR LAST WORKSHOP MEETING, WE WERE REALLY CONFUSED AS TO WHERE LIVINGSTON BELONGED TO. WE WERE CONFUSED AS TO LIVINGSTON BELONGING WITH DELHI OR ATWATER. AND SO IT'S VERY DISAPPOINTING THAT THE DATA WASN'T REFLECTIVE OF THE CITIES THAT WE CAN UNDERSTAND THAT IT WAS. IT'S VERY GARBAGE THAT YOU GUYS SPENT LITTLE TIME ON THE DATA OF 2020 CENSUS. YOU KNOW, YOU GUYS ARE SPENDING A LOT OF TIME HEARING FROM US. YEAH, WE'RE NOT SPENDING A LOT OF TIME HEARING FROM YOU AND THE DATA OF THE 2020 CENSUS, SO WE CAN UNDERSTAND HOW TO DRAW THIS MAP. OK, IS THERE A QUESTION OVER HERE? CURRENTLY, THE DISTRICT R SHOWS THAT THERE ARE OVER TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY TWO THOUSAND PEOPLE TO DRAW A MAP, BUT THE DATA YOU SHOW STATES TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE THOUSAND [00:35:02] WELL, THE DATA BE UPDATED IN THE DISTRICT R PROGRAM FOR US TO BE ABLE TO DRAW A MORE ACCURATE MAP. THAT'S A FAIR QUESTION, SO I WILL ATTEMPT TO ANSWER IT, AND CHRIS, YOU CAN CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG ON THIS. YOU ARE CORRECT WITH THE DATA AND DISTRICT R IS NOT DOES NOT MATCH THE CENSUS DATA WE PRESENTED. THE DATA THAT'S IN DISTRICT R WAS ESTIMATED DATA THAT WE INJECTED INTO THE SYSTEM. BUT WE AND THE DEMOGRAPHERS MADE AVAILABLE IN AN EFFORT TO TRY TO BRING SOME TOOLS OUT EARLIER THAN HAVING TO WAIT FOR THE OFFICIAL DATA FROM THE U.S. CENSUS. SO THAT WAS BASED ON ESTIMATED DATA ALLOCATIONS. AND OF COURSE, OBVIOUSLY WE NOW HAVE REAL DATA FROM THE CENSUS. THAT TOOL, DISTRICT R IS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH TUFTS UNIVERSITY, AND WE ARE SUBJECT TO TUFT UNIVERSITY IMPLEMENTING THE ADDITIONAL SCIENCE, THE NEW CENSUS DATA NOW THAT IT'S BEEN CORRECTED AS OF SEPTEMBER 27 AND MAKING THAT AVAILABLE INTO THE DISTRICT, R SYSTEM. SO WE'RE A LITTLE STUCK WAITING FOR THAT PROCESS TO HAPPEN, AND I CAN'T GIVE A FIRM DATE ON EXACTLY WHEN THAT'S GOING TO BE. DID I MISS ANYTHING? NO, I THINK WE THE LATEST INFORMATION IS WE EXPECT IT TO BE UPDATED IN THE NEXT WEEK, BUT THERE'S NO GUARANTEES. YOU KNOW, THEY'RE THEY'RE KIND OF PRIORITIZING THE COUNTIES AND CITIES THAT HAVE THE DECEMBER 15TH DEADLINE LIKE MERCED COUNTY. AND SO HOPEFULLY WE'RE NEAR THE FRONT OF THE QUEUE, BUT WE JUST DON'T HAVE ANY CONCRETE DATA AT THIS MOMENT. AND IT'S UNFORTUNATE. I THINK, YOU KNOW, ULTIMATELY WE KNEW THERE WERE THERE WERE ALWAYS GOING TO BE CHALLENGES WITH CENSUS DATA COMING OUT THIS LATE AND WE'RE STARTING TO SEE SOME OF THOSE CHALLENGES MANIFESTING IN THE PROCESS. IS THERE ANOTHER QUESTION? THAT'S IT. OK, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR US ABOUT THIS PROCESS OF WHAT WE'RE GOING THROUGH? OK. ALL RIGHT, SO I NEED TO ASK YOU TO GO TO YOUR MAGIC, THANK YOU. SYDNEY, I'M NOT SURE WHERE WE'D BE WITHOUT YOU TONIGHT. OK, SO THIS IS NOW YOUR TURN FOR DISCUSSING COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. AND I WANT TO GET EMPHASIZE THAT COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST WERE HELD OUT UNDER THE FAIR MAPS ACT, AS A BIG, IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THIS PROCESS, THEY WERE VERY CLEAR THAT COMMUNITIES OF INTERESTS SHOULD NOT BE DIVIDED UP, AND SO IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE IDENTIFY COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. BEFORE I MOVE IN ON THIS PROCESS, I WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SHARING SOME MAPS THAT ARE UP HERE, AND WE'LL HAND THESE OUT BECAUSE ANYBODY IN THE ROOM WANT A SPANISH MAP, SPANISH LANGUAGE MAP. AND LET ME ONE OF THOSE ARE ACTUALLY. SYDNEY WILL GET YOU ONE OF THOSE. AND THEN WE HAVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAPS, AND I WANT TO MAKE THESE. I JUST WANT TO GIVE THEM TO YOU NOW BECAUSE WHILE WE WILL EXPLAIN THESE MAPPING TOOLS IN A MINUTE, THEY CAN ALSO JUST YOU CAN USE THESE MAPS TO IDENTIFY AND BOX OUT COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST AND TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THOSE MAPS AND ACTUALLY SUBMIT THEM THROUGH THE COUNTY'S WEBSITE OR EMAIL THEM IN TO THE COUNTY, AND THAT CAN BE ALSO BE ANOTHER WAY TO PROVIDE COMMUNITY OF INTEREST FEEDBACK TO US IN THIS PROCESS. SO I WILL ADMIT MY FRIENDS AT DISTRICT R HAD SOME SIMILAR QUESTIONS TO THIS, AND I THOUGHT THEY WERE SO EXCELLENT I MODIFIED THEM A BIT AND PLAGIARIZED THEM FOR PURPOSES OF OUR PROCESS. BUT THESE ARE REALLY WAYS TO THINK ABOUT COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST THAT YOU WANT TO IDENTIFY IN. SO WHEN YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT WHAT BRINGS US TOGETHER, EVEN IF WE'RE ON THE EDGE OF MERCED COUNTY AND REALLY SPEND MORE TIME IN A NEIGHBORING COUNTY, WHAT IS IT ABOUT MY AREA THAT STILL BRINGS US TOGETHER? OR WHAT ARE OTHER AREAS IN THE COUNTY THAT YOU VIEW AS A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST THAT SHOULD BE HELD TOGETHER TIGHTLY? AND WHAT IS THEIR INTERFACE WITH THE COUNTY THAT MAKES THAT SO? OR WHAT IS LIKE WHAT IS THERE KIND OF SHARED INTEREST THAT THAT IS A CHALLENGE THAT MAYBE THE COUNTY WOULD WOULD BE ADDRESSING OR SPEAKING TO. SO GIVE SOME THOUGHT TO THAT AND CHEW ON SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS THAT WE HAVE HERE. AND AND WHEN YOU HAVE ONE TO GIVE SYDNEY A COUPLE OF MINUTES HERE TO FINISH DISTRIBUTING SOME MAPS, BUT WHEN YOU'VE HAD A CHANCE TO COGITATE ON THAT, THEN WE'D LOVE FOR YOU TO SPEAK WITH ME AND THROUGH THE MICROPHONE AND SHARE THOSE SOME OF THOSE COMMITTEES OF INTEREST. AND WHAT WE'RE ALSO GOING TO DO AT THAT TIME IS RUN TO FLIP THE SCREEN AND ESSENTIALLY BRING UP A WORD DOCUMENT ON THE SCREEN. AND WE'RE GOING TO TAKE SOME OF THAT FEEDBACK ON COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST, THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE REMOTE WATCHING THIS EVENING. YOU CAN TYPE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST INTO THE CHAT BOX ON ZOOM, AND THEN WE'LL BE SURE TO COPY THOSE OUT. WE'RE GOING TO KEEP A RECORD OF THE CHAT CONVERSATION TONIGHT, AND SO WE'LL TAKE THOSE AND COPY AND PASTE THEM INTO THIS WORD DOCUMENT AS WELL SO WE CAN CAPTURE YOUR EXPRESSION OF COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST AS WELL. REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU EXPRESS THE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST, IT SHOULDN'T JUST BE LIKE WHAT THAT COMMUNITY OF INTEREST IS, BUT TRY TO GIVE US VERY SPECIFIC IDENTIFIERS IN TERMS OF STREET NAMES AND BOUNDARIES THAT TEND TO DEFINE THE EDGES OF WHERE THAT COMMUNITY OF INTEREST IS LOCATED. OR IF YOU HAPPEN TO THINK IT'S JUST A CITY IN GENERAL, THEN IT WOULD BE THE CITY BOUNDARIES AND YOU JUST IDENTIFY THE CITY NAME. THOSE ARE BOUNDARIES THAT WE READILY UNDERSTAND AND THE DEMOGRAPHERS CAN READILY PUT TO USE. THE AND THEN THE OTHER THING TO JUST THINK ABOUT WHEN YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT COMMUNITIES OF [00:40:04] INTEREST IS TO THINK ABOUT OBVIOUS DEMARCATIONS OR LINES OR BARRIERS OR WAYS THAT PEOPLE CAN IDENTIFY WHERE A DISTRICT STARTS AND STOPS. SO I THINK FOR A LOT OF CITIES HERE IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY, 99 AS A HIGHWAY IS A THE MARK. PEOPLE RECOGNIZE WHAT SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY THEY'RE ON, AND IT PROVIDES PERHAPS A WAY TO INDICATE WHERE A DISTRICT LINE MAY START AND STOP. SO, YOU KNOW, IF I'M EAST OR WEST OF NINETY NINE, I KNOW I'M IN DISTRICT ONE VERSUS DISTRICT TWO OR WHATEVER THE CASE MAY BE ON THE AGENCY. SO AND THAT COULD GO SOMEWHERE FOR STATE HIGHWAYS OR FOR OTHER MAJOR ARTERIALS AND ROADS THAT YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH IN THE COUNTY. IT CAN ALSO APPLY TO FLOOD CHANNELS OR AQUEDUCT SYSTEMS OR OTHER KIND OF OTHER MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS THAT WOULD BE PRESENT. SO RAILROAD TRACKS ALSO SO GIVE SOME THOUGHT TO SOME OF THOSE AS WELL AS YOU THINK ABOUT THE USE OF INTEREST. AND WE WILL COME BACK AND EXPLAIN THESE MAPS THAT ARE IN FRONT OF YOU IN A HOT MOMENT, SO WE'LL GET THROUGH OUR COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST DISCUSSION FIRST. IF YOU WANT MULTIPLE COPIES OF A MAP, JUST LET US KNOW AND WE'LL WE'LL HAVE THEM ALL AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO COME GRAB. AND I WOULD JUST ENCOURAGE YOU TO AGAIN THINK ABOUT USING THOSE MAPS AS A WAY TO DRAW COMMUNITIES OF INTERESTS ARE LOCATED IN THE COUNTY SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THOSE THAT SUBMISSION METHODOLOGY. OK. TRIED TO BELABOR THIS FOR A WHILE TO GIVE YOU PLENTY OF CHANCE TO THINK, AND NOW I'M GOING TO HAND IT OVER TO YOU. SHARING ANY COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO IDENTIFY. AND SINCE WE'VE HAD SOME PRACTICE FOR MY TWO TABLES OVER HERE ON THE LEFT, I'M NOW GOING TO USE THIS MOMENT TO HAVE YOU RESTATE WHAT YOU SAID BEFORE, SO WE CAN PUT IT IN THE CONTEXT OF COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST AND GET THE BALL ROLLING. DOES THAT WORK FOR YOU GUYS? ALL RIGHT, CATHY, I'M GOING TO. THE WHOLE CITY [INAUDIBLE] HAS IT ALL TOGETHER, THAT'S ALL. THERE YOU GO. LOS BANOS IS A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST. LOS BANOS. OK, WELL, NOW THAT I LOOK AT THIS DELHI, WE WE MAY GRAVITATE MORE TO TURLOCK, WHICH IS JUST 10 MINUTES AWAY. BUT NOW THAT I LOOK AT THE MAP, DELHI BOUNDARIES, SOUTHERN BOUNDARIES, STOP AT THE MERCED RIVER. AND I KNOW THAT'S A COMMON BOUNDARY, TOO, WITH LIVINGSTON. SO AND FOR MANY YEARS, DELHI RESIDENTS WOULD HAVE TO BE WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL IN LIVINGSTON BECAUSE DELHI DIDN'T HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL. SO I KNOW ALSO I GO TO LIVINGSTON A LOT, LIVING IN DELHI FOR SHOPPING AND HAVING WENT TO SCHOOL THERE. SO I SEE A COMMON COMMONALITY BETWEEN DELHI AND LIVINGSTON AS THEY SHARE THE MERCED RIVER AS A REPORTER AND COUNTY. EXCELLENT AND A GREAT GEOGRAPHIC IDENTIFIER TOO RIVERS, GOOD ONES. SYDNEY, I APOLOGIZE FOR RUSHING YOU ALONG WHILE YOU'RE STILL HANDING OUT MAPS. LET ME KNOW IF YOU GET CAUGHT UP. SO DELHI, LOS BANOS ACCOUNT. OK, VERY GOOD. OTHER COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. VERY SLY HAND-RAISED THAT WAS VERY EFFECTIVE. HI, BRIANNE RAMUS OR BRIANNE VANDENBURG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR MERCED COUNTY FARM BUREAU. ONE THING I WILL PULL IN IS YOUR AQUIFERS THAT YOU MENTIONED EARLIER. SO WE HAVE FOUR SUB BASINS UNDERNEATH US TO THE NORTH. YOU HAVE THE TURLOCK SUB BASIN, SO THE DELHI PARTS OF BALLICO, THAT AREA TO OUR WEST, YOU HAVE THE DELTA MENDOTA, SO LOS BANOS, DOS PALOS, GUSTINE AREA, MERCED, OF COURSE, AND THEN THE CHOCULA CENTER. SO I'D BE IN YOUR PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT. DID YOU GET ALL THAT, SYDNEY? SURE. I GUESS JUST TYING IN SIGMA TO THIS, BECAUSE IT'S ALL THE THE AQUIFERS THAT ARE UNDERNEATH US OR SUB BASINS. AND FOR SHORTHAND, I WOULD JUST SAY THERE'S FOUR [INAUDIBLE]. AND THESE ARE WELL MAPPED, I SUSPECT. SO WE CAN IDENTIFY THE FOUR SUB BASINS AS COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. WELL, IT'S IN [INAUDIBLE]. THERE YOU GO. THANK YOU FOR TRANSLATING FOR US. THAT'S A GREAT POINT. I APPRECIATE THAT AND THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE TONIGHT TO REPRESENT THE FARM BUREAU. IT'S VERY HELPFUL. CLEARLY A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST IN GENERAL. ALL RIGHT. OTHER COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST TO RAISE OR COMMENT ON IDENTIFY GEOGRAPHICALLY. I HATE TO PUT A LOT OF PRESSURE ON YOU BECAUSE THERE'S NOT A TON OF PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE, BUT THOSE THAT ARE HERE GOOD JOB SO FAR. HOW ABOUT OTHER GEOGRAPHIC STREETS OR HIGHWAYS THAT ARE WELL KNOWN AND YOU USE TO KIND OF IDENTIFY OR SEGREGATE OR EXPLAIN TO SOMEBODY, OH, YOU KNOW, IT'S NORTH OF X, Y AND Z. WHAT IS THAT X Y AND Z USE OR EAST OF X, Y AND Z? WHAT DOES THAT X, Y AND Z USE TO CLEARLY IDENTIFY PLACES IN THE COUNTY? [00:45:09] [INAUDIBLE] THE ONE THAT COMES TO MIND. WE CALL IT JUNCTION 14. I'M SURE OUR LOS BANOS RESIDENTS, IT CONNECTS THE NORTHERN MERCED COUNTY WITH A SOUTHERN PART OF MERCED COUNTY TRAVERSES THROUGH HILMAR, STEVENSON, LOS BANOS, A GRASSLAND RESERVE THAT'S THEY CALL IT WE ALL LOCALLY WE CALL IT J 14, JUNCTION 14. PERFECT. ALL RIGHT, JUNCTION 14 THANK YOU. THAT IDENTIFIER? ANY OTHER IDENTIFIERS? WE CHECK OUR FRIENDS ON CHAT TO SEE, IF [INAUDIBLE] I'LL READ IT IF YOU WANT TO WRITE IT DOWN. AND SO THAT I'LL READ IT, FOR THE CITY OF MERCED BESIDES HIGHWAY 99, I WOULD ALSO CONSIDER USING BARE CREEK, G STREET, M STREET, OLIVE AVENUE AND YOSEMITE. AND JUST TO BE CLEAR, WHEN YOU SAY FOR THE CITY OF MERCED IS THAT A WAY OF IDENTIFYING THE CITY OF MERCED ITSELF AS A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST? OR IS THERE A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST WITHIN THAT? AND HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THAT COMMUNITY OF INTEREST? SO IF UH, ISAIAH COULD PLEASE COMMENT ON THAT, SORRY ISAIAH AS I AM HAVING A HARD TIME READING HIS NAME, BUT IF YOU COULD PLEASE COMMENT FURTHER ON THAT, WE COULD ADD THAT INTO THE MIX AS WELL. THANK YOU FOR SUBMITTING THAT. YES. SORRY. OH, MY APOLOGIES. GUESS THIS IS JUST A CLARIFICATION QUESTION. WHEN WE LOOK AT THE TWO MAPS THAT YOU HANDED OUT, EACH ONE OF THESE ARE JUST A BLOCK WITH A NUMBER ON IT THAT DOESN'T [INAUDIBLE] WHAT DOES THAT LIKE FIFTY SIX, FIFTY EIGHT FIFTY, BUT. SURE, THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION, AND I SHOULD ALSO NOTE THESE MAPS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE AS WELL. SO THE MAPS THAT ARE IN FRONT OF YOU WHERE YOU HAVE THIS SIMPLE DIGIT NUMBERS, THE LOW NUMBERS THAT ACTUALLY IS A MAP THAT'S DESIGNED TO CORRESPOND WITH AN EXCEL SPREADSHEET THAT YOU CAN DOWNLOAD OFF THE WEBSITE AND YOU CAN. IF YOU'RE COMFORTABLE WITH EXCEL, YOU CAN USE EXCEL TO IDENTIFY THOSE BLOCKS AS BEING PART OF A CERTAIN DISTRICT. YOU USE THE EXCEL SHEET TO CHOOSE WHICH DISTRICT EACH OF THOSE BLOCKS GOES INTO, AND THEN THAT WILL AUTOMATICALLY CALCULATE THE POPULATION DATA AND INFORMATION TO MAKE SURE YOUR POPULATION BALANCED. SO IT'S KIND OF A HYBRID PAPER BASED SOLUTION. THE OTHER ONE IS TAKING NOT CENSUS TRACKS BECAUSE ACTUALLY THEY'RE BIGGER THAN CENSUS TRACTS. IT'S TAKING BIG CHUNKS OF DATA FROM AROUND THE COUNTY AND PUTTING THEM TOGETHER IN BIGGER BLOCKS TO MAKE IT A LOT EASIER TO AGGREGATE, AND IT HAS ACTUAL POPULATION NUMBERS IN IT FOR THE COUNTY. SO IF YOU WANT TO USE THAT AND THEN USE A CALCULATOR AND CALCULATE THE SIZE OF THE DISTRICT YOU'VE DRAWN, YOU CAN USE THE TOOL TO DO THAT. CLEARLY, BOTH THESE PROCESSES ARE MANUAL AND NOT NEARLY AS EASY TO USE, PERHAPS AS OR FAST TO USE I SHOULD SAY THESE MIGHT BE EASIER, BUT THEY ARE NOT AS FAST TO USE AS EITHER DISTRICT R. OBVIOUSLY, DISTRICT R RIGHT NOW AS THE DISADVANTAGE OF HAVING ESTIMATED DATA AND THEN THE APTITUDE SOLUTION, WHICH IS THE OTHER KIND OF [INAUDIBLE] SOLUTION THAT MERCED COUNTY IS CONTRACTED FOR, WHICH ALSO IS STILL PENDING WITH THE ESTIMATED DATA, BUT PROVIDES A REALLY IN-DEPTH TOOL MAPPING CAPABILITY, WHICH CHRIS IS GOING TO DEMONSTRATE A BIT TONIGHT AS WELL. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT QUESTION. SORRY, I WAS GETTING AROUND TO TRYING TO CLARIFY THAT BECAUSE WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THEM MAPPING TOOLS. I WOULD ALSO JUST NOTE, REGARDLESS OF THESE MAPS BEING HERE WITH FOR THE PURPOSES OF DRAWING DISTRICTS, EVEN IF YOU USE THEM ONLY FOR COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST, DRAWING THAT IS EQUALLY HELPFUL TO THE ENTIRE PROCESS. ARE THERE ANY OTHER EXPRESSIONS OF COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST OR ANY OF OUR FRIENDS ON LINES IN [INAUDIBLE] EXPRESSING? OK. OK. WELL, I JUST WANT TO NOTE, WE'LL GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE, BUT I'LL JUST NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST DISCUSSION. ALTHOUGH WE ARE COMING UP TOWARDS THE ENDGAME ON THE MAP ASSEMBLY PROCESS, WE WELCOME ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS OF COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. AND I'LL NOTE AT THE VERY END HERE SOME VARIOUS METHODS TO DO THAT. BUT IF YOU VISIT DRAWMERCEDCOUNTY.ORG WEBSITE, THERE IS AMPLE OPPORTUNITY THROUGH THAT PLATFORM THROUGH ONLINE FORUMS AND AN EMAIL ADDRESS TO SUBMIT ADDITIONAL COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. YOU CAN ALSO TAKE THESE MAPS, AS I SAID, DRAW CIRCLES OR DRAW BOXES AROUND AREAS AND PUT AN ARROW IN. SAY THIS IS A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST OF X, Y AND Z. TAKE A PHOTO OF THAT EMAIL THAT MAP IN LOTS OF WAYS AND FLEXIBILITY TO BE ABLE TO SUBMIT THOSE MAPS. OK, SO WE WOULD NORMALLY TAKE A BREAK RIGHT NOW, BUT WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE A BREAK, WE'RE JUST GOING TO MOVE RIGHT INTO THE DEMO OF SOFTWARE. SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE VARIOUS TOOLS THAT ARE AVAILABLE. WELL. YES, SO BASICALLY, THIS IS REALLY SORT OF A NEW THING THIS DECADE, IN THE PAST, [00:50:05] THIS WASN'T NECESSARILY AN OPTION, YOU KNOW, THE PAPER TOOLS WERE AND RYDER'S TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THOSE AND HOW THOSE CAN BE USED. BUT IN ADDITION, THIS YEAR THERE ARE OPTIONS FOR ONLINE SUBMISSIONS AND THERE'S TWO THAT WE'RE GOING TO JUST BRIEFLY WALK THROUGH. DISTRICT ARE WHICH WRITERS WILL DEMONSTRATE IN AN APTITUDE, BUT THEY ARE, FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, THE MAPPING PROGRAMS THAT THE DEMOGRAPHER IS GOING TO BE USING TO DRAW THE MAPS. AND SO THEY HAVE BUILT INTO THEM VARIOUS LEVELS OF DATA FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CENSUS BLOCKS. AND YOU CAN GO ON THE WEBSITE AND WE'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO GO ABOUT DOING THAT AND START DRAWING YOUR OWN MAPS. OR YOU CAN, INSTEAD OF DRAWING UP FULL MAP, YOU CAN USE IT JUST TO DRAW A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST AND SEND IT IN, SO THAT THE DEMOGRAPHER HAS THOSE FILES. AND AS THEN YOU SUBMIT THEM, IF YOU'RE SO INCLINED, THEN THOSE WILL GO UP ON THE WEBSITE FOR THE PUBLIC TO SEE AND TO BE ABLE TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT IN THEIR COMMENTS AND POTENTIALLY IN THE MAPS THAT ARE THEN PRESENTED TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. SO. OH, AND ALSO FOR ANYBODY WHO HAS THE TECHNICAL CAPACITY AND THE INCLINATION WE CAN ALSO IF YOU HAVE YOUR OWN MAPPING SOFTWARE, WE CAN RECEIVE FILES FROM THAT AS WELL WHEN THEY BROUGHT INTO OUR SYSTEM. SO, CHRIS, WHEN WE'RE GOING TO DEMO THIS, WE'RE GOING TO DEMO ON YOUR LAPTOP. WE DEMOING IT ON THAT LAPTOP. LE GRAND, THE ZOOM, I NEED TO RECONNECT. YEAH, THAT'S FINE. SO GIVE SYDNEY A CHANCE TO CONNECT AND I'LL DO THE DISTRICT ART DEMO REAL QUICK AND JUST WALK THROUGH THAT AND THEN YOU'LL DO THEM APTITUDE ONE AFTER. YEAH, NOW, OK? SO, BEAR, WITH THE SECOND, WE'RE GOING TO STOP SHARING SCREEN, SWAP AROUND SOME ITEMS, AND THEN WE'LL. YOU A QUICK DEMO OF DISTRICT R. CAN YOU TO SHARE YOUR WHOLE SCREEN, AND I'LL TAKE IT FROM HERE, BECAUSE I'D LIKE TO BE ABLE TO SHOW PEOPLE WHERE TO G, FIND THOSE THINGS. ALL RIGHT. WE GO, WELCOME TO SYDNEY'S BROWSER EVERYONE. SO FIRST OF ALL, THIS IS THE DRAWMERCEDCOUNTY.ORG WEBSITE I KEEP REFERRING TO THIS EVENING, SO I WOULD AGAIN ENCOURAGE FOLKS TO VISIT THIS WEBSITE. IT HAS A TON OF INFORMATION, INCLUDING ALL THE PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED PUBLIC TESTIMONY AND FEEDBACK. IT HAS ALL THE POWER FIRE PRESENTATIONS AND A BUNCH OF OTHER ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS RELATED TO THIS PROCESS, INCLUDING A SUMMARY OF THE SCHEDULE THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE ENGAGED IN HERE IN THIS PROCESS AND OBVIOUSLY REFERENCED TO TONIGHT'S MEETING WITH THE BROADCAST LINKS THAT ARE GOING ON RIGHT NOW. WE ARE BROADCASTING LIVE ON ZOOM. EXCUSE ME, ON FACEBOOK AS WELL IN OUR PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNEL NINE SIX. THE WHEN WE DO HAVE DRAFT MAPS TO CONSIDER, THOSE MAPS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR HERE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW. AND THERE'S A LEGAL GUIDELINES ABOUT THOSE MAPS BEING AVAILABLE PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION. SO YOU WILL HAVE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THOSE MAPS AND KIND OF EVALUATE THEM AND PREPARE COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS ON THOSE MAPS. AND THEN YOU'LL SEE, ACTUALLY, I'LL GO OVER HERE REAL QUICK AND JUST KNOW THAT THERE IS THE COI WORKSHEET WHERE THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST AND FILL OUT A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST FORM. SO IF YOU WANT A LITTLE MORE OF A GUIDE THAT PROCESS TO SUBMIT COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST, YOU CAN COME IN AND FILL THIS FORM OUT. PROVIDE SOME INFORMATION TO US. YOU CAN ASK ANY FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS AND GET TONS OF INFORMATION FROM YOU ABOUT COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. SO AS ALWAYS, THE COUNTY IS VERY INTERESTED IN HEARING FROM FOLKS ABOUT WHAT THOSE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST ARE SINCE THEY'RE SO FOUNDATIONAL TO THE MAP DRAWING PROCESS. OK, AND THEN WE HAVE THIS DRAW MAP FEATURE, AND AS I MENTIONED, THERE ARE PAPER ONLY MAPS, SO YOU ALL HAVE HAVE ACCESS TO THOSE HERE IN PERSON TONIGHT AND THEY'RE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AS WELL. THE SECOND OF THOSE MAPS WAS THIS PUBLIC PARTICIPATION KIT, WHICH HAS THIS EXCEL SHEET THAT YOU CAN DOWNLOAD AGAIN, AVAILABLE IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH, AND YOU CAN USE THE MAP WITH JUST THE SINGLE AND DOUBLE DIGIT NUMBERS ON IT TO PULL TOGETHER AND USE EXCEL TO CALCULATE THE POPULATION ALLOCATION THAT'S AVAILABLE THROUGH THOSE MAPS. ADDITIONALLY, THERE'S DISTRICT R AND THE DISTRICT R SOLUTION. THE DISTRICT R MAPPING SOLUTIONS, THE ONE I'M GOING TO DEMO RIGHT NOW, SO I'M GOING TO ZOOM INTO THAT REAL QUICK. THE SCREEN. OH, SYDNEY, THINK YOU KNOW, IS THIS NOT SHARING? HANG ONE, ONE SECOND. AND SHIFTING OUR DESKTOP HERE. I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT'S [00:55:08] GOING OUT OF THE PRESENTATION FOR ME. OH, SORRY. OK, THANK YOU. OK, SO YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE THIS AND IN THIS, THIS IS THE DISTRICT R WEBSITE, AND IT'S ALREADY WE'RE ALREADY LOGGED IN FOR, MERCED. SO WE'RE GOING TO GO AHEAD AND DRAW MERCED COUNTY. AND IT'S GOING TO PULL THE MAP LIKE THIS, AND I WILL JUST NOTE THAT WHEN YOU'RE IN THIS MAP, THE FIRST THING YOU'RE GOING TO WANT TO DO IS YOU CAN USE THIS LITTLE ICON RIGHT HERE AND THERE. REALLY, THE WAY THAT THIS DISTRICT R WORKS, IT'S LIKE MICROSOFT PAINT EFFECTIVELY. YOU GET THE PAINT YOURSELF DISTRICTS AND AS YOU PAINT DISTRICTS, THAT'S GOING TO BUILD INFORMATION OUT. AND THERE ARE FIVE DIFFERENT COLORS AVAILABLE UP HERE BECAUSE THERE ARE FIVE DIFFERENT DISTRICTS THAT WE NEED TO DRAW, AND YOU PICK EACH DISTRICT THAT YOU WISH TO DRAW. SO HERE WE'LL DO IT, START WITH BLUE, AND THEN YOU CAN USE THIS LITTLE SLIDER TO DETERMINE HOW BIG YOUR PAINTBRUSH IS GOING TO BE EFFECTIVELY. SO WE'LL GO AHEAD AND SLIDE THAT. AND AS YOU SEE ME DRAWING HERE, IT'S FILLING IN BLUE AREAS AND I AM JUST DRAWING A RANDOM DISTRICT. SO DO NOT INTERPRET THIS AS AN INFLUENCE AND TELLING YOU WHAT TO DRAW. THIS IS A RANDOM DISTRICT, AND YOU'LL SEE ON BUILDING POPULATION, AND BECAUSE IT'S IN VERY RURAL AREAS, IT'S NOT BUILDING MUCH POPULATION AND THEN SUDDENLY IT HIT SOME HIGHER DENSITY. I'M APPROACHING THIS MEDIAN LINE DOWN HERE AND I'M MEDIAN I'M TRYING TO SHOOT FOR IS FIFTY FOUR THOUSAND. THIS IS USING ESTIMATED DATA. IT'S [INAUDIBLE] ON THE GROUND. LOOK, I JUST WENT SLIGHTLY OVER, BUT I'M DARN CLOSE, SO I'VE JUST DRAWN A DISTRICT THAT IS AT LEAST POPULATION BALANCED. NOW THERE ARE AVAILABLE DATA LAYERS THAT HAVE OTHER INFORMATION AND CRITERIA ON CERTAIN POPULATION INFORMATION. AGAIN, THESE ARE BASED ON PRIOR ESTIMATES THAT DO SHOW UP THE MAP, BUT I CAN DRAW THAT DISTRICT AND THEN I SAY, OK, THAT'S GREAT. NOW I WANT TO DRAW A SECOND DISTRICT, SO I'M GOING TO GO TO MY GOLD COLOR AND I'M GOING TO START DRAWING A SECOND DISTRICT HERE. AND NOTICE IF I PAINT OVER A LITTLE BIT OF THE PRIOR DISTRICT THAT'LL TAKE AWAY THE POPULATION FROM THAT. THROW IT IN THE GOLD DISTRICT, I'M DRAWING WELL, THAT'S HAPPENED HERE AND I'LL DRAW A DISTRICT. AND BACK TO MY PATIENT COUNT TO MAKE SURE I'M GETTING A SENSE OF HOW TO. THAT CLOSE TO 50 SOME ODD THOUSAND. RIGHT NOW, IT'S NICE TO KNOW I JUST HIT. WHAT'S THE MEDIA, SO I'M GOING TO STOP RIGHT THERE AND SAY, OK, I GOT A SECOND DISTRICT AND NOW I'M GOING TO GO DRAW A THIRD DISTRICT AND BEING TOTALLY RANDOM HERE AND DRAWING MY DISTRICTS. TRY TO CREATE A DISTRICT SINCE POPULATIONS. SO. HMM. OK. IT'S BEEN OVER A LITTLE BIT, SO EFFECTIVELY I'VE ONLY DRAWN FOUR DISTRICTS AT THIS POINT, THREE DISTRICTS. AT THIS POINT, I STILL HAVE THE BULK OF ACTUALLY THE CITY OF MS., SAID, FOR EXAMPLE. AND ONCE YOU GET IN THERE, IT CAN GET VERY TEDIOUS TO DRAW THAT BECAUSE THERE'S SO MUCH POPULATION DENSITY. YOU CAN ZOOM IN HERE AND SEE JUST HOW DENSE THAT GETS. YOU CAN ZOOM ALL THE WAY IN AND CONTINUE MANIPULATING THE DATA AND DRAWING BUILDING ON AN ADDITIONAL DISTRICT IF YOU'RE SO INCLINED. AND START DRAWING THAT OUT AND BUILD THAT OUT. SO ULTIMATELY, THE GOAL IS YOU DRAW FIVE DISTRICTS THAT ARE ALL ALMOST POPULATION BALANCED AND YOU USE THAT INFORMATION. THEN SAY, OK, THIS IS A MAP THAT COULD BE POPULATION BALANCED FOR PURPOSES OF SUBMITTING TO OUR FRIENDS AT NBC IN THE COUNTY OF MERCED. AND ADDITIONALLY, YOU CAN ALSO USE THIS SAME METHODOLOGY FOR SUBMITTING COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST INFORMATION IF YOU WISH TO DO THAT. THE FINAL DISTRICT IN. YOU. NOT QUITE DRAW DISTRICTS FOR BALANCE YET, BUT HERE'S SOME RANDOM MAP THAT I PULLED TOGETHER JUST TO TRY TO GET TOWARDS BUILDING THESE. YOU'LL SEE I'M STILL MISSING 10000 PEOPLE TO ALLOCATE, WHICH THEORETICALLY ALLOCATED INTO [01:00:04] THIS GROUPING. YOU'D WANT TO GENERALLY KEEP THIS ALL WITHIN A 10 PERCENT DEVIATION TOTAL. LESS IS BETTER IN GENERAL. AND THIS GIVES YOU A BETTER SENSE OF HOW OR IT GIVES YOU A SENSE OF HOW AT LEAST HOW YOU CAN DEALING WITH THE POPULATIONS AND COUNTING HOW YOU CAN GO ABOUT DRAWING A MAP TO ACHIEVE THIS. ONCE YOU'VE DONE THIS, YOU CAN ACTUALLY HIT SAVE AND YOU'RE GOING TO GET THIS OPTION HERE TO GET A MAP NAME AND YOU CAN SAVE THAT. OR YOU CAN GO DOWN HERE AND CREATE A TEST NAME AND YOU CAN SHARE IT. AND IF YOU WANT TO SHARE IT, GIVE IT A GIVE IT A NAME OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. YOU CAN SHARE IT TO THE GALLERY AND MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR PEOPLE TO INTERACT WITH. YOU CAN ALSO REFERENCE THIS MAP USING COPY TO CLIPBOARD AND SUBMITTING THAT TO FOLKS AS WELL. THE OTHER THING I JUST WANT TO NOTE IS THAT THEY DO HAVE SOME GOOD HELP BUILT INTO THIS PLATFORM THAT TALKS ALL ABOUT THE DATA AND HOW TO USE THE PLAN AND THE PROCESS TO MAKE SURE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT ADDITIONAL ONLINE HELP AS WELL. SO THIS IS A VERY HELPFUL TOOL. THERE'S ALSO ON THE MERCED COUNTY WEBSITE, THERE'S A DEMO VIDEO THAT REALLY WALKS THROUGH HOW TO USE THIS AS WELL, PUT TOGETHER BY THE FOLKS AT NDC WHO PROBABLY DID A FAR MORE COMPETENT JOB THAN I'VE JUST DONE. BUT THE GENERAL IDEA IS THEY WALK YOU THROUGH THE SAME PROCESS AND EXPLAIN HOW TO USE THIS TO SUBMIT MAPS FOR THE DISTRICT DRAWING PROCESS. OK, SO THAT IS MY PROCESS HERE, AND I'M GOING TO HAND IT OVER TO CHRIS TO DO A DEMO. AND ARE YOU GOING TO JUMP IN AND ZOOM ON THAT ONE? YEAH. OK, GREAT. STOP SHARING HERE. ALL RIGHT. SO I AM GOING TO BRING UP THE SECOND MAP ON MY MAP AN OPTION. WHICH IS MAPTITUDE AND SO MAPTITUDE, IS A LOT OF RESPECTS VERY SIMILAR TO DISTRICT ARE IN THE WAY IT WORKS, BUT IT IS ESSENTIALLY A MORE ROBUST VERSION WITH MORE OPTIONS, MEANING MORE COMPLICATED. SO IF YOU GO IN, YOU CAN CREATE AN ACCOUNT AND IT WILL, YOU SAW THE LINK TO THE COUNTY'S WEBSITE AND IT'LL GIVE YOU THE OPTION OF CREATING EITHER A NEW PLAN BASED ON THE EXISTING SUPERVISOR DISTRICTS OR A BLANK MAP WITH JUST THE CENSUS BLOCKS IN THE COUNTY. AND SO WE'VE ALREADY CREATED ONE USING THE EXISTING SUPERVISORY DISTRICTS. HERE, WE'RE GOING TO OPEN IT UP. AND. WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS THESE ARE ALL OF THE INDIVIDUAL CENSUS BLOCKS, EACH OF THESE LITTLE GRAY LINES HERE BUILT INTO THE CURRENT DISTRICTS. AND YOU HAVE OPTIONS FOR MOVING DISTRICT, THOSE BLOCKS FROM ONE DISTRICT TO ANOTHER. SO IF YOU OPEN UP THIS LAYER OPTION HERE. AND YOU ALSO HAVE THIS DISTRICT OPTION. THIS GIVES YOU INFORMATION ON WHAT LAYERS YOU CAN SEE. AND SO. YOU CAN. WE'RE USING THIS TOOL OVER HERE, YOU CAN IDENTIFY THE DISTRICT THAT YOU WANT TO MOVE A BLOCK INTO. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, DISTRICT ONE. AND THAT BECOMES OUR TARGET DISTRICT WITHIN THE MAPPING PROGRAM. AND THEN YOU HAVE THIS SORT OF PULL DOWN MENU HERE WHERE YOU DECIDE WHERE YOU WANT IT TO COME FROM AND SO YOU CAN CHOOSE A PARTICULAR DISTRICT THAT YOU WANT TO MOVE DISTRICT BLOCKS FROM OR YOU CAN JUST HAVE IT BE FROM ANY OF THEM. WE'LL DO ALL ZOOM IN HERE A LITTLE BIT. AND SO. WHAT YOU'LL DO IS USING THIS, YOU HAVE SEVERAL DIFFERENT OPTIONS THAT THE ARROW IS THE MOST PRECISE. YOU'D GO IN AND YOU WOULD, FOR EXAMPLE, CLICK ON THIS BLOCK HERE. AND IT WILL DOWN HERE IN THIS CHANGES COLUMN. [01:05:03] TELL YOU WHAT THE EFFECT OF MOVING THAT AREA IS. YOU AND YOU CAN YOU HAVE THE OPTION OF. YOU HAVE THE OPTION OF MOVING INDIVIDUAL BLOCKS. YOU HAD THE OPTION OF MOVING, FOR EXAMPLE, AN ENTIRE CITY AT ONE TIME. SO FOR EXAMPLE, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN CLICK ON O PLACE HERE AND THAT THOSE ARE CITIES AND CENSUS DESIGNATED PLACES. AND THEN IF YOU CLICK ON AN INDIVIDUAL CITY, IT WILL SELECT ALL OF THEM TO BE MOVED FROM ONE DISTRICT TO ANOTHER. SO IN THIS EXAMPLE, WE'D BE MOVING. ESSENTIALLY, THESE TWO CENSUS THE ENTIRE CITY OF MERCED AND THIS AREA HERE INTO DISTRICT ONE TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY ARE ALREADY. AND SO ONCE YOU'VE IDENTIFIED YOUR BOUNDARIES AGAIN, IT WILL TELL YOU DOWN HERE WHAT THE RESULTING DISTRICTS WOULD LOOK LIKE. SO IT'LL SHOW YOU THAT THE ESTIMATED POPULATION OF THIS NEW DISTRICT ONE WITH THE ADDITIONAL POPULATION THAT YOU'VE IDENTIFIED TO MOVE IS NOW GOING TO BE APPROXIMATELY ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE THOUSAND PEOPLE. OBVIOUSLY, WAY OVER POPULATED. AND IT SHOWS YOU HERE THE IDEAL. SO YOU KNOW, EXACTLY FIFTY 58000 PEOPLE OVER THE IDEAL THAT YOU'RE SHOOTING FOR, AND IT SHOWS YOU HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE BEING MOVED AS PART OF THESE HIGHLIGHTED BLOCKS THAT YOU'VE IDENTIFIED, YOU'RE GOING TO RUN THOSE OFF AND BUT DOING IT, YOU CAN DO IT IN A MORE FINE GRAINED WAY WHERE YOU GO IN AND YOU INDIVIDUALLY SELECT EACH PARTICULAR BLOCK. THAT YOU WANT TO MOVE. SO IT, SO SAY WE WANT TO MOVE, YEAH REMOVE HANDFUL OF BLOCKS HERE FROM DISTRICT FIVE INTO DISTRICT ONE, WE SELECTED THOSE. GO AHEAD, CLICK THIS CHECKBOX, AND IT'LL MOVE THOSE DISTRICTS NOW YOU'VE PUT THEM INTO DISTRICT ONE AND YOU KNOW, AS I SAID, IT'S IT'S MORE COMPLICATED, IT PROVIDES MORE INFORMATION. IT'S A MORE LABOR INTENSIVE TOOL. THERE ARE DEMOS ON THE WEBSITE ABOUT HOW HOW TO USE IT IN MORE DETAIL THAT NDC HAS PUT TOGETHER, BUT IT PROVIDES MORE DATA. IT PROVIDES MORE OPTIONS IN TERMS OF HOW TO GO ABOUT MOVING IT, AND YOU CAN GET MORE FINE GRAINED, YOU KNOW, AS YOU SAW FROM THE DISTRICT R PROCESS. IT'S A LITTLE BIT CRUDE IN TERMS OF HAVING TO ZOOM IN AND DO THE PAINTING IN A VERY DETAILED FINE GRAIN LEVEL. THIS GIVES YOU MORE SORT OF CONTROL OVER VARIOUS OPTIONS. BUT AGAIN, VERY SIMILAR. AND THEN ONCE YOU HAVE DESIGNED THE MAP THAT YOU WANT TO DESIGN, YOU HAVE THE SAME OPTIONS THAT YOU DO [INAUDIBLE] AS WELL. YOU CAN EMAIL THE PLAN, YOU CAN SHARE THE PLAN WITH OTHER PEOPLE. YEAH, YOU'VE GOT HERE, NAMED IT OCTOBER 19 DEMO. AND SO NOW IT'S BEEN STORED ON THE SERVER AND OTHER PEOPLE CAN THEN GO TO THE WEBSITE MERCED COUNTY WEBSITE, DRAWMERCEDCOUNTY.ORG, AND THEY CAN LOOK AT THE PLANS THAT YOU SHARED AND TAKE THEM INTO ACCOUNT AND THEIR PROCESS TO. YOU CAN ALSO SUBMIT A PROPOSED PLAN TO THE DEMOGRAPHERS FOR THEM TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT IN THE DRAWING OF LINES. AND IT GIVES YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO PUT IN YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION BECAUSE IT MAY BE THAT AS YOU SUBMIT THESE PLANS, THEY WILL HAVE MORE. THEY'LL HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT YOU INTENDED OR THEY MAY HAVE FOLLOW UP TO REFINE THE PLAN. AND THEN THERE'S ALSO AN OPTION FOR PUTTING A BIT OF DESCRIPTION INTO THIS TEXT BOX TO GIVE THEM SOME IDEA OF WHAT THE GOAL IS THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO TO REACH AS YOU'RE DRAWING THIS PLAN. NO, TOOK MY THUNDER, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I WAS GOING TO MAKE THAT POINT THAT IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO SUBMIT KIND OF YOUR INTENT IN THE MAPS APP DRAWER SO THAT THE DEMOGRAPHERS CAN HELP INTERPRET THAT OR IF THERE'S AN ISSUE WITH THE MAP, BUT THEY AT LEAST KNOW YOUR INTENT. IT CAN BE HELPFUL WITH YOU IN TRYING TO FIX THE MAP, SO TO SPEAK, TO ACHIEVE THE INTENDED YOU MIGHT HAVE IDENTIFIED. OH, THOSE ARE THE TWO MAJOR MAPPING TOOLS, AS YOU KNOW, WE ALREADY TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PAPER MAPPING TOOLS AS WELL. YOU KNOW, ANY WAY THAT YOU WANT TO SUBMIT IT AS THE NDC, FOLKS WILL OFTEN SAY, IF YOU WANT TO SUBMIT A MAPPING PROGRAM ON OR MAPPING PLAN ON A NAPKIN, WE'LL TAKE IT. SO FEEL FREE TO TO SEND IN WHATEVER YOU THINK, WHATEVER METHOD THAT YOU FEEL MOST COMFORTABLE TO BE PUT INTO THE RECORD AND TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT ROLLING PROCESS. SO TONIGHT WE ACTUALLY HAVE I KNOW THE COUNTY SET UP LAPTOPS HERE, AND WE'LL NOTE THAT IF [01:10:03] A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC WISHES TO USE SOME OF THESE MAPPING TOOLS, I BELIEVE PART OF THE REASON WHY THE LAPTOPS ARE HERE IS FOR US TO BE ABLE TO HELP GUIDE YOU ON SOME OF THAT STUFF. AND SINCE WE'RE RUNNING A LITTLE BIT AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, ANYBODY IN THE PUBLIC WOULD LIKE TO SIT DOWN AND EXPERIMENT WITH SOME OF THESE MAPPING TOOLS WHILE THEY HAVE CHRIS OR I HERE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FOR YOU. WE ARE MORE THAN HAPPY TO JUMP IN AND GET INVOLVED TO HELP YOU OUT BECAUSE, LIKE I SAID, THE COUNTY WANTS TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE EMPOWERED WITH ACCESS TO THESE TOOLS, AND WE'RE HAPPY HERE TO APPRECIATE THEM BRINGING THE LAPTOPS OUT TO MAKE THOSE AVAILABLE TO YOU. ANYTHING ELSE, CHRIS, ON YOUR DEMO? WELL, I IF WE'RE IF WE'RE DONE WITH THAT, I THOUGHT WHAT I WOULD DO BECAUSE BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE THE FINAL DATA BUILT INTO THESE ONLINE MAPPING TOOLS, I HAVE A COPY OF THE THE DESKTOP VERSION OF THIS MAGNITUDE PROGRAM. AND SO I THOUGHT IF PEOPLE WERE INTERESTED, I MIGHT DO A LITTLE BIT OF A WALKTHROUGH OF THE COUNTY AND WHERE THE POPULATIONS ARE AND THE DEMOGRAPHICS SO THAT PEOPLE COULD SEE KIND OF WHAT THE WHAT THE PROCESS IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE IN A LITTLE BIT MORE CONCRETE. YEAH, I THINK THAT'D BE GREAT. AND I THINK TO BE CLEAR, SO YOU HAVE THE DESKTOP SOFTWARE. THAT'S RIGHT. THAT IS THEORETICALLY THE SAME TOOLS THAT NDC IS GOING TO BE USING WHEN THEY DRAW MAPS. THAT'S RIGHT. AND YOU HAVE THE 2020 CENSUS DATA LOADED INTO THAT. I DO. OK, DO I HAVE THE DATA AVAILABLE THAT WILL EVENTUALLY BE UPDATED INTO THE ONLINE MAPPING TOOLS? BUT AS AS YOU MENTIONED, WE'RE STILL WAITING ON THE VENDORS TO ACTUALLY DO THAT UPLOAD. BUT THEY THEY THEY DO EXIST. THEY'RE JUST NOT AVAILABLE IN THOSE SYSTEMS YET BECAUSE THEY ARE BACKLOGGED. BUT I THOUGHT I WOULD JUST DO A LITTLE BIT OF A WALKTHROUGH. AND, YOU KNOW, IF PEOPLE HAVE QUESTIONS, WE CAN DO THAT TOO. I THINK WE NEED TO RE-SHARE DIFFERENT SCREENS. YEAH, SINCE I'M PROJECTING MY ZOOMING COMPETENCE ON YOU AND JUST ASSUMING YOU'RE AS INCOMPETENT AS I AM, I APPRECIATE IT. I DON'T KNOW HOW I WOULD DO THIS WITHOUT YOU. AND SYDNEY, WOULD YOU STOP SHARING? OH SYDNEY, DID YOU START SHARING AGAIN? SYDNEY, OH, WELL, CHRIS HAS A DEMO HE NEEDS. YEAH, SORRY. LET ME SHARE. YEAH, THAT'S FINE. I'M JUST TRYING TO UNDERMINE YOU WHEN POSSIBLE, CHRIS. I APPRECIATE THAT. ALL RIGHT, SO THIS IS THE SIMPLIFIED IT A LITTLE BIT JUST TO AVOID SOME OF THE CLUTTER, BUT THIS IS THE GENERAL MAP OF MERCED COUNTY AND THESE ARE THE CURRENT DISTRICTS AND THE CENSUS BLOCKS THAT UNDERLIE THEM. AND AS WE TALKED ABOUT A LITTLE BIT BEFORE, THE PROCESS IS GOING TO BE COMPLICATED BECAUSE DISTRICT FIVE HERE THIS, YOU KNOW, MOST PEOPLE HAVE READ UP. THESE ARE CITIES LOS BANOS DOWN HERE IN DOS PALOS. THIS WHOLE AREA HAS GROWN CONSIDERABLY IN THE LAST 10 YEARS, AND SO THIS DISTRICT IS, YOU KNOW, 11 AND A HALF PERCENT OVERPOPULATED, WHICH MEANS THAT IT'S GOING TO HAVE TO LOSE SOME POPULATION AND TERRITORY INTO THE NEIGHBORING DISTRICTS. DISTRICTS FOUR AND ONE ARE SUBSTANTIALLY UNDERPOPULATED, SO THEY'RE NATURAL PLACES TO PICK UP SOME OF THAT POPULATION. THE COMPLICATION IS THIS DISTRICT ONE, IN PART BECAUSE AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, THAT DISTRICT WAS DRAWN BACK IN THE EARLY 90S IN CONJUNCTION WITH EFFORTS WITH THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO BE A VOTING RIGHTS ACT DISTRICT, WHICH MEANS THAT WE HAVE SOME LIMITS ON HOW MUCH WE CAN INTERFERE OR AFFECT IT. OBVIOUSLY, THERE'S GOING TO HAVE TO BE SOME CHANGE. IT'S GOT TO GAIN SOME POPULATION TO GET BACK WITHIN THAT POPULATION BALANCE, BUT WE REALLY NEED TO MAINTAIN TO COMPLY WITH THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT. WE NEED TO MAINTAIN THIS LINKAGE HERE BETWEEN LIVINGSTON AND MERCED AND THE WAY THIS CONFIGURATION HAS BEEN ROUGHLY FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS. AND SO THAT LIMITS HOW WE CAN GO ABOUT DOING THIS. YOU KNOW, IT'S GOING TO BE COMPLICATED PROCESS, YOU KNOW, WHICH PARTS OF THE COUNTY THEN DO WE MOVE AS DISTRICT FOUR COME DOWN INTO THIS AREA DOWN HERE? SANTA NELLA, YOU KNOW, WE CAN LOOK AND SEE KNOW THE SCHOOL DISTRICT BOUNDARIES, FOR EXAMPLE, TO JUST AS A PROXY FOR COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST AS A ROUGH CUT. YOU KNOW, DO WE DO WE MOVE DOWN IN THERE? DOES IT MOVE OVER HERE AND START TO PICK UP DOS PALOS? OR DOES IT COME AROUND HERE ON THE EAST SIDE? YOU KNOW, PLANADA AND LE GRAND? THERE ARE OTHER AREAS, YOU KNOW, HOW DO WE THEN AFFECT THE. THE DISTRICTS IN MERCED ITSELF, YOU KNOW, DISTRICT TWO IS ABOUT FIVE AND A HALF PERCENT OVERPOPULATED. IT CAN'T GO TO DISTRICT ONE OR DISTRICT FOUR TO PICK UP POPULATION, BUT IT [01:15:07] IS GOING TO NEED TO SHED SOME POPULATION, POTENTIALLY TO THEM. BUT AGAIN, WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT HOW WE GO ABOUT DOING THAT TO MAKE SURE WE'RE STILL COMPLYING WITH THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT. AND THE PROBLEM IS THAT THIS DOESN'T ALL EXIST IN A VACUUM. YOU KNOW, THE POPULATION NUMBERS REALLY DRIVE THE PROCESS. AND SO, FOR EXAMPLE. NOW, IF YOU WANT TO MOVE THIS PART OF THE AUGUSTINE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT IN THE DISTRICT FOUR. BUT THAT'S ABOUT THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE. THAT BRINGS THE POPULATION MORE IN LINE. YOU KNOW, IT BRINGS THE DISTRICT SIX DOWN TO ABOUT SIX PERCENT OVER POPULATED AND DISTRICT FOUR TO NEGATIVE THREE. SO IT HELPS. BUT THEN YOU HAVE THE QUESTION OF WHERE DO YOU GET ADDITIONAL POPULATION AND THEN WHAT ARE THE RIPPLE EFFECTS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTY? YOU KNOW, DO YOU? TRY TO BRING IT MORE OVER. THROUGH THIS PART OF THE COUNTY. TRY AND GRAB TERRITORY DOWN HERE. THE PROBLEM HERE IS THAT THESE BLOCKS AREN'T TERRIBLY POPULATED, AND SO THEY'RE NOT MAKING MUCH OF A DENT IN TERMS OF THE ACTUAL EFFECT YOU SEE HERE. THAT WHOLE AREA THERE. SEE WHAT THAT MEANS. THE SORT OF WESTERN PART OF THE MCSWAIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT, THOSE BLOCKS, EVEN THOUGH IT'S A LOT OF TERRITORY AND ONLY ABOUT 40 PEOPLE. SO IT'S IT'S KIND OF A COMPLICATED PUZZLE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT MAKES SENSE IN TERMS OF BALANCING THESE POPULATIONS, WHAT PARTS OF DISTRICT FIVE SHOULD MOVE TO ANOTHER DISTRICT TO REACH THAT BALANCE? AND THEN AGAIN, THIS IS GOING TO BE INFORMED BY THE INFORMATION THAT WE GET FROM YOU ABOUT WHAT ARE THE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST WHO SHOULD BE LINKED? WHO MAYBE MAKES MORE SENSE TO BE IN OTHER DISTRICTS. AND THEN AGAIN, FIGURING OUT HOW THAT IMPACTS ALL OF THE OTHER DISTRICTS AROUND IT NODE. AND DOES IT MAKE SENSE FOR WE'VE TALKED IT A LITTLE BIT ABOUT DÉLHI AND LIVINGSTON HAVE HAVING A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST, WHICH IS GREAT, EXCEPT THAT IF YOU THEN MOVE THIS DELHI AREA INTO DISTRICT ONE THAT'S ABOUT ALMOST 13000 PEOPLE. AND SO NOW DISTRICT ONE IS WILDLY OVERPOPULATED, IT'S MORE OVERPOPULATED THAN THE DISTRICT FIVE, AND DISTRICT FOUR IS NOW ABOUT 30 PERCENT UNDERPOPULATED. SO THAT MEANS THERE'S GOING TO BE A WHOLE HECK OF A LOT OF OTHER CHANGES THAT ARE GOING TO BE NEED NEED TO BE MADE TO COMPENSATE FOR THAT CHANGE. AND SO IT'S, YOU KNOW, I'M NOT GOING TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THE VARIOUS PERMUTATIONS. THERE COULD BE ANY NUMBER OF THEM, BUT IT GIVES YOU SOME SENSE, I THINK, HOW COMPLICATED A PUZZLE CAN BE. THERE'S THERE'S NO PERFECT MAP, I THINK IS THE ONE THE ONE TAKE AWAY. BUT YOU KNOW, IT'S IT'S REALLY A PROCESS OF TRYING TO PUT ALL OF THESE TOGETHER IN THE BEST POSSIBLE CONFIGURATION SO THAT PEOPLE HAVE THE BEST REPRESENTATION THAT THEY CAN. WELL, IT SOUNDS LIKE HAVING THIS ONE DISTRICT THAT IT'S LESS FLEXIBLE. AS A RESULT, SETTLEMENT IS SOMETHING THAT'S MORE COMPLEX THAN NECESSARILY. THAT'S CORRECT. THAT REALLY DOES DRIVE A SIGNIFICANT CHUNK OF THIS DIFFICULTY AS WELL. OK. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, CHRIS. THAT'S A VERY HEALTHY DEMO TO SEE THE COMPLEXITY. AND I THINK THAT'S ONE OF THE CHALLENGES. EVERY TIME YOU MOVE, ONE PART OR SOME OTHER PART HAS TO MOVE. SO IT'S A VERY. THIS IS WHY YOU HIRE PROFESSIONALS TO GET THROUGH THIS PROCESS AND WHY WE NEED TO MAKE SURE WE GET LOTS OF MAP SUBMISSIONS AND OPTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC AS WELL TO MAKE SURE WE CAN GET SOME GOOD IDEAS THAT ARE SHARED. [INAUDIBLE] AND ONE OTHER THING I WANT TO NOTE TOO, IS JUST TO BE CLEAR, NOTHING CHRIS IS DOING TONIGHT IS A SUGGESTION OF WHAT SHOULD BE HAPPENING. IF YOU'RE JUST DON'T INTERPRET IT AS ANY INDICATION OR PREJUDICE ON HIS PART FOR WHAT SHOULD BE DONE. SORRY, WHO HAD THE HAND UP? COULD YOU EXPLAIN A LITTLE BIT MORE IN DETAIL, LIKE THE PARAMETERS AROUND DISTRICT ONE? WHY SPECIFICALLY IS IT? DOES IT HAVE A DIFFERENT SET OF RULES THAN THE OTHER DISTRICTS GO INTO A LITTLE BIT MORE DETAIL? I ABSOLUTELY. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT, SO THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT SAYS THAT IN CASES WHERE IT [01:20:04] IS POSSIBLE TO DRAW A MAJORITY MINORITY DISTRICT AND WHERE YOU HAVE A COHESIVE BLOC OF VOTERS, MINORITY VOTERS IN THAT AREA WHO CAN FORM A MAJORITY OF THE VOTING ELIGIBLE VOTER POPULATION, YOU MAY HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO DRAW THAT DISTRICT. AND THAT'S WHAT THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE BASICALLY CAME TO MERCED COUNTY AND SAID 30 YEARS AGO. THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THE ANALYSIS STILL NECESSARILY STAYS TRUE, BUT WE'VE DONE SOME, SOME REVIEW OF THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS THAT YOU HAVE TO DO THAT RACIALLY POLARIZED VOTING. AND IT SUGGESTS THAT IS STILL THE CASE IN THAT DISTRICT. AND SO ANYTHING THAT WOULD SIGNIFICANTLY DISRUPT THAT DISTRICT AND REALLY THE MAIN BULK OF IT WAS THAT CONNECTION OF LIVINGSTON AND SOUTH, MOORE SAID. ANYTHING THAT WOULD DISRUPT THAT COULD THEN BE HELD TO VIOLATE THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT. AND AS I MENTIONED, THAT'S KIND OF ONE OF THOSE TOP, TOP CONSIDERATIONS BECAUSE IT'S FEDERAL LAW. AND SO WE, YOU KNOW, AS I SAID, IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THERE CAN'T BE ANY CHANGES. THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE A LITTLE BIT, BUT WE HAVE TO BE PRETTY CAREFUL ABOUT MAINTAINING SORT OF CORE OF THAT DISTRICT AS IT IS AND MOSTLY SORT OF TINKERING AROUND THE EDGES IF YOU GET IT BACK IN POPULATION. THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE I JUST WANT TO CLARIFY, TOO REAL QUICK, BECAUSE IT HARDLY COMES OFF A COMMENT THAT YOU HAD MADE EARLIER. AND I'LL LOOK HERE AT DISTRICT FIVE, WHERE THAT ELEVEN POINT THREE FOUR PERCENT NUMBER IS. SO I BELIEVE THE WAY THAT THAT NUMBER REALLY WORKS IS THAT AREA HAS BROUGHT ALL PARTS OF THE COUNTY HAVE ACTUALLY GROWN. NO AREAS LOST POPULATION. IT'S JUST PROPORTIONATE TO THE AMOUNT OF GROWTH. SOME AREAS HAVE GROWN A LOT FASTER THAN OTHERS. AND THAT'S WHY YOU END UP WITH SOME THAT HAVE NEGATIVE NUMBERS AND SOME THAT HAVE POSITIVE. SO WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY LOSE POPULATION IN THE DISTRICT. WE JUST SIMPLY HAD DISTRICTS, AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, LIKE THE ONE THAT'S MORE DOWNTOWN THAT WAS PRETTY BUILT OUT. SO IT'S NOT GOING TO GAIN AS MUCH POPULATION. WHEREAS SOME OF THE MORE OPEN LAND AREAS WHERE YOU CAN PUT MORE POPULATION IN THOSE AREAS, THEY'RE GOING TO GAIN FASTER POPULATION. SO IT'S A POINT OF CONFUSION. SOMETIMES WHEN YOU SEE THOSE NUMBERS, I JUST WANT TO CLARIFY WHAT'S ACTUALLY GOING ON IN YOUR COUNTY. DON'T HAVE VISIONS THAT YOU HAVE PARTS OF YOUR COUNTY THAT HAVE SUDDENLY LOST HUGE SWATHS OF PEOPLE. THAT'S NOT HAPPENING. NO, SIR, THAT'S A GOOD PLAYER. OK, DID YOU HAVE A COMMENT OR QUESTION OVER HERE? THAT'S WHY THEN WE WOULDN'T WANT TO PUT LIVINGSTON IN DISTRICT FOUR LOSE IT FROM DISTRICT ONE. THAT'S RIGHT. GOOD QUESTION. THE QUESTION FOR CHRIS AS A RESULT. YEAH. WELL, IT'S THE MAP STOP YOU FROM DOING SOMETHING THAT IS. [INAUDIBLE] WHAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT THE MAP WILL STOP YOU FROM DOING THAT? IT WON'T THEY KNOW YOU'RE.. THERE'S NO WAITERS, THERE'S NO TRAINING WHEELS ON THIS BAD BOY. RIGHT. THERE ARE INEPTITUDE, CERTAINLY, AND I BELIEVE IN DISTRICT R THERE ARE TOOLS THAT ALLOW YOU TO CHECK THAT. AND, YOU KNOW, WE'RE LOOKING AT THIS ONE HERE, BUT IT IS SIMILAR ON THE ONLINE TOOL. THERE'S A DROPDOWN MENU THAT GIVES YOU THE OPTION OF. CHECKING FOR NONCONTIGUOUS AREAS, SO IF YOU'VE DRAWN A LITTLE PIECE OVER HERE AND THEN IT'S TOTALLY SEPARATE. IT'LL CATCH THAT FOR YOU AND ALLOW YOU TO READJUST IT, AND IT ALSO ALLOWS YOU TO LOOK FOR ANY BLOCKS THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. YOU KNOW, THERE'S THOUSANDS OF CENSUS BLOCKS AND MERCED COUNTY. IT'S EASY TO OVERLOOK ONE OVERLOOK ONE SMALL ONE SOMEWHERE, AND IT'LL HELP YOU IDENTIFY THOSE ALL OF THEM IN THE BIG SIGN. SO THERE ARE SOME TOOLS THAT WILL DO IT AUTOMATICALLY, BUT THERE ARE WAYS YOU CAN CHECK. YEAH. SO I THINK I THINK THE TWO TOOLS ARE THE THREE. MAYBE IT'S UNASSIGNED CENSUS BLOCKS OR TRACKS BLOCKS. IT'S THE OTHER ONE THERE. AND THEN I THINK THE OTHER ONE IS IT HAS SOME ANALYSIS TO AT LEAST LOOK WITHIN. A POPULATION ALLOCATION OR EVEN POPULATION ALLOCATION, YEAH, IT DOES SO AS YOU AND IT'S THERE'S A SIMILAR TABLE IN THE ONLINE VERSION AS YOU RECALCULATE THE POPULATION IT WILL GIVE YOU IN THIS COLUMN HERE. THE NUMBER, THE DEVIATION HAS A NUMBER. SO HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU'RE OVER THE IDEAL OR UNDER? AND THEN IN THE NEXT COLUMN OVER IT WILL TELL YOU WHAT THAT PERCENTAGE IS. AND SO THAT'S THE KEEP IT UNDER FIVE PERCENT EITHER WAY. COLUMN, YOU KNOW THIS ONE HERE AT EIGHT POINT THIRTY FIVE, THAT'S TOO HIGH. SO IT'S EASY TO KIND OF KEEP YOUR TAB ON THAT. SO AND DISTRICT DOESN'T HAVE IT HAS SOME OF THAT CAPABILITY. [01:25:01] LIKE YOU SAW THE BARS MOVING WHEN I WAS BUILDING OUT MAPPING TOOLS. IT DOESN'T HAVE ALL THE FANCY TOOLS THAT MAPTITUDE HAS, SO IT'S GOING TO BE PROBLEMATIC, BUT IT DOES HAVE DOWN AT THE BOTTOM. IT WILL TELL YOU WHAT THE DISTRICT IS THAT HAS THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE FROM IDEAL. SO IF THAT'S LESS THAN FIVE PERCENT, YOU KNOW THAT ALL OF YOUR DISTRICTS THAT YOU DRAW ON LESS THAN FIVE PERCENT. SO NOT QUITE SPELLCHECK, SO TO SPEAK, BUT IT IS IT AT LEAST PUT SOME SQUIGGLY LINES AND STUFF AND TELL YOU YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM. THERE ARE SOME THAT ARE GROWING. THE DISTRICT, PAULA, TO ANTICIPATE THE NEXT 10 YEARS OF THE GROWTH THAT IS GOING. IT'S A GREAT QUESTION. YEAH, I MEAN. YOU CAN I WOULDN'T GET TOO TOO CARRIED AWAY WITH THAT, BECAUSE WHAT WE'VE SEEN FOR THE LAST FEW CYCLES IS PREDICTING WHERE THAT GROWTH IS GOING TO BE IS CAN BE A FOOL'S ERRAND. YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES IT ENDS UP BEING IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE DECADE WHERE YOU'D NEVER EXPECT IT. AND SO, YOU KNOW, THERE'S ALREADY SOME IMPRECISION BUILT INTO THE CENSUS ANYWAY. YOU KNOW, AS LONG AS YOU'RE WITHIN THAT RANGE, A LITTLE BIT OF UNDER POPULATION IN ONE DISTRICT VERSUS ANOTHER FOR THAT IS PROBABLY FINE, BUT IT'S HARD TO TAKE IT TOO FAR AND HAVE IT BE TO ME. WE HAVE. IT'S IDENTIFIED IN THAT THIRD COLUMN ON OUR DISTRIBUTION AS A POSSIBILITY TO CONSIDER IT. YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF WORK TO GET THROUGH TO CONSIDER COLUMN ONE AND COLUMN TWO TO FEDERAL LAW AND THE STATE LAW FIRM KNAPSACK BEFORE YOU EVEN GET TO CONSIDER THAT THIRD COLUMN OF ISSUES. SO HARD TO ANTICIPATE THAT NECESSARY AND TO CHRIS'S POINT, YOU KNOW, MAN PLANS AND GOD LAUGHS, RIGHT? WE JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN WITH FUTURE. WAS THERE A QUESTION BACK HERE? HMM. OK. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR CHRIS? SO JUST A REMINDER, WE'LL WRAP UP OUR PRESENTATION HERE TONIGHT, AND THEN WE HAVE LAPTOPS AVAILABLE. IF YOU WANT TO GET CRAZY WITH SOME LAPTOPS AND DO SOME NERD OUT ON SOME APPS WITH US, WE LOVE FELLOW MAP NERDS AND THE COUNTY WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO FEEL EMPOWERED AND GET INVOLVED IN THIS PROCESS. THEY'RE ALL ABOUT THAT. I THINK YOU CAN STOP SHARING. ARE YOU DONE, CHRIS? ALL RIGHT. I WAS GOING TO SAY, OK, THE DATA, THE DATA THAT ARE GOING TO BE IN THE APTITUDE TOOL ARE PRETTY, PRETTY EXTENSIVE. YOU KNOW, DISTRICTS ARE BECAUSE IT'S SIMPLER AS LESS, BUT NATIONAL DEMOGRAPHICS HAS. AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, THEY HAVE HOUSING UNITS, THEY HAVE PEOPLE IN CORRIDORS AND ALL COLLEGE MILITARY RENTERS, HOMEOWNERS, VARIOUS AGE CATEGORIES. SO ONCE YOU DIG INTO THESE TOOLS AND SEE THERE'S A FAIR AMOUNT OF DEMOGRAPHIC, IT'S THAT WILL BE BUILT IN. YOU KNOW, AND I WOULD ALSO JUST NOTE THAT THE U.S. CENSUS HAS ALREADY STARTED PUBLISHING SOME OF THE DATA AND LIKE SUMMARIES ON CITIES AND WHATNOT THAT'S BEEN AVAILABLE AS WELL, THAT THEY'VE KIND OF QUICKLY TRIED TO GET OUT THERE TO MAKE AVAILABLE FOR THE PUBLIC, JUST TO HAVE A WAY TO PERUSE INFORMATION THAT'S BEEN MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE CENSUS. ON TOP OF THAT, SO SUPER DETAILED DATA, ONCE IT'S LOADED, DATA WILL BE AVAILABLE AND THE CENSUS HAS SOME SOME DATA ALREADY AVAILABLE FOR MAJOR JURISDICTIONS THAT YOU CAN TAKE A LOOK AT AS WELL. ALL RIGHT. ANYTHING ELSE? ALL RIGHT, SO SYDNEY, WE'LL GO BACK TO OUR POWERPOINT DECK. STOP SHARING HIS SCREEN AND WE'LL BRING THIS TO CONCLUSION FOR THE EVENING. SO AND THIS IS IT, RIGHT, SO LAST SLIDE, SO THIS IS ONLY A PART OF THE PROCESS, THERE ARE MANY MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO CONTINUE PROVIDING FEEDBACK. AS I MENTIONED, PLEASE VISIT THIS WEBSITE THAT WE'VE BEEN TALKING UP A LOT. DUDE, YOU GOT A PHONE CALL AND YOU WANT TO PICK UP THE OLD PHONE AND CALL. THEY LOVE HEARING FROM YOU AT THE COUNTY. GIVE HIM A PHONE CALL THERE THE TWO NINE THREE EIGHT FIVE SEVEN SIX TWO SEVEN NUMBER. AND THEN IF YOU WANT AN EMAIL IN ANY INFORMATION, IDENTIFY COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST. DRAW SOMETHING ON ONE OF THESE MAPS. WE HAVE EXTRA MAPS UP HERE. IF YOU WANT THEM, DOWNLOAD A MAP, PRINT IT OFF AT HOME AND TAKE A PHOTO OF IT. EMAIL THAT PHOTO INTO REDISTRICTING AT COUNTYMERCED.COM. THOSE EMAILS GET TO THE DEMOGRAPHER, AS WELL AS GOING INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE COUNTY. AND THEN THERE'S ALSO THE COMMUNITY OF INTEREST FORM ON THE WEBSITE, WHICH WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO VISIT AND CHECK OUT. WE HAVE UPCOMING [INAUDIBLE] DO WE HAVE ANOTHER ONE WITH TALK ABOUT THE UPCOMING DATES? OK, SO IF WE GO BACK, THOUGH, WE HAVE THE TWO UPCOMING HEARINGS THAT WILL BE COMING UP AS PART OF THIS PROCESS, WHICH SYDNEY IS GOING TO PUT ON THE SCREEN HERE FOR ME, NOVEMBER 6TH IN DECEMBER. YEAH. NOVEMBER 16TH AND DECEMBER 7TH. AND SO REMEMBER THOSE TWO KEY DATES? MAKE SURE YOU GET INVOLVED, MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR MAPS SUBMITTED AND THE APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR CONSIDERATION AS PART OF THAT PROCESS. SO MAPS ARE NOTED NOVEMBER 2ND AT 5:00 P.M. AND DRAFT MAPS FOR THE DECEMBER 7TH MEETING ARE DUE NOVEMBER 30, BUT THAT WILL BRING IT [01:30:06] TO A CLOSE. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN COMING OUT TONIGHT. I APPRECIATE YOU BEING HERE AND HAVE A GOOD NIGHT, MERCED. * This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.