Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission Regular Meeting of the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission / Reunion Regular de la Comision Ciudadana Independiente de Redistritacion
Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC) October 27, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. Permitting and Development Center (PDC); Event Center Room 1401 & 1402 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr. Austin, TX 78752 CURRENT COMMISSION MEMBERS: Prabhu Kannan Brigham Morris Errol Hardin Eugene Schneider Erin Dempsey Luis Gonzalez, Vice-Chair Dr. Sterling Lands Hoang Le Shaina Kambo Sara Inés Calderón Selina Yee Christina Puentes, Chair Joshua Blank Camellia Falcon AGENDA Meeting Goals: Certification of Final Map; Discussion of Final Report; Receive Updates from Working Groups/Subcommittees CALL TO ORDER CITIZEN COMMUNICATION: GENERAL Public comment will be allowed in-person. All speakers must register in advance and identify the subject matter to be discussed up to 20 minutes after the start of the meeting. All public comment will occur at the beginning of the meeting or throughout the meeting where appropriate. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Discussion and possible action on the Oct. 6, 2021, ICRC meeting minutes. 2. NEW BUSINESS The ICRC may discuss and take action on the following agenda items A. Certification of Final Map B. Discussion and possible action on the procedure for the Final Report C. Discussion and possible action of dates for future meetings D. Updates from Working Groups/Subcommittees 1. Social Media/Press Release Working Group 2. Advertising/Website Working Group 3. Public Forum Working Group 4. Finance Subcommittee C. Housekeeping FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Discussion of dates for future meetings Adoption of Final Report Discussion of Retention of ICRC Records and Documents Annexations Hiring of staff: Legal counsel's contracts during inactive period Lessons Learned Report Report from Travis County Election Officials on Election Precinct Modification Inactive Status of the Commission ADJOURNMENT The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. Meeting locations are planned with wheelchair access. If requiring Sign Language Interpreters or alternative formats, please give notice at least 2 days (48 hours) before the meeting date. Please the Housing and Planning Department, at 512-974-7665 and call Matt Dugan at matthew.dugan@austintexas.gov, for additional information; TTY users route through Relay Texas at 711. For more information on the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, please contact Matt Dugan at 512-974-7665 and matthew.dugan@austintexas.gov or Lisa Rodriguez at 512-974-3119 and lisa.rodriguez@austintexas.gov.
Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC) October 6, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. Permitting and Development Center (PDC); Event Center 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr. Austin, TX 78752 CURRENT COMMISSION MEMBERS: Prabhu Kannan Brigham Morris Errol Hardin Eugene Schneider Erin Dempsey Luis Gonzalez, Vice-Chair Dr. Sterling Lands Members in Attendance Christina Puentes, Chair Luis Gonzalez, Vice Chair Joshua Blank Sara Inés Calderón (virtually) Erin Dempsey Camelia Falcon Errol Hardin Shaina Kambo Sterling Lands Hoang Le Eugene Schneider Selina Yee Hoang Le Shaina Kambo Sara Inés Calderón Selina Yee Christina Puentes, Chair Joshua Blank Camellia Falcon Staff In Attendance Matthew Dugan, City's Planning Manager Patricia Fraga, City's IT George Korbel, Mapping Specialist (virtually) David Richards, Legal Counsel (virtually) Christine Granados, ICRC Administrative Manager Draft Minutes Meeting Goals: Discussion of Public Forum Feedback; Receive Updates from Working Groups/Subcommittees CALL TO ORDER Chair Puentes called the meeting to order at 6:06 p.m. with 11 members present. Commissioner Lands joined at 8:29 p.m. CITIZEN COMMUNICATION: GENERAL Peck Young, with the NAACP/Hispanic Coalition; Fred Lewis; Mary Jugle;, Justin Irving; Daniel Llanes, with the People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources (PODER) and the Voter Education Registration and Mobilization Project (VERM) and Jim Christianson addressed the commission. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Discussion and possible action on the Sept. 29, 2021, ICRC meeting minutes. The Sept. 29, 2021, meeting minutes were approved without objection. 2. NEW BUSINESS The ICRC may discuss and take action on the following agenda items A. Discussion of Draft Final Map by Item On Commissioner Kambo's motion, Commissioner Hardin's second, the ICRC unanimously approved that we split VDT 206 keeping only the LBJ Library in District 1, the street boundaries being Dean Keaton to the north, Robert Dedman to the west, Clyde Littlefield/Manor Road to the south and I-35 to the east. On Commissioner Gonzalez's motion, Commissioner Blank's second, after debate the ICRC unanimously approved that VDT 214 is moved into District 10 bringing the Brkyer Woods neighborhood back into D10. On Commissioner Gonzalez's motion, Commissioner Yee's second, after debate the ICRC unanimously approved that we split VDT 250 at Enfield Road continuing to Parkway to North Lamar Boulevard. On Commissioner Gonzalez's motion, Commissioner Yee's second, after debate the ICRC unanimously approved that the split of VDT 250 will leave north of Enfield in District 10 and south of Enfield in District 9. On Commissioner Gonzalez's motion, Commissioner Blank's second, after debate the ICRC …
An inclusive voice for Austin neighborhoods. Felicity Maxwell Zilker President Roger L. Cauvin Downtown Treasurer Thomas Ates Hyde Park Adviser October 10, 2021 Honorable members of the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC), Friends of Austin Neighborhoods (FAN) thanks you for your service on the ICRC and for the important work balancing numerous factors and priorities as you drew new boundaries for Austin’s city council districts. Friends of Austin Neighborhoods (FAN) recently polled its membership on priorities for redistricting, and we would like to express our support for the proposed maps in areas where they provide more effective representation for historically-marginalized, or sometimes-overlooked, communities of interest. A supermajority of FAN’s voting members approved the following statement and criteria in a secure online vote. Full results of these and all other online votes are on the Votes page of the FAN website. FAN champions the needs of the citywide community and representation of the full diversity of neighborhood stakeholders – not just the vocal minority of incumbent homeowners that sometimes dominate neighborhood conversations. Accordingly, FAN calls for redistricting that enables neighbors belonging to the following groups to have fair and effective representation in city government: 1. Historically marginalized ethnic groups, including Hispanics and 2. Fast-growing Asian communities. 3. Overlooked socioeconomic groups such as renters, residents of multi-family African-Americans. homes, and students. FAN believes that drawing district boundaries to support better representation for these groups is far more important than blind consistency with self-defined neighborhood boundaries. FAN represents about 3,000 neighbors (homeowners, renters, and small business owners) among its 18 member neighborhood associations and individual members living in 212 other neighborhoods throughout the city. A complete list of member neighborhood associations and individual members is on the FAN website. Again, thank you for your work, and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. Respectfully, Board of Directors of Friends of Austin Neighborhoods (FAN) Friends of Austin Neighborhoods (FAN) is a coalition of neighborhood associations and residents reclaiming the word “neighborhood” to include the full diversity of voices, moving beyond neighborhood protectionism.
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From: Sent: To: Cc: Subject: Attachments: Arlyss Herzig Tuesday, October 19, 2021 7:11 PM HPD ICRC Commissioners Jerry Vattamala Re: AALDEF Proposed City Council Map AALDEF Proposed City Council Districts.pdf; AALDEF Proposed District 3.pdf; AALDEF Proposed District 4.pdf; AALDEF Proposed District 2.pdf; AALDEF Proposed District 1.pdf; AALDEF Proposed District 5.pdf *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** Hi Independent Citizens Redistricting Committee, I hope this email finds you well. Attached is the proposed Austin City Council districts for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). We have included pdfs of the districts and an Excel file of the district demographics. I will be sending another email with geographic files (shapefile and json) because the attachment size was too large for one email. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any additional information. Thank you for your time and consideration. Arlyss Herzig On Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 8:09 PM Arlyss Herzig Hi ICRC, Please find the geographic files attached here. Thank you. Best, Arlyss Herzig On Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 8:09 PM Arlyss Herzig Hi Independent Citizens Redistricting Committee, I hope this email finds you well. Attached is the proposed Austin City Council districts for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). We have included pdfs of the districts and an Excel file of the district demographics. I will be sending another email with geographic files (shapefile and json) because the attachment size was too large for one email. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any additional information. Thank you for your time and consideration. Arlyss Herzig wrote: wrote: CAUTION: This email was received at the City of Austin, from an EXTERNAL source. Please use caution when clicking links or opening attachments. If you believe this to be a malicious and/or phishing email, please forward this email to cybersecurity@austintexas.gov. 1
From: Sent: To: Cc: Subject: Attachments: Arlyss Herzig Tuesday, October 19, 2021 7:12 PM HPD ICRC Commissioners Jerry Vattamala Re: AALDEF Proposed City Council Map AALDEF Proposed District 7.pdf; AALDEF Proposed District 9.pdf; AALDEF Proposed District 10.pdf; AALDEF Proposed District 8.pdf; Proposed district demographics.xlsx; AALDEF Proposed District 6.pdf *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** wrote: Here is the last set of pdfs and the Excel file. Thank you for your consideration. Best, Arlyss Herzig On Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 8:11 PM Arlyss Herzig Hi Independent Citizens Redistricting Committee, I hope this email finds you well. Attached is the proposed Austin City Council districts for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). We have included pdfs of the districts and an Excel file of the district demographics. I will be sending another email with geographic files (shapefile and json) because the attachment size was too large for one email. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any additional information. Thank you for your time and consideration. Arlyss Herzig On Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 8:09 PM Arlyss Herzig Hi ICRC, Please find the geographic files attached here. Thank you. Best, Arlyss Herzig On Tue, Oct 19, 2021 at 8:09 PM Arlyss Herzig Hi Independent Citizens Redistricting Committee, I hope this email finds you well. Attached is the proposed Austin City Council districts for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). We have included pdfs of the districts and an Excel file of the district demographics. I will be sending another email with geographic files (shapefile and json) because the attachment size was too large for one email. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any additional information. wrote: wrote: 1 Thank you for your time and consideration. Arlyss Herzig CAUTION: This email was received at the City of Austin, from an EXTERNAL source. Please use caution when clicking links or opening attachments. If you believe this to be a malicious and/or phishing email, please forward this email to cybersecurity@austintexas.gov. 2 District % White Black %Blk Population Deviation % Deviatio White -99 -1372 64 -620 69 -202 757 969 442 1121 -0.10% -1.43% 0.07% -0.64% 0.07% -0.21% 0.79% 1.01% 0.46% 1.17% 96087 94814 96250 95566 96255 95984 96943 97155 96628 97307 37798 38995 42705 34130 59621 49097 58980 68752 64900 71807 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 …
From: Sent: To: Subject: David King Wednesday, October 13, 2021 5:49 PM HPD ICRC Commissioners Please Don't Split Zilker Neighborhood *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** Honorable Members of the Austin Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, Please do not split the Zilker Neighborhood between District 5 and District 9. Please leave the Zilker Neighborhood in District 5. Based on the proposed preliminary map, a large section of the Zilker neighborhood would become part of District 9. The Zilker neighborhood would be split between District 5 and District 9. The area of the neighborhood bounded by South Lamar Boulevard, Barton Springs Road, and Lady Bird Lake would become part of District 9. This area includes Sterzing Street, Toomey Road, Jessie Street and Josephine Street. In addition, the proposed boundary for District 9 will expand to include the area of the Zilker neighborhood between Kinney Avenue and Union Pacific Railroad from Lady Bird Lake to West Oltorf Street. Please do not split the Zilker Neighborhood between District 5 and District 9. Please leave the Zilker Neighborhood in District 5. Thank you for considering my comments and your service. Regards, David King Zilker Neighborhood Resident City Council District 5 CAUTION: This email was received at the City of Austin, from an EXTERNAL source. Please use caution when clicking links or opening attachments. If you believe this to be a malicious and/or phishing email, please forward this email to cybersecurity@austintexas.gov. 1
From: Sent: To: Subject: Attachments: Importance: High Wednesday, October 20, 2021 1:34 PM SETLD - Data Analyst / Data Science / Geospatial - Staffing & Project Help setld_Maggard_Resume.pdf *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** ================================================== ============= SETLD - Data Analyst / Data Science / Geospatial - Staffing & Project Help ================================================== ============= Greetings, It’s not always easy to hire the right people for data jobs. SETLD offers no-risk, innovative and helpful data contractor packaging and project support that continues to work well at major energy clients in the Houston, TX area. SETLD prides itself in growing talent and delivering projects the right way and would like to share our methodologies with you. Our founder, Jacob Maggard, has 23+ yrs. experience in geospatial and data science leadership (resume attached). Jacob comes as a world class senior data consultant – offering high-end advice and skills where needed (part time or less, usually remote) o Jacob can understand all aspects of any IT/IS/IM goals or projects you lay out, offer meaningful advice, collaborate with stakeholders and help create and execute action plans SETLD also brings cost-effective junior or mid-range data / geospatial analysts that we (you and SETLD) will train on your goals and processes (full time) o This full time analyst will be more accountable and grow faster (than someone off the street) with the support we (you and SETLD) provide as a team SETLD maintains a back office staffed with diverse talent; this contingent labor pool is available to you for special projects and overflow work (as needed) You get a world class data consultant (to frame and guide), a long-term, loyal person (to build) plus a contingent labor pool (as insurance) -- all for the price of one employee. 1 Jacob Maggard Experienced leader and information systems specialist with expertise in managing information, applications and staff within a multi-discipline team environment. Excellent project management and value-based prioritization skills in geospatial, subsurface and operations realms with a strong desire to drive business performance through improved workflows, business methodologies and analyses. Experience setld President 04 / 2016 – Present Turning Data Into Actionable Information setld (settled) is a brand new information solutions startup based in the Houston, TX area. On April 1st, 2016, we set out to create a next generation “geospatial+” data and service provider (current primary focus is oil and gas). We offer foundational and custom …
Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC) October 27, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. Permitting and Development Center (PDC); Event Center 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr. Austin, TX 78752 CURRENT COMMISSION MEMBERS: Prabhu Kannan Brigham Morris Errol Hardin Eugene Schneider Erin Dempsey Luis Gonzalez, Vice-Chair Dr. Sterling Lands Hoang Le Shaina Kambo Sara Inés Calderón Selina Yee Christina Puentes, Chair Joshua Blank Camellia Falcon Members in Attendance Christina Puentes, Chair Luis Gonzalez, Vice Chair Joshua Blank Sara Inés Calderón Erin Dempsey Errol Hardin Shaina Kambo Sterling Lands Hoang Le Eugene Schneider Selina Yee Staff In Attendance Matthew Dugan, City's Planning Manager Patricia Fraga, Corrie Stokes, City Auditor, George Korbel, Mapping Specialist, David Richards, Legal Counsel (virtually) Christine Granados, ICRC Administrative Manager, Elizabeth Garcia, Notary, Amy Dang, Photographer MINUTES Meeting Goals: Certification of Final Map; Discussion of Final Report; Receive Updates from Working Groups/Subcommittees CALL TO ORDER Chair Puentes called the meeting to order at 6:06 p.m. with 11 members present. CITIZEN COMMUNICATION: GENERAL Peck Young, with the NAACP/Hispanic Coalition addressed the commission. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The Oct. 6, 2021, meeting minutes were amended and approved without objection. 2. NEW BUSINESS The ICRC may discuss and take action on the following agenda items A. Certification of Final Map Discussion of annexations On Commissioner Yee's motion, Commissioner Land's second, after debate, the ICRC unanimously approved and adopted the final maps for City Council districts as they are on a roll call vote: Commissioner Kannan-not present Commissioner Morris-not present Commissioner Hardin-Yes Commissioner Schneider-Yes Commissioner Dempsey-Yes Vice Chair Gonzalez-Yes Commissioner Lands-Yes Commissioner Le-Yes Commissioner Kambo-Aye Commissioner Calderón-Yes Commissioner Yee-Aye Commissioner Blank-Aye Commissioner Falcon-not present Chair-Puentes-Aye The motion passed. B. Discussion and possible action on the procedure for the Final Report Commissioner Blank gave an update on final report and documents being emailed to each commissioner. Commissioner Hardin proposed translating the final report into different languages. C. Discussion and possible action of dates for future meetings Chair Puentes gave an update and Vice Chair Gonzalez proposed setting aside the third Wednesday evening of every month for future ICRC meetings: Nov. 17, 2021; Dec. 15, 2021; Jan. 19, 2022 and Feb. 16, 2022 as possible dates for future meetings. D. Updates from Working Groups/Subcommittees 1. Social Media/Press Release Working Group Commissioner Dempsey gave an update about creating an onboarding document for the final report subcommittee and continuing social media posts as needed. 2. Advertising/Website Working Group Commissioner Yee gave …