Gilcrease-Letter — original pdf
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HPD ICRC Commissioners From: Sent: To: Subject: Attachments: Pete Gilcrease Wednesday, September 8, 2021 10:56 AM HPD ICRC Commissioners District Mapping Suggestions - D9 - Hyde Park (From Friends of Hyde Park President) HPBoundaries2.png *** External Email - Exercise Caution *** Dear Commissioners, I'm the president of Friends of Hyde Park. Friends of Hyde Park is currently the largest neighborhood association in our neighborhood with over 500 members. Friends of Hyde Park is not aligned with the Austin Neighborhoods Council (ANC). Hyde Park is made up of approximately 70% renters with a diverse background, including a large number of students that attend the University of Texas. This type of representation is almost completely absent in ANC aligned neighborhood associations. Unfortunately, because of the way the initial district lines were drawn, which didn't fully follow the charter guidance on socio economic grouping, there's a very small group of mainly wealthy older white property owners that dominate the representation for Hyde Park at the city council level. The majority of the people that live within Hyde Park have almost no representation because of this. I'd like to propose a change to the redistricting maps to ensure that Hyde Park and surrounding neighborhoods in central Austin receive better representation in the future. According to the latest population numbers by district, District 4 lost population and needs to incorporate more people into the district. I'd suggest, if it is compatible with the goals of building a minority opportunity district, incorporating the north part of Hyde Park, known as North Hyde Park, into District 4. North Hyde Park is the area north of 45th St and is more similar to the North Loop and Highland neighborhoods that are part of District 4 than neighborhoods to the south of it. Despite how ANC aligned neighborhood associations characterize it, North Hyde Park is a completely separate neighborhood with different housing types, different history, and a different diversity of people than the original Hyde Park neighborhood that's south of 45th St. An example of this cultural and historical split can be seen in Ridgetop Elementary School, located in North Hyde Park, that has a large percentage of hispanic children, and the school that Hyde Park feeds into, Lee Elementary, has a mainly white population. The reason that North Hyde Park has the name Hyde Park in it is because it was annexed as a way for the people that live in Hyde Park to control more of the area around them and lessen the voices of renters in the area that live in North Hyde Park. The people that live in the North Hyde Park neighborhood have had almost no say in their own neighborhood for decades because that's been dictated by people that live in the Hyde Park neighborhood ‐ this is a common ANC strategy visible in many parts of the city. I've attached a map with the proposed split. North Hyde Park is represented by Census Tract 3.05 and Census Tract 3.04. Hyde Park is represented by Census Tract 3.02, so there's a natural split in the census tracts for this division also. Please consider allowing the two completely different neighborhoods to have different representation and hopefully allow North Hyde Park and the residents that live in that neighborhood to finally have a voice and a representative that listens to their concerns. Friends of Hyde Park advocates for more affordable housing and a more walkable, bikeable, inclusive, environmentally sustainable, and transit friendly neighborhood. Please let me know if you have any questions or if there's anything that I can help with regarding this. Thanks, 1 Pete 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