Keep Chetnut Hill and Mt Airy in 1 house district
Dear Chairman Nordenberg, I urge the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) to consider the following proposed map that is inspired by 1) the LRC preliminary House maps for this area along with 2) Fair Districts PA’s People’s Map. https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::196aba79-9836-4df5-b7b4-2d30915af87c The above alternate map does the following: • Keeps the 21st ward in the current 194th district except for the sole division (21-24) which is on the other side of the Wissahickon Gorge; • Affirms the LRC’s choice to remove the 50th ward from the current 200th district; • Sidesteps a needless run-off between incumbents of the current 194th, 200th & 201st districts by extending the 200th district into the Germantown neighborhood which has a close cultural relationship with Mt. Airy; • Avoids dividing the historic Mt. Airy neighborhood into two separate districts, protecting its cohesion as a long-standing, racially integrated community; • Redistricts Germantown along better lines that transcend ward lines & undoes the gerrymandering of that district as the LRC intended; and, • Honors the intentions of the LRC regarding its reconfiguration of nearby districts impacted by these recommended changes. Further, I wish to point out that the physical division by the Wissahickon Gorge between the current 200th and 194th districts is no small thing. As the crow flies, they are close, but few, if any of us, have wings. The reality is that indeed, "you can't get there from here." There are only two ways to cross the gorge by car: the Walnut Lane Bridge, or tortuous but beautiful Bells Mill Road. Thank you for your time and consideration.