Senate District 38 gerrymandering
My home senatorial district #38, Sen. Lindsey Williams, is a perfect example of gerrymandering and its effect on constituents. It's fairly compact in shape- except for the bulge at the bottom, where it crosses the Allegheny River into Pittsburgh. As I understand the history of that "bulge", it was done to freeze out then Senator Jim Ferlo by cutting out his Highland Park district. Anyone who knows the very strong neighborhood ties of the Pittsburgh region- as well as our tendency to "not cross the river"- realizes that this area is a misfit to the rest of the district. Sen. Williams of course reaches out to the Highland Park people, but that takes some extra effort on her part. As a result we in the northern suburbs lose something, no matter her extensive efforts to serve us as well. This is the evil of gerrymandering: a political win for one party ends up penalizing the citizens of the poorly-constructed district. START WITH A BLANK MAP and construct districts according to the PA Constitution: "compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as practicable." Thank you.