The What, The Why, and The How of Everett Districting
I grew up in North Carolina and have heard about districting and gerrymandering for all of my life. If you pay attention to this sort of thing, that shouldn’t be a surprise, as North Carolina has notoriously bizarrely placed districting boundaries that create a gerrymandered nightmare. I grew up in this environment, hearing gerrymandering was bad, but not quite understanding the ins and outs of the whole situation - What caused it? How could it be fixed?
I learned, much later, that this was the result of bad districting. Districting, at its heart, is about making sure people’s political interests are accurately shown in their local, state, and federal representation.
In 2018, Everett’s community voted to establish districts. Voters decided on 5 voting districts, with a representative selected by voters in each district, and 2 at large positions selected by all city residents. Starting in May 2019, a commission was assembled and met to discuss and create drafts. A few things were considered during this process, such as keeping the population in each district as close to equal as possible, keeping each district as compact and in the same geographical area as possible. There were also efforts to make sure that no district favored (or disfavored) any group of people by characteristics such as race or political party, and that created boundaries made sense.
Public feedback was accepted starting in September 2020 and on October 18th, the districting commission finalized their districting plan. On October 28th, this map was presented to the city council. They accepted the A-9 map with the understanding that they would not be able to make any changes.
Final map // City of Everett
So what does this mean for you, a member of the Everett community?
It means that in 2021, you will be participating in the first election with the new districts! Instead of voting for all council members, you will have the opportunity to focus on which candidate will best represent your district on the council.
So what district are you in?
For the most part, it depends on what neighborhood you live in, but some neighborhoods were split despite best efforts:
District 1 includes Northwest Everett and Delta, as well as some of the Bayside, Port Gardner, and Riverside neighborhoods.
District 2 includes the rest of the Bayside, Port Gardner, and Riverside neighborhoods, along with all of Glacier View, Lowell, and Valley View, and some of South Forest Park and Pinehurst Beverley Park.
District 3 includes the rest of South Forest Park and all of the View Ridge Madison, Evergreen, Harborview-Seahurst-Glenhaven, and Boulevard Bluffs neighborhoods.
District 4 includes most of Westmont, and some of Cascade View and Twin Creeks, as well as all of the Holly neighborhood.
District 5 includes the rest of the Cascade View, Twin Creeks, and Pinehurst Beverly Park neighborhoods, as well as all of Silver Lake.
A lot of hard work went into creating these districts, but that does not mean they are perfect. The most common comments were related to the fact that community feedback was not accepted early enough in the process, and that Districts 1 and 2 should be split along Broadway because of different common interests.
Everett is a big city, with a diverse community and diverse interests. These districts will help ensure more equitable geographical representation in our city council. This will make it more likely that everyone’s interests will be addressed, instead of interests from just a few areas in our city.
Angela Di Filippo currently works in State Social Services and recently earned her Masters in Industrial/Organizational Psychology with extensive training in evidence-based leadership coaching. Angela moved from North Carolina to Washington 6 years ago and has proudly called Everett her home for 5 of those years. When not helping others solve problems in creative and strength-driven ways, Angela enjoys her time painting, hiking with her terrier-mix, Indy, and eating waffles.
