{"id":220,"date":"2021-11-09T10:00:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T10:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/today-committee-on-redistricting-to-hold-hearing-on-draft-congressional-maps\/"},"modified":"2021-11-09T10:00:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T10:00:37","slug":"today-committee-on-redistricting-to-hold-hearing-on-draft-congressional-maps","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/today-committee-on-redistricting-to-hold-hearing-on-draft-congressional-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"TODAY: Committee on Redistricting to Hold Hearing on Draft Congressional Maps"},"template":"","class_list":["post-220","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"The Special Joint Committee on Redistricting will provide the first opportunity for the public to weigh in on draft congressional maps at a virtual hearing this morning at 11:00 a.m. The public will be invited to provide public comment, during which Common Cause Massachusetts will advocate for amending the proposed boundaries for Congressional district nine to include both Fall River and New Bedford.","featured_image":"","press_type":146,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":7814}"],"related_issues":[62,462],"related_work":false,"location":24},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"The Special Joint Committee on Redistricting will provide the first opportunity for the public to weigh in on\u00a0draft\u00a0congressional\u00a0maps\u00a0at a\u00a0<\/span>virtual hearing<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0this morning at 11:00 a.m<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0The public will be invited to\u00a0provide public comment, during which Common Cause Massachusetts will advocate for\u00a0amending\u00a0the proposed boundaries for\u00a0Congressional district nine\u00a0to include both Fall River and New Bedford. Common Cause Massachusetts maintains that the state\u2019s other areas that share the same issues and regional proximity are kept together in the same congressional district.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nTo watch the hearing,\u00a0<\/span>click here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe following is the prepared testimony that Common Cause Executive Director Geoff Foster will share with the committee.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cGood\u00a0morning\u00a0Chair Brownsberger, Chair Moran, and Honorable Committee Members,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0My name is Geoff Foster and I\u2019m the executive director at Common Cause Massachusetts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nI want to start by congratulating Chairs Moran and Brownsberger and your staff for conducting\u00a0a transparent\u00a0and accessible redistricting processes.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nCommon Cause Massachusetts is proud to be a steering committee member of the Drawing Democracy Coalition, a coalition of statewide advocacy and civil rights groups that include public policy advocates, political scientists, mapping experts, and community-based organizations with a shared goal of partnering with you to ensure that underrepresented communities\u00a0have the opportunity to\u00a0elect candidates of their choice who best reflect their needs and interests.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0Overall, we are happy with the Congressional maps, except for one area and that\u2019s the proposed separation of Fall River and New Bedford. It is the position of our coalition that Fall River and New Bedford should be complete and united together in one Congressional district to maximize the impact that communities of interest can have in electing and influencing their member of Congress.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0When you look across the entire Commonwealth, Gateway cities that share issues and regional proximity are kept in the same Congressional districts: Springfield, Holyoke, and Pittsfield; Lowell, Lawrence, Methuen, and Haverhill; Gardner and Fitchburg; and more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0We respectfully ask this Committee\u00a0do\u00a0the same for Fall River and New Bedford; to keep them whole and unite them together in Congressional District 9.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0It is very well documented that Fall River and New Bedford have so much in common, the largest concentration of Portuguese Americans in entire the United States, higher populations of people of color, a shared vision for economic development and pandemic recovery, gateway city status, and a long list of shared needs that most other Congressional District 4 communities don\u2019t experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0As our Unity Maps shows, it is possible to create a Congressional District 9 that includes both New Bedford and Fall River, uniting two gateway cities with so many shared interests, in a way that doesn\u2019t impact the Majority Minority 7th Congressional District to the north.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhile you\u2019ll soon hear from many local experts who can speak directly to the benefit of keeping Fall River and New Bedford together in Congressional District 9, I will conclude by saying this: voters should choose their politicians. Politicians shouldn\u2019t choose their voters. There has been much coverage in the press over the last week that has given platform to the opinions of federal, state, and local lawmakers. It was unfortunate to see some of this play out with a tone of finality, even though the public input process had not been concluded and the map hasn\u2019t been voted on yet.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0We are so appreciative of today\u2019s public hearing as it will give a platform to the voices of everyday people who have been working and organizing to empower New Bedford and Fall River for the last decade and will again in the decade to come. With much work to be done for Fall River and New Bedford before Congress and the General Court, we hope their voices will be heard loud and clear today as they best represent the communities of interest, and the will of the people.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThank you.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>"}}]},"yoast_head":"\nTODAY: Committee on Redistricting to Hold Hearing on Draft Congressional Maps - Common Cause Massachusetts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/today-committee-on-redistricting-to-hold-hearing-on-draft-congressional-maps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TODAY: Committee on Redistricting to Hold Hearing on Draft Congressional Maps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/today-committee-on-redistricting-to-hold-hearing-on-draft-congressional-maps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Massachusetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/today-committee-on-redistricting-to-hold-hearing-on-draft-congressional-maps\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/today-committee-on-redistricting-to-hold-hearing-on-draft-congressional-maps\/\",\"name\":\"TODAY: Committee on Redistricting to Hold Hearing on Draft Congressional Maps - 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