Redistricting
One of the most important moments in the state’s political history starts today, with Palm Beach County playing a role. A Tallahassee judge, Terry Lewis, will hear testimony about which map Florida should use for its 27 congressional districts. The Florida Supreme Court invalidated the map that the Legislature produced in 2012, after the most recent census.
The justices ruled that Republicans had drawn the map to benefit the GOP and incumbents of both parties. The Fair Districts Amendments, which voters passed in 2010, prohibit such gerrymandering.
As Democrats do to Republican voters in states where they control the legislature, Republicans packed Democrats—especially African-Americans—into a few districts while spreading Republican voters more broadly. That’s one big reason why Florida, which Barack Obama won twice, sends 17 Republicans to Congress and just 10 Democrats. The lawsuit that led to the high court’s ruling showed that Republican consultants had worked in secret with GOP legislative leaders to craft the most Republican-friendly map. One consultant got $10,000 per month.
A related requirement of the amendments is that districts whenever possible follow city and county boundaries and not break up communities just to make a district more favorable for an incumbent. That issue prompted the court to question Districts 21 and 22, which cover most of southern Palm Beach County.
Currently, District 22 includes all or most portions of the coastal cities from Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach. District 21 includes inland suburban areas from Wellington to Coral Springs in Broward.
As the plaintiffs in the lawsuit claimed, there seems no good reason why both districts should straddle both counties. Sixty-one percent of District 21 is in Palm Beach. Fifty-seven percent of District 22 is in Palm Beach. Testimony showed that Florida House staffers proposed stacking the districts, rather than have them run parallel, but that the Senate refused. The Senate made that decision in a private meeting and offered no explanation.
Six of the seven maps before Judge Lewis stack Districts 21 and 22. Only Boca Raton and Highland Beach, among Palm Beach County cities, would stay in District 22. Roughly 85 percent of the voters would live in Broward. District 21 would pick up the other Palm Beach County portions, and be a Palm Beach-only seat.
Ted Deutch and Lois Frankel represent Districts 21 and 22, respectively. Democrats and friends, they understandably would prefer that their portion of the statewide map stay the same. They don’t like the prospect of having to run against each other, and issued a statement last month that they would not do so.
Under the Fair Districts Amendments, however, natural geography matters more than political geography. Palm Beach County, third-largest in the state, would get its own representative. Broward, the second-largest county, would be less chopped up.
Deutch and Frankel obviously would have to adjust. Frankel, who lives in a condo near West Palm Beach’s CityPlace, might have to move. Or not. Florida law requires only that members of Congress be registered voters in the state. Deutch’s home in West Boca still would be in District 21.
Whatever inconvenience a new map might cause Deutch and Frankel, others will be far more inconvenienced. Republican Dan Webster probably will lose his Central Florida seat because it will be drawn naturally, not to benefit him. Democrat Gwen Graham, daughter of former Gov. Bob Graham, could lose her Panhandle seat because of changes to remedy gerrymandering in other districts.
It’s all part of a necessary change that the voters demanded five years ago when they passed the amendments. With luck, Florida one day will take all political line-drawing away from politicians. Safe districts lead to narrow politics, which leads to gridlock. Florida and the nation have had enough of that.
Florida Senate map
And once the fight over congressional map ends, a much nastier fight begins over the Florida Senate map.
On Oct. 17, the 100-day period during which the Florida Supreme Court relinquished jurisdiction over congressional redistricting ends. Basically, that’s the deadline for a new map for Congress.
Two days later, the Legislature is supposed to meet in special session to work on the Senate map. Roughly three weeks after losing before the Florida Supreme Court on the congressional map, the Senate essentially pleaded guilty to violating the state constitution when it drew the Senate map in 2012. It was clear that the Legislature would lose again.
But since the case never got to trial, there’s no direction from the courts about specific problems with the 40 Senate seats. And while the congressional map affects almost no one in the Legislature, the Senate map affects very many in the Legislature.
Even senators who are term-limited in 2016 and 2018 might be able to run again because they would be running from new districts. So assume that all 40 senators will care very much about the districts. Assume that House members who hit their term limits in 2016 and 2018 and can’t bear the thought of leaving Tallahassee also will care, since the Senate would be their next stop.
Finally, add the fight for the 2017-18 Senate presidency between the relatively moderate Jack Latvala – from Pinellas County—and the fairly conservative Joe Negron— from Martin County. Each will want a map that helps his allies. The race is so close that Democrats, who even with a new map probably won’t win a majority, could become power brokers and gain some leverage.
Much more about this next month.
Design guidelines update
Like Boca Raton, Delray Beach is learning that old problems can accompany new development rules.
Boca hoped to get its desired downtown look with updated architectural guidelines. Developers who adhered to them would get some extra density. The guidelines were—to use the old Hollywood line—years in the making.
Yet the first project approved under those guidelines, the Mark at Cityscape, so underwhelmed and disappointed that the city held a meeting last April to pick at the project. The guidelines remain under review.
When Delray Beach drew up new rules for downtown development, the emphasis was on height and density, but especially height. Most residents find tall buildings antithetical to the seaside-village ambience. Now, however, the new downtown issue is length, not height.
Before the city commission at its Sept. 15 meeting was a seemingly simple waiver request. A developer, Samar Florida 202, wants to build a 122-room Aloft Hotel, 35 condos and about 6,000 square feet of retail space on Southeast Fifth Avenue between Second and Third streets. The roughly 1.8-acre project would displace some abandoned buildings in a grubby area. The president of the homeowners association in nearby Osceola Park sent a letter to the commission in support of the project.
Samar wants a 5-foot setback, half of what the rules require. City staff supported the request, which seemingly would apply only to upper floors.
Mayor Cary Glickstein, however, noted that “this would be a 600-foot building”—590 feet, to be exact—given the distance between the north and south sides of the skinny project. “I don’t know how much is too long.” Commissioner Shelly Petrolia said that now the issue is “linear,” not vertical. As more projects come in under the new guidelines, Petrolia said, developers will seek to recoup their investment through length.
The commission unanimously tabled its decision on Samar. “I think we need a better presentation,” Glickstein said, acknowledging that Delray soon will see a “shaking out” of the new rules. Boca can relate.
About the Author
Randy Schultz was born in Hartford, Conn., and graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1974. He has lived in South Florida since then, and in Boca Raton since 1985. Schultz spent nearly 40 years in daily journalism at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, most recently as editorial page editor at the Post. His wife, Shelley, is director of The Learning Network at Pine Crest School. His son, an attorney, and daughter-in-law and three grandchildren also live in Boca Raton. His daughter is a veterinarian who lives in Baltimore.
