Board of Supervisors President David Chiu may want to start packing.
The City’s Redistricting Task Force is working on drawing new boundaries for the 11 supervisorial districts, and draft maps under discussion last week cut Chiu’s apartment on Clay and Polk streets out of his district, which includes the North Beach and Chinatown neighborhoods.
The District 3 representative turned up at the Jan. 4 task force meeting to oppose the maps.
“In full disclosure, in case you do hear this, I happen to live in that block that is being redistricted into District 2,” Chiu told the task force. “That need not be a factor in your consideration. If you choose to leave it as is, I will simply move.”
Chiu isn’t the only supervisor who might want to start apartment hunting. Others supervisors such as Jane Kim and Malia Cohen also could find themselves living outside of the districts they represent.
The city attorney sent a memo Monday to task force members saying they could take a supervisor’s residence into consideration when redrawing the boundaries, but the law doesn’t require them to.
The task force is holding public meetings in each of the districts until March and considering various draft maps. A final map is due by April 15.
Supervisors could continue to represent districts if they wind up outside the newly drawn boundaries, but if they wanted to run for another term they would have to move within the boundaries at least 30 days before filing to run for re-election, the legal memo says.
Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau releases population data. Under the City Charter, about the same number of residents must live within each district. If census data reveal significant differences, then the task force must redraw the lines.
