BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com
Los Alamos County Council has provided comments to members of the New Mexico Citizens Redistricting Committee raising two main concerns with any proposed redistricting of the Los Alamos County area.
The first concern is “maintaining a community of interest around Los Alamos National Laboratory”, and second is “unifying the towns of Los Alamos and White Rock”.
A letter sent to the Redistricting Committee states that unifying Los Alamos and White Rock is important because the Los Alamos townsite and the community of White Rock do not have independent city governments, but rather, as an incorporated county, the County government has jurisdiction over both.
“For the State Senate District Map Concepts, the Council does not support Map Concepts B or C. Concept B combines the Los Alamos townsite and the White Rock community, but would put us in a district with the northern part of the City of Santa Fe. We are concerned that sharing a district with a substantial part of the City of Santa Fe, another urban segment with very different employment statistics and economic development needs from our County, would significantly diminish the County’s representation in the Senate,” the letter to the Committee states. “Concept C would split the community of White Rock across two districts, with its town center in a separate district from the rest of the County. We are worried this would cause much of the community of White Rock to have little representation in the Senate. While Concept A maintains the existing division—with the Los Alamos townsite in one district and the community of White Rock in another—we view it as the best of three undesirable options. Ideally, the whole County would be combined into a district representing this community of interest, and in this sense, also remain in a district with Rio Arriba County.”
For the State House Map Concepts, the Council supports Map Concepts C and E.
“These proposed districts continue to have both the Los Alamos townsite and the community of White Rock in the same district. They are also more compact, and better encapsulate the community of interest surrounding Los Alamos National Laboratory,” the letter says. “In summary, for the State Senate, the Council of the Incorporated County of Los Alamos supports Map Concept A; and for the State House, we support Map Concepts C and E. Conversely, the Council opposes any proposal that would negatively impact the Los Alamos townsite, the community of White Rock, or the community of interest associated with the Laboratory.”
New Mexico State Senate – Map Concept A: This concept maintains the status quo, with Los Alamos and White Rock in separate districts. Courtesy image
New Mexico State Senate – Map Concept A. Blow up of the County. Courtesy image
New Mexico State Senate – Map Concept B. The proposed district combines Los Alamos and White Rock into a single district, but that district includes the Bishop’s Lodge and Santa Fe Plaza areas. Under this plan, the County’s voice would likely be drowned out by the district’s inclusion of the Roundhouse.
New Mexico State Senate – Map Concept C. In this concept, the town center of White Rock is split from Los Alamos and from the Pajarito Acres/La Senda area. This could further isolate White Rock. Courtesy image
New Mexico State Senate – Map Concept C. Blow up of the County, Courtesy image
New Mexico State Senate – Map Concept C. Blow up of White Rock. Not all streets are shown, but Piedra Loop is within the purple district, while the White Rock town center is in the blue district. Courtesy image
New Mexico State Legislature – Map Concept A. The proposed district extends much further north than in the preferred concepts. Courtesy Image
New Mexico State Legislature – Map Concept B: The proposed district extends even further to the north. Courtesy image
New Mexico State Legislature – Map Concept C The proposed district is more compact, and more closely matches the Laboratory community. The southeastern boundary roughly corresponds to NM-599. Courtesy image
New Mexico State Legislature – Map Concept D: The proposed district extends further south than in the preferred concepts. Courtesy image
New Mexico State Legislature – Map Concept E: The concept is again compact, and conforms better to the Laboratory community. This concept is nearly identical to Concept C. Courtesy image