News from Patrick Flynn

One of my neighbors recently e-mailed me with an update on efforts to establish a new dog park on this side of town.  I always appreciate folks keeping me in the loop on these sorts of things as it better enables me to spread the word and keep others informed.  Then, at the end of the e-mail, came this question:

P.S. Why does Downtown only have one assembly seat?

Excellent topic for a blog post, right?  First, let’s see what the Anchorage Charter has to say:

Section 4.01.  Power, composition and apportionment.

The legislative power of Anchorage is vested in an assembly of 11 members. Election districts, if established, shall be formed of compact and contiguous territory containing as nearly as practicable a relatively integrated socioeconomic area. The assembly shall be reapportioned whenever it becomes malapportioned. The assembly shall determine and declare by resolution whether or not it is malapportioned within two months from:

(1)   Adoption of a final state redistricting plan under art. VI, sec. 10, Constitution of the State of Alaska;

If the assembly determines that it is malapportioned, it shall, within six months of the determination, reapportion itself in the manner provided by law.

Section 4.02.  Term, membership and qualifications.

(a)   If all assemblymen are elected from single member districts, the term of an assemblyman is two years. If some or all assemblymen are elected from multi-member districts, the term of an assemblyman is three years.

(b)   A candidate for the office of assemblyman:

(1)   Shall be a qualified voter of Anchorage; and

(2)   Shall be a resident of the district from which he/she seeks election for at least one year immediately preceding the election.

(c)   An assemblyman shall remain a resident of Anchorage and of the district from which elected while in office.

(d)   The assembly shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its members. A qualified voter may appeal to superior court for review of a decision of the assembly under this section.

(e)   A person who has served on the assembly for three consecutive terms may not be reelected to the assembly until one full term has intervened.

The most important thing to glean from the above is that the charter is flexible as to whether Assembly members are elected by the community at-large (like School Board members), multi-member districts (like all of Anchorage except Downtown, Fairview, Government Hill, Mountain View & South Addition – Section 1) or single-member districts.  During the last apportionment debate early this decade I recall one friend suggesting 10 single-member districts and a city-wide elected chair, but that’d require a charter amendment as it currently provides that:

The assembly shall elect annually from its membership a presiding officer known as “chairman.” The chairman serves at the pleasure of the assembly.

But I digress, so back to history (based on my memory and reading, so I’ll apologize in advance for any errata).  When the Municipality of Anchorage was apportioned following the unification of the city and borough in the mid-1970’s Assembly seats were lettered A through K, then modified by the section (district) numbers 1 through 6.  Five two-member districts were drawn with a single-member district for the Chugiak-Eagle River so the seats were assigned as follows:

• Section 1, seat A – Downtown
• Section 1, seat B – Downtown
• Section 2, seat C – Chugiak/Eagle River
• Section 3, seat D – West Anchorage
• Section 3, Seat E – West Anchorage
• Section 4, Seat F – Midtown
• Section 4, Seat G – Midtown
• Section 5, Seat H – East Anchorage
• Section 5, Seat I – East Anchorage
• Section 6, Seat J – South Anchorage
• Section 6, Seat K – South Anchorage

In the mid-80’s the apportionment that became effective for the 1985 election added the military bases and a portion of Northeast Anchorage to Section 2, thereby growing it into a two-member district and rendering Section 1 a single-member district.  That led to seat A, originally held by Tony Knowles and, at that time, held by Jane Angvik, migrating to Section 2 and being filled by Fred Dyson.  That’s why, today, Debbie Ossiander occupies seat A, I’m in seat B and Bill Starr is in seat C.  (See, even the most convoluted situations occur for a reason.)

Here’s where historical memory diverges: my understanding is that the single-member district was supposed to rotate throughout the municipality each 10 years thereby maintaining equal representation.  I once discussed this with Rick Mystrom, who was on the Assembly during that mid-80’s apportionment, and his recollection was that the greater Downtown area was considered so unique it was better served by a single-member district, thereby allowing its representative to better focus on district concerns.  Whatever the intent of the Assembly 25 years ago, the mid-1990’s apportionment tweaked but did not fundamentally change Assembly Sections and the next apportionment can proceed in whatever direction that Assembly chooses.

From my perspective, representing a single-member district has both pluses and minuses.  On the positive side, I rarely disagree with myself so I generally don’t have to argue with another Assembly member about the best approach to neighborhood issues.  On the negative side, I don’t get to divvy up the workload with another colleague.  And, as a neighbor has pointed out several times, if one of my constituents doesn’t agree with or like me there’s no other municipal representative to whom he or she can appeal (I presume this is an entirely hypothetical concern!).

As readers likely know, the 2010 census is getting underway and the population data it generates will inform first the apportionment of state legislative districts and then Anchorage municipal Assembly Sections.  At that time our community can look at how Sections need to morph in order to remain appropriately apportioned and discuss whether the single-member district should migrate to another part of the Municipality, though that change wouldn’t take effect until the 2013 election at the earliest.

Regards,

Patrick