Patten map ‘orphaned’ thousands of SLO County residents. Get rid of it | Opinion

Los Osos resident Linde Owen is one of the thousands of San Luis Obispo County residents who have been newly “orphaned” by redistricting.

Simply put, they no longer have a county supervisor to call their own, and they won’t until after the 2024 election, when they’ll have the chance to vote in supervisors in their redrawn districts.

It’s a weird situation that has left these orphans, as they call themselves, wondering who to contact if they need something in the meantime — whether it’s to report a pothole, offer a suggestion, or find out more about a county policy.

“It’s been brought forward that you’re all our supervisors,” Owen said at last week’s Board of Supervisors session. “But I want to know who’s going to be able to attend our meetings.”

She was referring to meetings of the Los Osos Community Advisory Council, which have been regularly attended by Supervisor Bruce Gibson.

Gibson’s district used to include the entire North Coast, but under the new map, Los Osos is no longer in District 2. It’s now in District 5, which is represented by Supervisor Debbie Arnold.

Hence, the confusion: Does Los Osos still come under Gibson’s wing? Or is Arnold now in charge? Or is it the first supervisor to answer the phone or respond to an email?

Los Osos isn’t the only community in limbo. Morro Bay and Oceano are in the same unsettled situation.

Supervisors are likely to agree to “adopt” certain areas outside of their districts to ensure every community is covered, but for now, nothing is set. District maps on the county’s website list the orphaned areas as “TBD” — to be determined.

At the last board meeting, Supervisor Arnold acknowledged the situation is “difficult for everyone to wrap their heads around.”

That’s an understatement.

Consider this: While some areas have no supervisor, others have two.

Take Atascadero. The new map puts the city in Gibson’s district. But under the old map, Arnold still represents Atascadero — and will continue to do so for the next two years.

“I will continue to represent the district I was elected in,” she said, “which is the old District 5, and my representation then is not affected until my District 5 comes up for reelection, which will be starting soon as far as the campaigning for those positions.”

The result? Atascadero residents will have plenty of attention over the next couple of years. In addition to two county supervisors, they have an entire City Council representing them.

Unincorporated communities like Los Osos and Oceano, on the other hand, have neither a city council nor a supervisor.

How’s that for equity?

The blame for this mess can be directly attributed to the infamous Patten map adopted by the former conservative majority that was ousted from power very much due to that particular decision, among others.

The disruptive map radically redrew boundary lines to give Republicans the edge in three of the five districts, even though Democrats outnumber Republicans countywide.

The gerrymandered map failed to keep conservatives in power while succeeding all too well in robbing thousands of residents of proper representation.

While some stop-gap plan to “farm out” constituents to various supervisors will no doubt emerge, that’s not the same as having a dedicated supervisor who lives in your district

The county is divided into districts for a reason: So that every resident has someone from their area speaking on their behalf — someone who travels the roads they travel; roots for their football teams; shops at their grocery stores; rides in their parades; knocks on their doors at election time; and yes, regularly shows up for their community meetings.

Denying thousands of county residents the opportunity to be represented by their own supervisor for half a supervisor’s term — all for the sake of a political power grab — is a disgrace that’s further evidence of the need to reject the Patten map once and for all.

Fortunately, the newly seated board has the opportunity to do exactly that by agreeing to settle a redistricting lawsuit filed against the county and undoing the selfish fraud foisted upon our citizens by Arnold, John Peschong and Lynn Compton.

A settlement would open the door to reinstating the old map or adopting a revised version of it.

That won’t solve the problem of unequal representation overnight; it could still take years to sort this out. But over the long term, getting rid of a gerrymandered map adopted for purely political purposes is the right thing to do.

We urge the Board of Supervisors to seize the opportunity to set things right.