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SF releases draft final map under redistricting, D11 Excelsior becomes the largest Asian district

Portia Li / 李秀蘭
Portia Li / 李秀蘭
April 29, 2022
The proposed final new district map was approved by the Redistricting Task Force. Courtesy SF Redistricting Task Force
The proposed final new district map was approved by the Redistricting Task Force. Courtesy SF Redistricting Task Force

(SAN FRANCISCO) The San Francisco Redistricting Task Force voted to pass a draft final map on April 28 to redraw the future 11 supervisorial district boundaries for the next 10 years. It is very surprised and disappointed to see that one of the most controversial arguments during the redistricting process has been on two minorities, Chinese and African American communities.

The focus of the arguments was more related to Portola and Visitacion Valley, which are both the newly emerging Chinese and Asian neighborhoods with a growing population to over 50%. It was debated if both neighborhoods should be put together into one supervisorial district or they should be separate as current in District 9 (D9-Mission) or District 10 (D10-Bayview) respectively.

The Asian population in both Portola and Visitacion Valley have grown rapidly in the last 20 years. 20 years ago when the City redrew the district boundaries in responding to the 2000 census, the City’s Redistricting Task Force divided Portola half and half into two districts, D9 and D10. 10 years ago during the 2010 redistricting process, the entire Portola was put into D9 until now.

Chinese American residents in both Portola and Visitacion Valley have actively spoken at the Redistricting Task Force public hearings in recent weeks to voice their concerns for lack of city resources and support to stay together into one supervisorial district, no matter if it is in D9, D10, or D11.

High percentage of the Asian residents in both Portola and Visitacion neighborhoods are new immigrants, seniors and working class families. They are mostly not politically active and primarily desire for having stable housing opportunities and safe neighborhoods.

Chinese American residents in Portola and Visitacion Valley protest in front of City Hall. Photo by Portia Li
Chinese American residents in Portola and Visitacion Valley protest in front of City Hall. Photo by Portia Li

But for the past 10 to 20 years, the residents in Portola, Visitacion Valley and Excelsior share the same challenges of facing more violence and anti-Asian hate incidents occurring in their neighborhoods. Their supervisors and the City have not adequately addressed all these issues well.

They spoke out to demand the consolidation of the neighborhoods into one district in order to have more access to the city resources in need. They have never been against the African American community to do the same to stay together for better access and resources of city services.

Potrero Hill was once drawn into D6 in the earlier draft map drawing hearings. The Asian community was wrongly attacked for trying to take over D10 as another "Chinatown" during the public hearings.

The draft final map that the Task Force voted to adopt on April 22 was putting the Potrero Hill back into D10 and Portola back to the current map at D9, while Visitacion Valley staying in D10, as status quo.

Members of the Chinese and Asian communities in both Portola and Visitacion Valley are very disappointed to see the City continuously overlooking their needs.

D11 which covers Excelsior and Oceanview neighborhoods becomes the largest Asian district in SF under the proposed final map. Courtesy SF Redistricting Task Force
D11 which covers Excelsior and Oceanview neighborhoods becomes the largest Asian district in SF under the proposed final map. Courtesy SF Redistricting Task Force

Hazel Lee, a community leader and resident of Portola for over 30 years, attended the Task Force public hearings and spoke to support two neighborhoods to be in a supervisorial district. "Over 10 years ago when my neighborhood was in D10, I was able to attend the public meetings with other communities. For the last 10 years, we belong to D9, we only attended the meetings to set goals for the Chinese community," said Lee.

The fate of Tenderloin, which is also one of the Asian neighborhoods in the City, was also debated in the process. Siu Cheung, a community leader in Tenderloin, has fought very hard to keep the Tenderloin in D6 instead of moving to D5. She failed at the proposed final map.

"More affordable housing buildings have been built into the South of Market (SOMA) area in recent years. More low income and senior residents have moved to SOMA in the past decade. The Asian residents in both the Tenderloin and SOMA need to stay together to have a bigger voice for their services," Cheung said. In the draft final map drawing, Tenderloin was moved into D5 joining Western Addition instead of staying in D6 with SOMA.

The Task Force has scheduled a few more meetings to finalize the draft map for approval before May 2 which is a deadline for the Department of Elections to prepare for the upcoming supervisorial elections in November.

Under the adopted proposed final map, the largest Asian supervisorial district will be D11(Excelsior/Oceanview) with 56.56% of the population. D4(Sunset), which has had the highest Asian voting population in the City for decades, will become the second largest district at 54.51% in the future new map. 10 years ago, D4 was the biggest Asian district with 57.75% of Asian residents who were eligible voters.