Thursday, June 13, 2013

Choices for the Final Four (ICRC Commissions, that is)



With four commission positions remaining to be filled, whom should the commissioners select?

The commissioners should choose an African American male from TCCC precinct 1. Since the greatest concentrations of African Americans are located in TCCC precinct 1 (see this map), choosing an African American from this geographic area would provide the greatest voice to the area with the highest concentration of African Americans in the city and the area that would most likely be included in a council district that would possess a plurality of African Americans. The choice should Nathaniel Bradford because of his connections to the community.

An Anglo male and an Anglo female should be chosen from TCCC precinct 2. One, if not both, should be chosen from those voter precincts slightly east and west of MOPAC that featured high voter turnout in the 2012 mayoral election (see this map). The male and female from those voting precincts who the ARP considered the most qualified are Heath Hignight and Linda Dickens, and they should be chosen.

For TCCC precinct 3, the choice should be an Anglo male or female. The choice should be the person who is both the most qualified and the most likely to represent southwest Austin well. The choice should be Lucy Gibbs because of her involvement with the community and length of residency in Austin.

If these are the choices, how representative of Austin’s population will the ICRC be? In geography, TCCC precinct 1, precinct 2, and precinct 3 will each have three commissioners. There will be five commissions from TCCC precinct 4. In race/ethnicity, there will be 6 Hispanics, 1 African American, 1 Asian American, 1 Native American, and 5 Anglos. In gender, there will be 8 females and 6 males. I would argue that the commission would be descriptively representative of the population of Austin in terms of these characteristics, which are those specified in the charter.

At the ICRC meeting later today, the four remaining commissioners may be chosen. We’ll see just how prescient I am.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Choosing the Six Remaining ICRC Commissioners (Continued)




At the June 7 meeting of the ICRC, the commissioners tentatively selected the student for the commission and an Asian American for the commission. The student is Ryan Rafols, and the Asian American is Catherine Cocco. The commissioners will select the remaining four commission members on Thursday, June 13th, if there is a consensus among the commission members. If there is no consensus, the commission members considered asking several applicants to make presentations to the commission to assist in the selection process.

In establishing the criteria for selecting the remaining commission members, the eight commission members made geography the first priority, followed by ethnicity, then gender, and finally age. Since Rafols and Cocco reside in TCCC precinct three, the remaining commissioners will come from TCCC precinct one (1 commissioner), precinct 2 (2 commissioners), and precinct 3 (1 commissioner). The consensus was that the TCCC precinct 3 commissioner should reside in southwest Austin since the other two TCCC precinct 3 choices reside either in central Austin (Ryan Rafols) or in northwest Austin (Catherine Cocco).

Given the selection of Rafols and Cocco, what criteria should guide the remaining choices?

TCCC Precinct
Race/Ethnicity
Gender
1: One member
Anglo: 3 members
Female: 1 member
2: Two members
African American: 1 member
Male: 3 members
3: One member
Asian American: 0 members

4: No members
Hispanic: 0 members



The commission members consider all members of the pool qualified to serve on the commission and seem neither to be considering how the ARP members rated the applicants nor to have developed a uniform scoring system for ranking the applicants. Each member seems to be employing whatever criteria he or she deems appropriate to select the remaining commission members.

So here are the remaining qualified candidates (with TCCC precinct 4 and Hispanic applicants removed), sorted by TCCC Precinct, then race, then gender:

Precinct 1:
Name
Rating
Race/Ethnicity
Gender
Zip Code
Harcrow, Kami Rene
9
Anglo
Female
78752
Tyler, Jessica Leigh
9
Anglo
Female
78752
Mahoney, Tim Raymond
9
Anglo
Male
78723
Martin, Nicholas Louis
9
Anglo
Male
78754
Ali, Thressa Lee
9
African American
Female
78702
Lee, Nicole Michelle
5
African American
Female
78752
Bradford, Nathaniel
9
African American
Male
78723
VanDyke, Thomas Clifton Sr.
9
African American
Male
78702
Johnson, Henry W.
5
African American
Male
78723

Precinct 2:
Name
Rating
Race/Ethnicity
Gender
Zip Code
Brisbin, Shelly D.
9
Anglo
Female
78705
Dickens, Linda
9
Anglo
Female
78703
Risovi, Janet Lea
9
Anglo
Female
78751
Everton, Araminta L.
8
Anglo
Female
78731
Frey, Peg Frederick (Seaufy)
8
Anglo
Female
78757
Harrow, Harriett
8
Anglo
Female
78759
Art, David T.
9
Anglo
Male
78703
Hignight, Heath Kerr
9
Anglo
Male
78756
Christianson, James (Jim)
8
Anglo
Male
78703
Costello, T.J.
8
Anglo
Male
78727
Newman, Holly S.
8
African American
Female
78731

Precinct 3:
Name
Rating
Race/Ethnicity
Gender
Zip Code
Gibbs, Lucy Leaton
9
Anglo
Female
78736
Gray, Melissa Rebecca
9
Anglo
Female
78759
Kurth, Lynn LaRue
9
Anglo
Female
78735
Johnson, Helen Benner
8
Anglo
Female
78749
Haag, Stefan David
9
Anglo
Male
78749
Zigrossi, Sam Joe
9
Anglo
Male
78750
Haley, Benjamin Paschal
8
Anglo
Male
78726
Stansberry, Paul K.
8
Anglo
Male
78739
Lawson, Janet Denise
9
African American
Female
78739
Rhedin, Judith A.
8
African American
Female
78759
Noches, Ramon Crespin
9
African American
Male
78739