PhillyBurbs.com reports on the plight of constituents living in "the slivers" of PA's 8th Congressional district (a segment that exists thanks to an odd fit of re-districting following the 2000 census):
When officials carved out Pennsylvania's 19 federal congressional districts after the 2000 Census, they took slivers of Northeast Philadelphia and Montgomery County and tacked them onto Bucks. Those slivers account for less than 10 percent of the district's vote. (source)
The article points out that due to the relatively small number of 8th district constituents who live in these slivers, many feel they aren't paid proper attention by their Congressional representative or candidates for that office. The district's former Congressman seems to support that assertion:
But Jim Greenwood, the former Republican congressman who represented the 8th through 2004, acknowledged last week that it was difficult to connect to the Philadelphia and Montgomery residents.
“I would do things like go to the polls on Election Day there, I would communicate with the local elected officials,” Greenwood said. “But ... to be frank, those parts of the district can become an afterthought, both on the part of the congressman and of the people who live there.”
Apparently even many of the district's residents don't know who represents them in Congress. Any other 8th district dwellers out there, especially in the so-called slivers? What do you think? Are you feeling overlooked in the slivers?
Read the full article at PhillyBurbs.com
UPDATE: Some other 8th district thoughts from Above Average Jane.
I think ideally, you'd want
I think ideally, you'd want to see congressional districts as contiguous as possible, respecting local boundaries or densities (suburbs, rural, etc) as much as possible.
It's unfortunate that Bucks County doesn't have the population to have it's "wholly owned" district. So someone's always going to be in a sliver.
Gerrymanderers (both parties are guilty of this horsetrading) ought to have figured out which of the Montco or Phila neighborhoods are most like Bucks Co. That being said, it seems like a Fitzpatrick representative does come to Young Republican meetings... and the Congressman himself was at last summer's BBQ.
Far worse I think, is the 6th District, currently Jim Gerlach's. It's mostly Chester County and the southern half of Berks. But in Montco, it snakes down 422 or Ridge Pike from Pottstown and on into Lower Merion at the end. It even has a couple of precincts in Lehigh (yes, Lehigh) County. It's mixed in with Curt Weldon's 7th and Allyson Schwartz's 13th districts. Montco ought to be more 13th and Delaware County should be the 7th. (Obviously minding the borders).
Good points
and I wouldn't mind the supplemental areas added on if someone could make them look more coherent than a garden variety ink blot. But what I had forgotten (and you correctly pointed out) is that the 8th is actually one of the more coherent districts in this area. I'd love to see some in-depth reporting on how constituents in the other districts feel about their pieces of the congressional pie.
"Greenwood Gash"
Its funny that Greenwood now acknowledges the problem with the district. In 2002, when the districts were drawn, Joe Hoeffel referred to the Montgomery County "slash" as the "Greenwood Gash." He, rightfully, made the point that the "Greenwood Gash" was intentionally drawn to extract minority Democratic votes to make Hoeffel's 13th District less Democratic. In response, Greenwood called that "Hoeffel Hot-Air." Funny how people get truthful when they're not running for election anymore.