There would be major changes to the makeup of District 2 under one of two plans being considered by the Framingham City Council. Both plans are on the Council agenda tomorrow, Tuesday, December 7.
Under so-called Proposal B, most of Pinefield would be moved to District 1 and a number of residents on and around Potter Road would be shifted from District 1 to District 2. Update: City Council votes to keep District 2 mostly intact.
Proposal A, meanwhile, makes only modest changes to the boundary lines.
Disclaimer: Proposal B would also mean the end of district2framingham.com and the District 2 email list, since I would be among those shifting into District 1 (and I do not plan to create a new site for a new district in that case).
You can see the official Proposal A here and Proposal B here.
Below you can see interactive maps I created based on proposed new city precinct boundaries first outlined this summer, although if there have been changes since then, I don’t have them.
Click the map legend at the top right to switch between Proposal A, Proposal B, and current districts. You can see Proposal A is closer to current boundaries. Mouse over an area to see its district, precinct, and councilor. (Ignore that narrow sliver of blue between larger purple areas around Potter Road on the Proposal B layer. That surrounds the Weston Aqueduct and I had inexact boundaries there, but that small narrow area doesn’t involve any buildings. It is a thick red line on the official PDF and unclear which side of the boundary that is.)
Use the search icon to the left of the map towards the top if you want to search for a specific address. Type in part of the address and then wait for choices to appear; you need to select from the available choices because typing in a full free-form address won’t work. (post continues below map)
It looks like District 5’s boundary lines would also see more changes under Proposal B than Proposal A (dark green on the map below). District 8 sees significant changes in both plans.
I don’t know the reasoning behind Proposal B, but my first impression is that it seems less than ideal to disrupt more residents than necessary unless absolutely essential – especially considering all the changes the community has gone through recently since becoming a city. Proposal B seems to only make sense if needed for demographic or racial balance reasons. However, while I’ve yet to dive into Census data for those areas, it’s unclear they’re strikingly different from each other demographic-wise.
Instead of the current 18 precincts, Framingham will have 27 precincts starting next year – so almost everyone will have a new precinct number, even if they stay in the same district and have the same voting location. Instead of two precincts per City Council and School Committee district, there will be three precincts per district.
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