It's all about location as Sunnyside looks to have voting districts

SUNNYSIDE - It hadn't dawned on Francisco Guerrero to run for public office.

It never would have, either, if Sunnyside hadn't begun talking about voting rights, districts and representation. The very discussion of encouraging Latino candidates encouraged Guerrero.

"It brought it to the forefront," says the 33-year-old Hapo Credit Union branch manager. "That's the main reason why I started getting interested in getting involved with the community."

Guerrero may run for Sunnyside City Council in November, when the city for the first time uses voting districts to elect members.

The city drafted its four districts after the U.S. Justice Department notified Sunnyside that its at-large system violated the federal Voting Rights Act. The change was prompted by a 2006 Whitman College student's report that found at-large elections and racially polarizing voting patterns in Sunnyside had led to an underrepresentation of Latinos in elected office.

Surrounded by a patchwork of vineyards, orchards and dairies, the community of nearly 15,000 residents is about 73 percent Latino. But of seven elected City Council members, no more than one or two members at a time have been Latino.

The idea behind district elections is to encourage a wider diversity of candidates and make government more representative of the population.

"I think (the district system) is going to help motivate other people who would have never considered running for a position like that," says Bengie Aguilar, a former councilwoman and Latino rights advocate.

Guerrero lives near the intersection of South First Street and Nicolai Avenue, which falls in proposed District No. 4, an area just south of downtown that currently has no representation on the Sunnyside City Council. The district has a mix of apartments, mobile homes and modest houses and includes some of the city's poorest neighborhoods.

Conversely, four of Sunnyside's current council members -- including Mayor Paul Garcia -- live on Harrison Hill, which falls in District No. 2, west of downtown. The neighborhood is 70 percent white and is regarded as the wealthy part of town.

District 2 has at least twice the number of registered voters as other districts. That's why city staff plans to include voter registration drives in educational meetings about the district boundaries.

"Hispanics will become involved when they want to become involved," says Ivan White, a certified public accountant who has been involved with Sunnyside business issues.

While serving as president of a Sunnyside economic development nonprofit in the 1980s and the 1990s, he reached out to Latino business owners but struck out, he says. White says they weren't interested for a variety of reasons.

Today, Latinos are very involved with the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce; they hold some of the organization's top executive positions. (One of them is Guerrero.)

White points to the recent election of President Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, as an example of how a non-white candidate can win solely on leadership abilities.

"He ran as an individual with new ideas," White says. "We didn't redistrict the South. Why are we doing it in Sunnyside?"

Districts won't help, he argues, no matter what the 2006 Whitman College report says.

The author of the Whitman report, Ian Warner, partially agrees. He figured all along the community discussion would do more good than a map.

"More important than the redistricting is just the conversation that started," says Warner, now a University of Washington law student. Whitman students have followed up on Warner's research, pointing out discrepancies between demographics and representation in the Toppenish and Wapato school districts.

Guerrero is undecided about a November run for the Sunnyside City Council; he has been a member of the planning commission for only six months and wants more experience.

"I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I get there," he says.

Guerrero was born in Mexico but spent most of his childhood in Sunnyside and Outlook. His parents were aware of local decisions but never got involved.

"The biggest worry was putting food on the table, keeping a steady job, getting us to school on time," he says.

He, his parents and one of his brothers lived in the country illegally for much of his childhood. They worked in fields all over Eastern Washington. The kids helped when they could, often cutting asparagus before school.

Guerrero attended Yakima Valley Community College and then Heritage University, earning a business administration degree. He became a legal resident in 2001 when he got married and a U.S. citizen roughly a year after that.

He and his wife, Marie, have two daughters, ages 10 and 1.

His parents and brother now are legal residents and are applying for U.S. citizenship.

The Guerreros have always subscribed to two newspapers and kept abreast of community change but were no more politically ambitious than his parents.

"It didn't even cross my mind," he says. His friends and family members, some of whom speak only Spanish, are the same.

But news accounts of Warner's research piqued his curiosity. He began attending City Council meetings, listening quietly from the back. The mayor noticed Guerrero's consistency and one day introduced himself. Later, a friend at Spanish-language Radio KDNA asked Guerrero for help arranging an on-air interview with the mayor.

About six months ago, Garcia convinced Guerrero to apply for the planning commission, an often unheralded body of appointees that makes land use and zoning decisions.

Over time, Latinos have become more politically involved, prompting some to say district elections won't change much.

Three of Sunnyside's seven planning commissioners have Spanish surnames, as do three of the city's six parks and recreation commissioners.

Garcia, a quality supervisor at a nuclear fuel manufacturing company in Richland, grew up in Sunnyside and became the city's first Latino mayor. He is currently the only Latino member of the City Council.

None of the city's department directors or administrators is Latino, though two have Spanish surnames from marriage.

"I'm as Norwegian as they come," said Deborah Estrada, the city clerk.

City Council members including Garcia, weren't eager to divide the city into voting districts, and they questioned the Whitman College report's recommendation to do so. But they also felt pressure from the Justice Department investigation to make a change.

The new election system, which takes effect with the 2009 local election, will keep three of the seven council positions at-large while the other four are split among the four districts. The district plan and boundaries must still be formally adopted.

Some in Sunnyside are still skeptical, but are making the best of it.

"I'm not convinced it will help, but I hope it will," says Theresa Hancock, who lives within District 1, which runs along the north side of the city and includes poor neighborhoods. The owner of a liquor store and gift shop, she's up for re-election in November.

"Maybe it would cause me to be more familiar with the problems in my district," she says.

Sunnyside remains largely segregated geographically. In District No. 4, almost half of the registered voters have Spanish surnames, according to Yakima County statistics. In District 2, it's less than 30 percent.

The four districts follow Yakima County voting precinct boundaries and population. They do not -- and cannot, by law -- reflect ethnic demographics.

Guerrero has come to enjoy his work on the planning commission. It requires a painstaking amount of reading, but he relishes his role of weighing the rights of individuals with the needs of the community.

For example, commissioners are deliberating on a 20-year growth plan for the municipal airport that may rule out a proposed upscale housing development north of the runway: "I'm still undecided on that point," Guerrero says.

His story somewhat mirrors Garcia's rise in city politics.

Garcia, born in the United States to a Mexican immigrant father and a mother from Texas, got involved with local issues about eight years ago when he and some neighbors spoke in opposition to a high-density housing development near his rural home on Saul Road.

Ed Prilucik, then the mayor, invited him to apply for openings on the planning commission, then the City Council. Garcia has been re-elected twice and fellow council members appointed him as mayor last year.

He's pleased Guerrero is taking an interest, but doesn't know if the district will encourage similar stories: "We can create the districts, but that's not going to necessarily make people volunteer," Garcia says.

City Councilwoman Carol Stone says all candidates, regardless of where their home is, should do their best to represent the entire city, not just their neighborhood.

Stone is up for re-election in November and will most likely fall within District No. 3, which represents part of downtown.

The success of the new system hinges on the involvement of people like Guerrero, she says.

"Now it's up to the people in those areas to step up to the plate."

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.

• Jobs
  www.yakjobs.com
• Homes
  www.yakhomes.com
• 
• 
  
• Autos
  www.yakwheels.com

• All Special Pubs Yakima Magazine Channels YakJobs.com YakWheels.com YakHomes.com Playdate Yakima Bride Yakima Wheels (Print) Home Buyer's Guide Baby Brag Book Graduates 2009 Summer in the Valley Prep Football 2009 Women in Business Holiday Gift Guide
• Advertisement