For East Greenwich residents,theneighborhoods known as "TheHill" and "The Harbor" go together.
The big carved wooden sign entering downtown says "Hill & Harbor District 1677." The town website says a walk through the Hill and Harbor District will "allow you to travel back in time to the early days of the Revolution."
On anight outyou can visit the Hill & Harbor Cigar Lounge.
So many residents arehorrified by Rhode Island's latest proposed political map, which would divide the harbor and the hill into separateHouse districts with a border runningdown Main Street.
"It's not just that thehill is part of the harbor... Hill andHarboris the heartof East Greenwich," Carla Swanson, a resident of the hill,told members of the Assembly committee overseeing the state's once-every-decade redistricting process. "To give Hill and Harborto Warwick would be gutting us."
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On Monday night the East Greenwich Town Council voted unanimously for a resolution calling for thenew General Assembly maps to put the town into a single district.
Moving the harbor intoa district withthe Warwick neighborhoods of Cowesett and Potowomut could make its residents"underrepresented in a Distinct that does not share a common interest," the resolution said.The harbor neighborhood's residents "are best served by a House Representative who represents the Town of East Greenwich, as the harbor neighborhood is beyond question intertwined with the Town of East Greenwich."
Democratic Rep. Justine Caldwell has represented East Greenwich, including the harbor neighborhood, since 2019.
She joined residents on Monday night asking state map makers to keep the harbor in her district.
"Havinga small piece ofEast Greenwichtacked on to Warwickmeansthat is not goingtobethe priority for thatdistrict," Caldwell said Tuesday. "You have betterrepresentationwhen you are keeping like-minded communities together."
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Caldwell's House District 30 already represents part of West Greenwich, but she echoed residents testifying Monday who said the towns have little in common besides the second word in their name.
One of the first draft House maps released at the start of this month keptall of East Greenwich in one district, but that map was considered a nonstarter with many lawmakers.
Like other states, Rhode Island redraws its political boundaries every 10 years to even out the populationof districts.
Caldwell thought East Greenwich was probably safe from major district changes because its population of 14,300 in the 2020 census was pretty close to the target of having 14,600 per House district.
But over the past decade, East Greenwich added more than 1,000 residents while several districts in Warwick saw minimal population growth or shrank. That meant those Warwick districts would have to increase in area to even out the populations.
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Narragansett Bay geography complicates mapmakers' job withPotowomutpart of Warwick despite being cutoff from the rest of the city by Greenwich Bay.
State redistricting consultant Kimball Brace Tuesday said drawing the district lines in East Greenwich and Warwick was an "interesting call."
"The primary factorwas the Warwickpopulationand connecting various pieces," Brace said about why the latest map connects the Harbor neighborhood with Potowomut instead of the rest of East Greenwich.
Not everyone agrees that towns are better off having onerepresentative instead of two.
After all, more lawmakers representing a communitytheoretically mean more votes at the State Housein favor of local causes.
"As a resident, I would prefer to have two people in the House or the Senate," said Republican Rep. Brian Newberry, who represents all of North Smithfield and part of Burrillville.
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Even if one lawmaker takes the lead on bills important to one particular community, the second can act as "backup," he said.
That backup can come into play if a representative with the majority of the town gets in trouble or has a falling out with Assembly leadership.
There are, of course, electoral implications of the new map.
The harbor neighborhood is one of the most liberal parts of town and losing it makes Caldwell's district, which had been a GOP stronghold until recent years, more conservative.
According to an analysis by Providence College Professor Adam Myers, Democratic President Joe Biden would have taken 60% of the 2020 vote in the newly proposedDistrict 30, down from 61.8% in the existing district.
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Caldwell said she isn't concerned about how the new boundaries could affect her re-election and is opposing the change because her constituents are against it.
Rep. Evan Shanley, D-Warwick, who would represent the harbor under the proposed map, said he had "mixed feelings" about it.
"Itis abeautifulareaand Iwouldlove torepresent it,but I cansee whypeoplewould feel it is moreappropriateto haveitin East Greenwichwith one unified district," Shanley said. "If itwasup to me Iwouldkeep what I already have inWarwick, but it is not up to me becauseeveryoneis moving."
panderson@providencejournal.com
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