Mayor Wants to Stay 'Whole' in Redistricting Process

Mayor Dave Eggers said he is voicing Dunedin’s desire to stay “whole” as officials begin redrawing the voting districts.

Florida’s population has increased by nearly 3 million since 2000, according to 2010 U.S. Census data. Florida will gain two congressional seats in the 2012 elections, which is why congressional, state Senate and state House districts will have to be redrawn. This process ensures that all voting districts have equal (or nearly equal) populations when elections roll around.

For now, Dunedin's state representation is split between two districts for both the House (Districts 45 and 50) and Senate (Districts 11 and 13). Dunedin is represented by one U.S. House member (District 10). Florida has two U.S. senators, each of whom represents the entire state.

"I'll just take the message that we — the commission — would encourage that Dunedin be kept whole, that one representative would be representing Dunedin instead of being split in two," Eggers said at the end of the Aug. 18 commission meeting.

A reapportionment committee is holding two public input meetings for the redistricting process. 

The nearest upcoming meetings are:

• Thursday at Tarpon Springs City Commission Auditorium, 324 E. Pine St., Tarpon Springs; 4 to 7:30 p.m.
• Aug. 30 at St. Petersburg College EpiCenter, 13805 58th St. N, Largo; 8 to 11 a.m.

More on Dunedin's representation:

U.S. House:

• District 10 (Rep. C.W. Bill Young)

U.S. Senate:

• Sen. Bill Nelson 
• Sen. Marco Rubio 

State House:

• District 45 for the north (Rep. Richard Corcoran). It includes most of Dunedin.

• District 50 to the south (Rep. Ed Hooper), which includes mostly Clearwater and just a small pocket of Dunedin.

State Senate:

• District 11 to the north (Sen. Mike Fasano), which includes Tarpon Springs and New Port Richey.

• District 13 to the south (Sen. Dennis Jones), which includes Clearwater.

Helpful links:

• Florida State Senate Redistricting
• Florida Redistricting
  
• U.S. Census Fact Finder