The Shaw v. Reno case was about where Shaw and other members of the state of North Carolina said that the redistricting scheme was irregular and they they were segregating different races for individuals to vote without actually redistricting due to population. They redistricted the districts to segregate certain races for the purpose of voting. The US’s attorney general suggested a plan and passed a new legislation from section five dealing with the voting rights act making another black district because that was the majority in the state. But the individuals from the state had revised this plan and claimed it to be unconstitutional and said it was gerrymandering. Under the 14th amendment, racial gerrymandering is considered unconstitutional but it mentions how for this case that the racial discrimination is viewed as benign because it was only done this way to increase the number of black voters. s.
Blog 3
The Potrero Nuevo farm donates its land to the citizens who will come to harvest seeds, and help feed organic foods to the homeless and low income individuals. Usually, when individuals want to get involved they are trained for about ten minutes and this training session is offered throughout all the seasons. Even children are allowed to come and help out as along as they have their parents with them and the farm provides them with tools that are kid safe, however, pets aren’t allowed on this farm. They also have an area for individuals to bike and this place is open twenty-four-seven and self serve. There are local maps, porta potties, notes for cyclists and small picnic areas. There is at least about a 10 mile bike ride pathway called the Tunitas Creek climb for the bikers before they reach Skyline to start a new pathway. This farm provides the community by restocking freshwater, variety of snacks, coffee and organic teas. This bike idea is called the Bike Hut where many locals from the community get involved in. This Farm is not only help serving the citizens but the citizens help maintain it to help the ones in need as well.
State and Local Relations
There is tension between state government and local government because the state government don’t necessarily treat the local governments very well. The state holds all the legal power and their relationship is more os a unitary system. Local governments are only allowed to exercise powers that are explicitly given to them by the state. Anytime regarding the legality of a local government power it deals with in favor of the state government. One way that the tension is healthy for our political system overall is that the greater centralization we have can result from state efforts to reduce service disparities between the wealthy and poor jurisdictions, and it lessens the dependence of local governments of tax property.
Blog 1
I picked my Community Partner depending on how close the location of where I would be volunteering would be to school and then I decided to pick to potentially work with Acterra only because I found it more interesting to be involved with a hands on approach with the environment. I feel like the local governments in general don’t give too much attention to the environment as it needs to be compared to things like healthcare or social services. Although the environment needs would have basic regulations that are met, the state does not fully take proactive response in it to the extent of giving it high importance. I feel like the Community Partner may be more responsible with cities in the state just because it would take communities to come together to work on projects like this. If the state does not even take this issue seriously, I don’t believe that this would be affected by the federal policies.
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