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I'm Calla Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. We're talking about redistricting today. Every ten years lawmakers redraw the state's districts. In theory it should benefit the people. In practice it's usually our politicians who reap the rewards. In Massachusetts it conjures up some tainted associations like Thomas Finneran. The former speaker of the house was tried for trying to weaken minority voting power. But this time around a statewide collaboration work to make sure minorities got a fair shake. Well look at what these redistricting maps mean for civil rights and our electoral process. From there it's local made good after 30 years Kim Nelson has cleared the final yards of a hiking trail spanning over 160 miles. Up next doing the maps from redistricting to hiking. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying Republican

presidential candidate Herman Cain may have trouble moving on from the sexual harassment controversy that consumed his week last week as NPR's Tamara Keith reports. Another woman is expected to come forward today to detail alleged sexual harassment in the 1990s. When asked about the harassment allegations over the weekend Cain said to a reporter Don't even go there. He said quote We are getting back on message end of story. Back on message. That may be tough today. High profile attorney Gloria Allred says her client will become the first woman to publicly accuse Cain of sexual harassment. All read says the woman will give her name and speak out about details of the alleged harassment that she says happened when Cain was the head of the National Restaurant Association. Cain's campaign predicted last week that we could see what it called other baseless allegations made against him. Tamara Keith NPR News Washington. Two former Penn State officials are due to be arraigned soon in a child sex abuse case athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president Gary Schultz have stepped down to

defend themselves against allegations that they lied and failed to report abuse allegedly committed by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky was arrested Saturday on charges he targeted boys he met through a charity he founded for at risk youths. NPR's Joel Rose is in State College Pennsylvania reallocations presented by the grand jury over the weekend are that Jerry Sandusky had to engage in this kind of behavior for years going back decades. You're tired from the football program at Penn State in 1999 but the allegation is that this had been going on well before that. NPR's Joel Rose. U.S. stocks are sliding in midday trading as traders watch uncertainty persist over Europe's debt burden. Global markets reacted positive to but positively that is earlier following reports that Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was about to resign only to drop again when the controversial government leader insisted he's staying in. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports Berlusconi is under huge pressure from rebels in his party to step down so a new government can pass economic

reforms. The focus of the Eurozone crisis has shifted to Italy whose 2.6 trillion dollar mountain of debt dwarfs that of Greece. There's growing fear that a potential default of Europe's third largest economy could trigger the breakup of the eurozone. And seriously impact the global economy. Italian bonds were boosted by a Berlusconi loyalist statement that the Premier had decided to step down. But the trend reversed when Berlusconi denied the report. In recent days more than 20 mph are said to have abandoned bagels Kone. He branded them traitors and wants to see them face to face as they vote against him tomorrow in parliament. Today Berlusconi was meeting with his children amid speculation that he's worried about the future of his media empire should he have to resign as prime minister. This is NPR News. Ahead a Veterans Day Friday President Obama is pledging to out of work veterans that he will keep pressing Congress to pass his massive jobs bill.

I'm going to do everything in my power. As the head of the executive branch to act on behalf of the American people. With or without Congress. The president says he expects lawmakers from both parties to approve a package of tax credits for businesses that hire military veterans. An asteroid larger than an aircraft carrier will pass between the Earth and the moon. NPR's Jim Hawke reports astronomers from around the world will be watching the event tomorrow night. Thousands of amateur and professional astronomers are making plans to observe the close approach of an asteroid known only as 2005. Why you 55 Nassa will use the giant antennas of its deep space network to make radar observations of the huge rock. Even amateur astronomers may be able to get a peek if they have a six inch or bigger telescope and know exactly where to look. The quarter mile wide object will speed between the Earth and Moon at over 30000 miles per hour. But there's no chance of a collision. The close encounter will occur at 6:28 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday when the asteroid passes within two hundred two thousand miles of earth. Jim Hawke

NPR News. China is denying claims in a U.S. commission's report that it may have played a role in hacking environment monitoring satellites. It accuse a commission of having ulterior motives in the report U.S. officials say the Chinese military is the prime suspect. In 2007 2008 security breaches of at least two U.S. environment monitoring satellites. The Dow was down 87 points. I'm Lakshmi Singh NPR News. Support for NPR comes from CSX transporting two billion pounds of goods to market by train and working to help move the economy forward. CSX how tomorrow moves. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Crossley This is the Calla Crossley Show breaking right now the State House is expected to announce this afternoon the newly drawn congressional maps which will determine a new congressional districts in Massachusetts minus one because the state lost AC. Given the reduction in

population in some areas but today we're going to be talking about the redistricting the redistricting map that was approved and signed off on by Governor Patrick last week for the state districts. And this came after a year or more of 13 public hearings testimony from 400 groups and it brought a kind of transparency to the public process that many said was sorely missing from the past redistricting efforts. So what are those new maps include what does it all mean. Joining me to talk about what the new maps for the House and Senate mean for civil rights and the electoral process are Kevin Peterson and Alan Hahn dressing room. Kevin Pietersen is the founder and director of the New Democracy coalition at Boston University and a member of the mass black empowerment coalition. Young is the executive director of the East Day a statewide Latino organization focusing on civic engagement. Welcome back. Thank you both for joining us today. And I thank you. Thank you for having us. So the big takeaway as I understand it from

the state redistricting maps is that there is a majority minority district in Hamden County. Can you break down. Camden County what's included because most of us don't deal in the numbers that you all do the seven of the six district or whatever the districts are. We just know the cities and the towns. Oh so that's that area is most of Springfield and a little bit of chicken. So you have a very strong minority majority and you have a strong Latino presence there in that in that area and so having a majority minority majority Senate it was important for us to really increase those senate districts with minority majority minority given that we only currently have one senator of color in the state house and it always has been you know. And that person is Sonia Chang-Diaz. And then there's you know and then there's usually just one or two you know bounce a bouncing around from different districts but so you know it's really important for us to have more district that a minority majority

understanding that doesn't guarantee that they're you know in 20 30 or in 2012 next year that there's going to be a person of color elected but the chances and the opportunity for a person of color to be elected in those areas has has greatly increased. So Kevin I wonder if you could just explain to people why it was important and it's important we've only there's only one person of color in the Senate. So some people may be listening and saying well they didn't run they didn't win so what. Why is it important that there be majority minority districts are there some recognition of this population. Well it's important and thanks again for covering this issue over over the months. It's important because minorities have special needs in claims and interest and ideals just in terms of how they live their lives and how this translated into into public policy. And do they have to have the numbers the numbers too. And they and they have the numbers I mean one of the things that we that have been guiding this process for the for the advocates is that while the state makes

up 20 percent of the diversity I mean it's our minorities make up 20 percent of the versity of the state. They are only representing that the 5 percent level at this point on Beacon Hill so there were there was a major inequity in terms of representation. And certain minority groups have certain issues that pertain to how they live their lives and how society impacts them in general and some of the inner city areas crime urban violence it's is an issue. So if minorities could get someone they don't necessarily have to be a minority but someone who could take heed to their specific needs in interest on a policy level it's a good thing. So the now that is a possibility to elect a person of color in Springfield to the Senate would make would do well for those can communities of color who can directly express some of their concerns and have it filtered through the Senate as a public policy issue.

Yeah I think it's also important to note that in Springfield there are two reps of color so. Ben Swann and Coakley Riviere are both in the in the Springfield area so the chances of that transfer into the Senate is very very big and the Senate viewed as more powerful than the house just to put a button on it or just the fact that there was nobody or a few sort of are not representative as Kevin would say you know numbers I mean I know the Senate's not more important than the house and any means there are far less senators in that they have they represent a bigger district so when you're looking at policy and so forth you're senators you know who you go to directly you happen you can go to less to the left center so it's him it's important for for advocates and for communities and constituencies to be able to have senators that they feel that they can go to and that are accessible and are really meeting their needs their needs as a community. But overall what's happened in the in the state is it is incredible the the law has been signed into the bill has been signed into law last week by the governor.

So it represents a real sea change in terms of minority represented 100 percent increase in terms of a potential increase in terms of the. Elected officials coming out of the minority community. We've never seen anything as historic as this on the electoral level in the history of the district in this state. Of course they were free of minorities in the state 50 years ago but we've never seen a 100 percent increase in terms of opportunity sure for minorities and I think that as the congressional maps are released later this afternoon we'll see something promising for minority communities in terms of the majority minority congressional district in the state so we're looking forward to that unveiling. Right. And I would just I just want to add because you know though the work that advocates have done through this whole redistricting process work that Kevin has done John democracy always state DNR you know just organizations across the state have really led I think to that impact of 100 percent increase. But it can't stop

here just having the districts there's not enough people need to prepare they need to run they need to vote. And so you know elections are tomorrow I mean it's going to you know these you know the limits of our elections tomorrow. You know they're just these things go hand in hand and we can't you know it's not it's not done here. This is just this is the first step this is the first step for for us as advocates in a civic engagement as we mobilize our communities to really get out there you know take advantage of it there were districts there already were minority majority and didn't have people in the first Suffolk always had since the last redistricting fight 63 percent minority majority I don't know that many you know people even knew that but there certainly weren't people of color running in the first in the first Suffolk and so just having the district is not enough now it's the onus is on us to get out there to mobilize to vote and to run run for office. So please now that we hear some of the details of what the math involves risk call to action for folk to go vote. Are you pretty pleased with

how the map the maps have been drawn I understand that nobody gets everything that they want right so we're pretty pleased we didn't get everything but we are indeed. Pretty please like it said we. We've achieved a historic number in terms of the increase and we're pretty pleased to work with a legislature that was open that was welcoming that gave access. And back in February we put the number on the table we said 10 seats. And they came up with 10 seats 10 new seats. So they were spot on in terms of what we what we asked one for it from the very beginning. We gave them a map of New Democracy coalition given the map that was aspirational. We want to push them into any kind of specific designs where we stand here to seat 10 seats that could materialize and they produced it. So they legislated deserve some applause particularly represented by rushing who work closely with those in the African-American community in Boston

across the state who is part of the redistricting TD Committee and he took our claim. He took our interests into the belly of the beast and work with the legislatures legislature to us to produce a piece of legislation which I believe is extraordinary what we didn't get was an African-American stand alone or incumbent free seat in Boston. And what does that mean. It means that we were pushing for the legislature to utilize an open Brighton seat left open by the Senate. Steve Coleman left open reconfigure Boston in such a way that you can create a open sea and rocks in Dorchester and mad upin sections of Boston so as to to allow for an African-American to once again. Have his or her voice in the stand. Currently there's no African-American in the Senate and the joint committee committed to redistricting values that included diversity and. And

inclusion. So we were disappointed that we didn't get a final consent from the joint committee to create this new open seat for the for the black community in Boston. It would effectively mean that over the next five or or even 10 years that there will be no African-American out of Boston and the senators say OK now I know that initially the maps were not fixed. You know you were fairly pleased but not as pleased as Kevin and said Tell us why. Well you know I think that Kevin's right in that the legislature. The committee was certainly very open and transparent and so forth but politics always gets played and it always gets played behind closed doors and we saw that in the area between with East Boston and Chelsea you have 1000 press precincts that are majority Latino or majority Latino significantly so so you have the ability to create a single minority district that is Latino in that area. We submitted a map that made Chelsea the base of that and added the precincts in Boston given the voting record in Chelsea

and the historical the history of historical advocacy that Chelsea has been able to do. Now what they came back with was something so that they could protect themselves from getting sued but was not beneficial which was they took East Boston as the base and added one precinct one precinct from Chelsea so Chelsea went from two reps to three raps which dilutes the dilutes the power of the mobilization power of Chelsea and didn't. When you looked at the citizen voting age population did not significantly increase the ability for that district to elect a Latino So you're basically creating two week. Latino seats instead of creating a very strong one. Now I know why they did it they did it because they don't want to get sued and they also didn't want to complicate having to take Charlestown away from Chelsea. That district right now is held by you know Flaherty who is the chair of the distillery committee which holds a lot of power

in in the state house in so there's that you know politics did get played it we fought back with advocacy because there was nothing that would force them to have to to put the precinct back and because of the work that the people did in Chelsea and East Boston they did put the precinct back so and the governor signed that and that area now and they have opened themselves up to law now it's as you had hoped it would be it's better than what they proposed. And it's not what we had hoped and they have opened themselves up to a lawsuit. We won't sue as always stay because we have support you know we we have to play politics too and we said we won't so you put the precinct back we won't sue you. But it is open to law soon if I were in charge if I lived in Chelsea or response to it I'd be contacting some national organisations to see what what could be done. So just to put to be clear what does it look like now that that which you are more happy with but not thrilled.

Is it basically the same. It has Chelsea has two wraps it has a Flaherty which the people of Chelsea have been able to work with and he lives you know lives in Chelsea and also. Cathy wrangle and she has to still be a prop Prattville. So it's it basically looks the same Chelsea didn't really grow in numbers. It just it. It changed demographics and it didn't really if it really grow in numbers. OK well we'll talk about we'll continue this conversation on the other side of the break we're talking about redistricting and what the new maps approved by Governor Patrick last week mean for Massachusetts House and Senate and what they mean for voters in our political process. We'll be back after this break. Keep your dial an eighty nine point seven. WGBH. WGBH programs exist because of you. And Boston Private Bank and Trust Company Boston private bank provides private and commercial banking and investment management and trust services to individuals and businesses.

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test of the Emergency Alert System. It's being conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency along with the FCC. Unlike tests you may have heard in the past this will be part of a national effort involving all TV and radio stations in the United States. Again this broadcast test is happening Wednesday at 2 o'clock. And we want you to be aware of it so that you'll know it is in fact only a test. Insights and opinions rooted here in Boston are cities ranked first in the nation in student achievement. I think third in the world now in science and men will talk. Boston Public Radio. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley. If you're just tuning in we're talking about the new redistricting maps. Last week Governor Deval Patrick signed bills for redistricting of State House and Senate seats. Joining me to talk through the implications of these new maps are Kevin Pietersen and Alexandra young. Kevin

Pietersen is the founder and director of the New Democracy coalition at Boston University and a member of the mass black empowerment coalition. And Alexandra Sankey the executive director of A we stay a statewide Latino organization focusing on civic engagement also on the line with US Senators Sonia Chang-Diaz Welcome Senator. Thank you Kelly. Thank you again. Let me get your response to the new maps. What do you think about it. Well I'm pretty I'm pretty proud of the maps that the legislature put out I think that the committee did you know both from a process standpoint and from and outcome standpoint that we've heard from individual citizens and residents and also from an advocacy organization has been pretty positive across the board. The process we heard over and over again was you know much better than what people experience 10 years ago. We had 13 hearings across the state. We had a midnight and on that weekend. That they would be highly accessible

for it for our resident participation. We have a website that is just you know chock full of the mission about the old district the new district map case on the issue and we had an extended public comment period also this year which was something new and something that the advocates to their great credit pushed very hard for this year. Now I understand just individually youre now in a totally different situation with the new map Chinatown has been taken out from under you. That was a piece of the district that you represent before. Explain what you had before and what you have now according to the new map and and then talk to us about how you feel about that. Sure. Well I want to say that I'm in a totally different situation. You know I'm very glad that most of the neighborhoods in Boston that I cry. Only represent I will continue to represent if I have the good fortune of being re-elected by the people of the second Suffolk district next year so that include Right now the district includes going from north

to south Chinatown Beacon Hill Back Bay the south and then way Mission Hill Jamaica Plain Roxbury Dorchester and mount him. So I will move to Chinatown through San Juan and but it will also pick up the northern part of Hyde Park in under the new configuration. So you know nationally is always is a bittersweet process. I'm very sad to lose any of the neighborhood that that I have put a lot of work into serving over the last you know two and a half to three years and in particular I wish that Chinatown would continue to be part of the second. That's I think there's a long history of coalition work there between Chinatown and the other communities of color in the district. But you know this is in part the way the cookie crumbles and we're just acting you know you have to put the line somewhere. And on the edge of districts you know everyone faces some change in their district. So with your new map you're feeling pretty ok about that. Yeah I mean and it continues to be a matter that is

you know I hope that this is ultimately for the voters to judge but I think as the map will find that the agenda that. Working here in the legislature whether it's on issues of public education or job creation and job access or use violence prevention issues you know that that's an agenda that I think will resonate for what the new version of the district looks like as well. Kevin Senator Chang-Diaz says you know you got to put the line somewhere and she's you know pretty reasonably happy with what happened but how do you feel about the impact of Chinatown coming out of the area that she represented. Well as I engage with the advocates there particularly alone at the Chinatown Progressive Association it's fairly devastating for them. And to a certain extent the alliance between progressive minority communities that were represented in the in the second suffix you now have a situation where the Chinatown to a certain extent the South Asian communities are

realigned with a. East Boston district. And. That is. I would imagine it would be more than challenging to sort of reconcile the two for Chinatown for example to to capture the interest and. And the enthusiasm and the hard work of that sitting state rep in terms of focusing on issues that are germane particularly germane to them as a as a as it is currently a Chinese white progressive district. So there will be some adjustments there but as the senator mentioned you know and as represented Moran has mentioned over and over there is no perfect perfect match like map as if there is no perfect perfect circle as we learned in philosophy right. So we won't get everything. But I think you know as I said in beginning we're on the crest of a very historic moment in opportunity in terms of

what could be the future of the future capacity of Africa African-American Asian and Latino communities across the state. And one of the other specific things that this means for the Commonwealth is that as you go from 10 from 10 members to potentially 22 members in the in the House and Senate. You create a a very substantive lobbying body which is able to leverage inside the inside the legislature and the legislature which is able to leverage more around minority issues more than it has you know in the in the past. So if we set the table and you know I really appreciate the work of the Senate Chinky has in the members of the black and Latino caucus who are part of the committee. Clearly Linda Dorsey fori is a rep from from Dorchester man to pan to Milton. I really applaud that work we set the table now we need to we need to get down and do the real serious

work and in terms of producing candidates producing you know higher voter registration rates producing higher voter turnout. You know tomorrow is a is a city council election but one of things that we came from the city council election just a couple months ago was that in the heart of Roxbury the heart of the black community's voting district in District 7 turned out in the primary was 6 percent. A standing rule also we have set the table in terms of creating new seats and now we need to get on there the skin of our elected officials so they get under the skin of the of the electorate and the electorate gets out of the skin of the elected official so that there's increase voter participation in voter turnout A real issues that are critical to them. You're listening to eighty nine point seven WGBH and online at WGBH dot org. I'm Kalee Crossley. We're talking about the state's new redistricting map. I'm joined by Kevin Pietersen founder and director of the New Democracy coalition at Boston University. Alexandra Sankyo executive director of East Day which is a statewide Latino

civic education organization. And Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz at the moment the only person of color in the Senate. And I'm Ari right 100 then to you Senator Chang ideas what this map did was reverse a trend that had become well-known in Massachusetts which is gerrymandering gerrymandering you know taken a piece even a piece from over here and put it all together didn't make any sense it looked kind of crazy as a district. And now that this you know natural alliances in terms of areas have come together have we seen that in the gerrymandering 100. No no I mean I think that you know there's there are certain case laws where you know if there's there are certain things that Trump the Charminar law for example representation minority majority representation so you can see districts that are a little funkier in our you know we're not totally against you know we don't need we're

not. Idaho we don't we can't have square square. It's just that's not going to happen I think. What's what has changes what in with at least in the state maps is it didn't seem to be completely protecting incumbents right I mean districts where change as we just talked about Sonya's district was change and choose a vice chair you know and she let go of Chinatown which is a very strong base for her and so you know so. So things happen that were that were about you know and I'm glad she talked about you know her agenda because that's that's what's really important is that the constituents are deciding to vote for the candidates that are working for that best meet their needs and so you know I think that's you know that's really important I would never say that is the end of gerrymandering and I think you know as we see but people you know move migrate in in blocks and so forth but I think just to note the Chinatown East Boston District Two I do think you know that will be something to look at it. It's they're not

naturally cohesive in that you know even geographically there's not a lot of flow you know when you look at you know you know redistricting seems really complicated but when you look at the map you know look at places you know where do people go so where do communities migrate to where do they go back to to remain shopping so a lot of Latinos moved out of JP. Right they moved but into Rozental so with you know the importance of maybe keeping J.P. you know as we look at the. City wide redistricting that's going to happen next year like these are all the things that you need to consider so gerrymandering it might look like Germander which is actually a natural progression of where people are going. Sonia Sen. Sonia What do you think grabbed your mentoring the soon to be death as a result of this. Well I think that what I wonder said is it's exactly right that you know we hear that term gerrymandering and it conjures up these very negative connotations and sometimes for good reason given the history. But you know we as a redistricting committee are charged

with balancing a huge list of concerns and criteria that are viewed as you know by the law viewed as legitimate criteria and I think by the general public would be viewed as legitimate criteria for us to consider and try and achieve when we're trying to match. And again as I just said sometimes that causes districts to be you know causes you to get a shape of a district that is not a perfect square or a perfect circle. You know my district is a good example of the second so I think it's sort of a long skinny north south access. And you know it's not perfectly compact but it links together in a way that's pretty sensible. Communities that have a strong interest in the same issues you know a community of interest cross the board and so I think we're at I hope we won't see the end considerations like that in the redistricting process because I think that would be. A lot of the public good but I think we have seen a strong move this year and in a move

away from the negative types of gerrymandering that people associate with that word where it's all about you know party interest are all about incumbent preservation. Where that you know we really did have a remarkably open and party spirit but as to a process that shines a light on what are the interests that are winning in the end when you consider all of these different factors and you know I'm very proud that the committee has gotten high grades for having to be a relatively you know low Well politics process. And a set of you know House and Senate maps that really are about the things that the public asked us for. Agree agree with the senator and I Leandro but I think just in terms of shopping just a little bit. I think that this May and I'm hoping I'm being optimistic that this may be the end of race based gerrymandering which is something a little a little different and if it was an issue around which finger it was on the speaker of the house Thomas I'm sorry. Former Speaker of House Thomas Miller

was charged with in terms of the drawing of the state rep district in Boston and met in a Dorchester. So I am hoping that we've we've we've washed away the patina of racism from the redistricting process which has always been a fairly devilish situation for black people and Latino people so as as the as the state has grown in its diversity and we've we've led the the the efforts to elect a first and then re-elect the second African-American governor and lead the lesion in terms of like electing a president that we have we have in some ways shaken off. Won't to delve into race. Race based you're many. We'll keep our fingers crossed but we'll also be monitoring in 2011 2021. All right. Yes Senator I was one of the things that I'm hopeful about

is you know what Kevin was saying is that we move away from those types of motives you can never get. T that you're not going to get you know a few bad apples in the legislature who might come to the table with the wrong motive. But what I'm really hopeful for is again the process that we put in place this year as a committee has hopefully raised the expectations of the general public that this is what the processed chemical like and what it should look like in the future and that that process itself will help provide a protection against. You know bad motives in the future. Let me circle back to how I began which is that this afternoon the State House is going to announce the new congressional maps. We have some information about what's in that new map as we know Massachusetts lost a congressional seat. So there was all the speculation about who goes where because there's a seat that's gone. And what we what is come out this is from Boston channel dot com is that. William Keating and Steven Lynch are in the same Eighth Congressional

District but they may not necessarily run against each other according to this report. Keating has a summer home in born where he's lived for the past 17 years and he can move his residence from Quincy over there and you know perhaps keep his space. Just overall Senator Chang-Diaz Are you pleased with this map. Well one of my number one concern was congressional. We continue to have a strong majority minority district in Massachusetts and that in fact become the stronger majority minority district. And although you know the maps have not been posted yet I've been briefed on them and I understand that that is going to be the case with a congressional district that it will increase in its proportion population of color in that district which I'm pleased about that. And I also understand that Lawrence is going to remain is supposed to you know again this is a draft right.

You know yet but that is supposed to remain in its current seat which I had to correct me if I'm wrong but that's the preference. Yes because on the ground in that region. So I'm pleased that both of us from All right. If we come away with a map that advocacy groups can feel good about with regard to the congressional maps as well as the district to the state redistricting maps. What does that mean overall 100 terms of what we've seen here in terms of the electoral process. If we had if the maps with them and Menorah majority Well I think you know again with as with with any of the maps I mean that's only it's the first step right you mean you have the districts in redistricting is equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. And so and also look at the candidates that represent the districts now and that candidate may not necessarily be or that pre-election Fischman not be a person of color are they. Are they serving the best interests of the constituents in that district I think that is always going to be what's most important. And I think that you know and I would encourage you know we've seen examples where you know the state is 80

percent white and they were elected Deval Patrick we have the country's 80 percent white and the elected Obama in New in the election of said he warned I mean it doesn't it does it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to run in a district that is majority minority however you see that with the lack of representation that Kevin. You emphasize that that race is not we're not in a post-race state or post race nation where that isn't a factor particularly at the at the local levels on your state House and State Senate side so it's important for people to get involved is important for people to run to vote and to know what their districts are and to hold their elected officials accountable. Kevin do you expect to be please the maps are out at 2:00 this afternoon and will be announced formally but they're done now. I expect to expect to be pleased. I mean if the criteria of our objectives were to be creating a new Commonwealth that had a significantly

recalibrated districts that allowed for the full expression of people of color then we've been successful. I think the legislature's been helpful in terms of a certain level of transparency. But the advocates on the outside as you recall from other interviews we employed a preemptive strategy where we said we would be out in front. And this I mean no lawsuits. Right now it would mean you know last week I would say that if we would agree the legislature would say 95 which means that there is some room for a lawsuit. But in my school lesson a go ahead to me that's an A-plus Well there's no it's not it's not a 100 percent. So we are please we anticipate a congressional map that follows our aspirations that we will go from a majority minority to it and increase majority minority congressional district. And what was the current 8th I'm not sure when it will be called now but we are extremely happy that the maps of the district may be. It will definitely unite the

black communities within Boston which were for it which were cracked which was a lawsuit 10 years ago between Lynch and Congressman Capilano And my hope is that the district will be extended to parts of Milton and into Randolph. All right well we'll have to see you always in Massachusetts politics is a bloodsport So we'll see what's going on. I think my thanks to you all for discussing this we've been talking about redistricting with Kevin Pietersen founder and director of the New Democracy coalition at Boston University. Alondra Sankyo the executive director of all the State and State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz Thank you all very much. Thank you thank you Gary. Up next our recurring feature local made good. We'll be back after this break stay with us. This program is on WGBH thanks to you.

And Dover rug and home rugs carpeting hardwood floors and window treatments for today's lifestyle and many budgets. Dover rug dot com. Or 1 800 Dover rug Dover rug Natick and Hanover. And Elsa Dorfman Cambridge portrait photographer are still clicking with the jumbo format Polaroid 20 by 24 analog camera and original Polaroid film online at Elsa Dorfman dot com. That's Elsa Dorfman dot com. Next time on the world singer Lila Downs lives in Mexico City. Her new CD features religious icons folk tales and a mariachi band. She hopes her music helps people take their minds off the nation's violence. Hold on hold on for the ride and you go OK this is I'm going to I'm going to do my best Mexican-American singer Lila Downs next time on the world.

Coming up at 3:00 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. WGBH is about what's next. I want a hotel room in San Francisco tomorrow night and it understand and recognize the number of hotels at San Francisco. That's real artificial intelligence being a part of WGBH is about. Right now I can't get a job at a bank. It's a mortgage loan processor because I have back writing but you have to have that credit because I don't have a job WGBH is about. To be the power behind Boston Public Radio online at WGBH dot org. The American Dream is being redefined on Bobsy where we live continues next week with stories from Massachusetts towns about how economic realities are influencing the American dream. That's next week here on WGBH radio. Welcome back to the Calla Crossley Show it's time for our recurring feature local made good where we meet New Englanders who make this region a more interesting place by way of their

creativity and individuality. Joining me today is Kim Nielsen. He spent over 30 years cutting through wilderness to create the cohosts trail one of New Hampshire's longest and most remote hiking trails. Kim Nelson thank you for joining us. Thank you very much Kelly and congratulations. Thank you. I read your story and I was thinking of a comment by TS Eliot only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. It seems to be that you and your quest embody that. Well I don't know how it actually started out but. Well we're going to talk about that right now. OK that's 33 years ago when you decided to cut a hiking trail in the north country. Where were you and what inspired you to do so. I was out of college I was took a job as a cub reporter at a tiny little weekly newspaper in Lancaster New Hampshire near the top of the Granite State and spent 10 years there got a family started up there and that sort of thing and

while I was crisscrossing the New Hampshire's largest and most remote county call cost county I could see that there was a central spine wedged between the Connecticut River and the Andhra Skogen and rivers up there that counties 100 miles long. It had a central spine. I used to go up and hike around in it just to see what was up there. And there were no trails up there to speak of and so I thought in 1978 I thought I'd write an editorial about the potential for something like that and I did. And I got absolutely no response to that none whatsoever. Not a person not a single person. So I put it aside. Years and years go by in 1906 or so in a little vacation home in Maine it's raining like crazy it's not pleasant but I have my maps outside looking at the maps and I'm thinking there is that trail I had an idea about and I think I'll do something about it.

So I pop together some maps wrote a small proposal went to see the state people in the dread offices of the department of resources natural whatever it is. Yeah I think people who come to the thing and they said well Mr. Nelson if you can do that well we'll support you. So I started out to call the meeting in the town of Lancaster where no one had ever responded to the editorial and 55 people came out to a public meeting in the middle of the winter to hear my spiel. Some of them signed a paper said we'd like to be on their fledgling board of Representatives and board of directors and we'll see if we can. Create something and that's how it started. But you know it's one thing to think and to even have a kind of a map thinking you know what. I can make this happen even a group of people to support you. It's quite another thing to actually walk out there and there is nothing there. And you build a path where no one has gone before. So break it down for us exactly how you where you walk in with a machete or what how does this how does

this work. Well it was old logging country number one. There were some trails in the white not national forest trail there were trails in existence we could use some of those in the state forest of one or two old trails here and there and there were these natural features stuck together and so the idea would be to thread them all together and to go out there with an ax and a branch lopper and a chain saw branch. You have trees outside branches and shovel and something called a matic which moves the earth you know hand tools largely. And you. Volunteers are crazy enough to follow you into the back country and cut away at it. And how many feet can you do a day or do you measure a little it depends on the country and if it's open country open hardwoods you can go like crazy. OK if it's closed in high elevations Bruces for trees takes forever but you have to lay out the trail first you

have to get the landowners to OK your route you have to state to you know try min and then you have to go and lay this thing out and that took quite a bit of doing and you're out there in the middle of nowhere looking for things like a single stake in the ground where an old timber company had a boundary line you have to find it literally have to find those things. So I did that and laid out the trail and we began to cut it back in the late 1990s and we just finished it a couple of weeks ago and when we finished it had a Boston Globe reporter and cameraman out there photographing us and talking to us about it if we finished literally finished cutting the last sapling out. Absolutely because it's quite an achievement. Now of course the big question many people would think why no idea. Yeah I like the outdoors. I love the mountains.

Even as a child I was one of five boys and most of them are older than me and they were always out there making forts in the woods and splashing around in the frog ponds and whatever. So as a child it was a natural for me to be out there. I'm not scared of the woods. I love the animals in the woods began in a small and of those matter. And so I like that environment. And so and I like to hike and I hiked for years and years and years and when I was up on top of Mt. Totten in Maine Maine's highest peak I sat down one day put my arms back. There's all these people on the summit and I put my hands in human excrement and I said to myself I am not ever going to hike with the masses again I am going to create a trail of my own out there where it's. The natural world has full sway and that the moose you'll meet more moves then you'll meet people. At least for the time being anyway.

And so what do you see every day when you're out there I mean what. So you're hiking you've got the tree lopper you've got the whatever and let's assume there's not 15 people with you on this particular day you're just sort of cutting through what was happening out there. Well first of all the beautiful environment you have natural features like 700 foot cliffs a table rock for instance or old bulldoze clearings which are now full of reindeer moss and you have three thousand eight hundred mountain foot nouns in front of you. You may have experiences where for instance you come over a ridge line on a windy day there's a black bear wolfing down grass in the spring time because there's no other food for it and it's so intense it doesn't see you well and you can walk pretty close up to it and it'll keep on going until it smells you and if you've been out in the woods cutting for a couple of days you know smelt away there. The bear finally takes one a good look at you and takes off and runs away. So you

have experience like that and and it's hard work. It's physical work. I'm 63 years old. I love that work. I'm in good physical shape because of that work and I recommend it highly to anybody who's a foolish enough to get out there. And do that kind of thing with me. So now you spoke a bit about the solitude correct. You know is it as much as one can because we all experience solitude differently. Share with us what solitude you are experiencing out there and not the physical work so much but the moment the almost spiritual being I call it. I literally call it the continental silence. It's it sometimes you're out there and there is no sound other than what's pumping through your head you know your own you can hear your circulatory system at work literally and you get that sense of you're on the continent before the Europeans came

to this country and you're standing on a mountainside somewhere and you have this vast view and it's perfectly quiet and that somehow shakes you to your foundations to some degree. It really is an almost truly spiritual. Feeling it's something I really look forward to. I go into the mountains for that as much as I go into the mountains for a view or to finish the work. I want to go into that environment my cathedral if you will. It is a literally a spiritual thing. And there's very little of that in the day to day world and it is a natural call it a natural religion if you will. It's it's God in in God's essence whatever you want to define God. I'm not going to vine it. But it's in that natural world essence out there that it seeps into your bones

and changes you becomes something that you hunger for want to continue to get and hold on to. And good for the good for the soul. If that is that what kept you going because you know I would imagine it over 30 years of this every day even if it's as beautiful as you've just described it in those moments. At some point you had to think and most people do it in the long quest. What am I doing and it's OK if I only do half of it all right I'll just stop here. That's true I mean I actually literally shut the trial down at one point. I don't I can't you know I have a full time job I have a family what am I doing. You know I'm getting farther and farther and farther north it takes longer and longer to get out there. Not only do I have to drive a long distance to get up there but I also have to hike in a long distance to get up there and whatever. And so I decided to shut the DNI the trail down and then I got a phone call from a

lady near the Canadian border. She says there is no way you're going to shut this trail down. I said I'll I'll take over that northern end and if you can you know raise the grant money and whatever and whatever I'll do some work I'll get some people together up here and I'll I won't let this go away. And she did her name is. Lanie Cascine and she didn't let the trail go away and I kept you going you know and I said in the Boston Globe article I said I started it but in some real sense Lanie Cascine actually finish the trail so I grateful for that. Grateful for the experience what a great experience I've had experiences like being out on the mountainsides and have a 800 pound Moose come up to me in the middle of the night. I'm in a sleeping bag and I have my ten hours of beautiful night's fall of the year I'm snoring and the moose comes up to me and literally walks right up to me and standing over me like a brown a saurus you know and

breathing like this and you're sitting there tied into your sleeping bag and you can't do anything and you don't. Don't have any way to get away from it. I had experiences like that and the average person doesn't have that kind of experience. Two quick questions one you built it so they will come as the old saying goes. But the point was you wanted to maintain solitude but if folks come it's not going to be so much solitude right. You feel OK about that. Even then there is some truth to what you say. There is one thing that a little buffer of the numbers of people the White Mountain National Forest of course is higher heaven. The two million visitor hiker visitors aren't going to stop you know coming to the White Mountains and we're above that. OK you have to go a longer distance and we are a through trail so you have to string along for days and days and days as many as 14 days do if you want to dike the whole thing as a little natural limitations to the number there are OK and we don't

have. We have some facilities in place we have some lean tos in place and camps and stuff like that in place and we will do more of that because the second phase again we do more of that. But I don't forsee a rustic. It's very very rustic and very much out there so people who attempt it have to if they have to. You have to be ready for it. Correct and they have to be able to resupply it's not easy to resupply so they have to deliver just six of it. It takes some doing. I can't let you leave without asking do you feel a sense of loss. I mean I know it was pain but yeah it's over 33 years. But now do you feel a little empty. I know the reason is because the first phase is finished. The trail is on the ground is a physical trail in the ground but there's also a second and third phase the second phase is the infrastructure improving infrastructure which will be just as important as the trail on the ground will be and then the third phase if we ever get there that is to do some very interesting things

like restore a fire tower build a few Himalayan like covered bridges. And so you haven't let go let me point out now. And I kind of let go for a while anyway. All right. Well I'd say it's a pretty great achievement. Thank you grads. Again thank you so much for talking to us. Delighted to. Have the opportunity. I've been speaking with Kim Nilsson the chief architect of the cohost trail one of the longest and most remote trails in New Hampshire. After 33 years he's cleared the final yards of this wilderness wonder. To learn more visit our website or log on to seal trail dot org. Thanks again. Today Show was engineered by Jane pipit produced by Chelsea Merz will Rose lippen Abby Ruzicka. We are a production of WGBH Boston Public Radio.