Immigrants are moving to rural as well as metro area. Migration strongly related to life cycle 2. Central cities attract young adults, lower-income and immigrants 3. Suburbs attract couples with families and people with higher incomes 4. Some inner-ring suburbs are attracting more diverse populations with lower incomes.
College graduates gravitate to metro areas.
Joe Mansky asked if anyone in the audience would like to testify. Ann Higgins, League of Minnesota Cities, spoke about the importance of redistricting to small communities and the problems that arise when those communities are divided by the redistricting process. The redistricting plan needs to be in place by 2002, when the next state elections are held. Ms Higgins also stated that most city election officials are not the same people who were in that position 10 years ago, so they are new to the redistricting process. She feels that cooperation between the state and local levels of government is important and coordinating communication to people at the local level is essential.