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it and St. Croix River Va ley.3 The plan recognizes that county affiliations and services in southwest Minnesota tend to be shared with counties to the east or west more than with those to the north or south. E.g., Marshall Hearing supra, at 6, 18. Within the metropolitan area, the plan follows Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhood boundaries to the extent possible. This plan also prevents the disconnection of minority populations living in compact areas, as in northwest and south central Minneapolis and in various parts of St. Paul. As a basic result of both a statewide increase in the diversity of Minnesota's population and our objective to follow political subdivision, neighborhood, precinct, and community boundaries, minority groups have greater opportunities to influence their legislators under this plan than under either the parties' plans or the plan from the last decade. The plan may also increase the ability of minorities to elect legislators of their choice, especially if minority groups should choose to vote together in certain districts The last of our substantive criteria involved incumbent protection and conflict. Despite the requests of various parties, we have declined to consider election results, the "political competitiveness" of these districts, or the extent to which an incumbent retains his or her prior 3 While it was not possible to preserve communities of interest in every instance, Senate District 9 and House Districts 9a and 9b exemplify a situation where the plan recognizes communities of interest at the expense of making every district neat and rectangular. The township of Breckenridge, which is located along the state's western border in Willdn County, sought to be at the south end of a Red River Valley senate district that included portions of Clay County. Detroit Lakes Hearing supra, at 14-15, 22 (testimony of Neoma Laken, Breckenridge City Council Alderman and Cliff Barth, Mayor of Breckenridge). Dilworth and Glyndon, both situated near Moorhead in Clay County, share interests with Breckemidge and sought to be in a different house district than Moorhead. Id. at 33, 3 6-3 7 (testimony of Keith Coalwell, Mayor of Dilworth, and Lori DeJong, Mayor of Glyndon). Detroit Lakes sought to be in the same senate district with Moorhead because their residents share jobs and other community resources. Id. at 7 (Testimony of Larry Buboltz, Mayor of Detroit Lakes). Senate District 9 and House Districts 9a and 9b fulfill all of these requests. We specifically reference these districts because they illustrate the frequent choices between accommodating communities of interest and creating tidy districts boundaries.