City Council Redistricting Plan Released

[Metro Jacksonville]

City Council Redistricting Plan Released



Every ten years, the Jacksonville City Council adjusts its district lines to ensure an equitable population distribution within each district based on the decennial census.  On July 27, the City of Jacksonville's Planning Department presented a draft redistricting plan to the Reapportionment Committee.  Here is a look at the new proposed plan and how it compares to the existing.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-aug-city-council-redistricting-plan-released

[Noone]

Time is running out. City charter deadline for plan adoption is Dec.1, 2011

2010-604- Shipyards/Landmar. Councilman Redman you are now chair of Waterways and in a position of legislative power to introduce legislation that would keep the Promised 680' Downtown Public Pier separate. Waterways Commission meeting in 8 days. The pier is in Dist.4 your current District. You have refused to return my phone calls and emails and that is your choice.

I believe in my heart that economic opportunity to our St. Johns River our American Heritage River will be greatly restricted and under total govt. control and your refusal to introduce legislation has led the conspiracy that extends beyond Duval county.

On the surface it looks good. Its the potential leaching underground that concerns me.

[acme54321]

Why does district 9 even cross the river?  Why not make district 5 also cover the southbank?

[ac]

Lumping Merrill Rd/Ft Caroline East, Beacon Hill, and Hidden Hills areas in with Oceanway and the port is a head-scratcher. That's going to do neither area any good. 

[thelakelander]

It appears two districts jump the river because the Southside/Beaches/Arlington population is greater than all of the communities combined on the other side of the river.

[Tacachale]

It's always good when whole neighborhoods are represented by the same councilperson. I wish San Marco and the Southbank were in one district, but it's better that it would be in two rather than the current three, I suppose.

Another good move is putting Mayport, including the base, in the Beaches district, and Bayard and the southeastern part of the county in the Mandarin district.

[heights unknown]

Am I imagining things or is the historic core now split into? I know someone said the historic core now falls under district 7, but looking at the map it appears to be split.

"HU"

[Steve]

It's always good when whole neighborhoods are represented by the same councilperson. I wish San Marco and the Southbank were in one district, but it's better that it would be in two rather than the current three, I suppose.

Another good move is putting Mayport, including the base, in the Beaches district, and Bayard and the southeastern part of the county in the Mandarin district.

There is good and bad. The one downside is now Riverside and Avondale will have one vote on the council, not two. Don't understimate that.

[dougskiles]

Why does district 9 even cross the river?  Why not make district 5 also cover the southbank?

D9 is a minority access district.  They needed the stretch to Emerson to be able to maintain it.

There was a proposed map that wrapped D5 around D9 and back up to cover the Southbank and cross the river to include the downtown core.  Apparently, Dr Gaffney didn't want to lose downtown so he rejected the plan.  He is the head of the committee, so there wasn't much chance of getting around that.  It would have been nice to have Lori Boyer representing downtown (northbank and southbank).

[thelakelander]

Am I imagining things or is the historic core now split into? I know someone said the historic core now falls under district 7, but looking at the map it appears to be split.

"HU"

The historic core of DT is in 7.  LaVilla is in 9.  The dividing line appears to be Jefferson Street.

[north miami]

No District should assume crossing the River.Silly,and an afront to historical influence,still evident today.

District 14 should finally properly contract to the Historical epicenter,regardless of current population/growth that the core District presence helped inspire,and regardless of demographic mix parameters.

[Miss Fixit]

  It would have been nice to have Lori Boyer representing downtown (northbank and southbank).

+ 1 million!!!

[AFCassidy]

Not at all in love with the idea of breaking up Arlington and East Arlington into different districts, particularly not when the East Arlington district will be dominated by a larger chunk of land heading up toward Oceanway.  Jumping the river anywhere is a bad idea for a council district.

[Tacachale]

^I agree on East Arlington, but there are always going to be problems in districting, and the new version as a whole makes District 11 substantially less ridiculous than it is now. On jumping the river, it's important to ensure minority representation in the city council, however it's done. At any rate in this version, fewer districts jump the river than they do now.

[AFCassidy]

Ensuring minority representation by clumping people into these "minority access" districts is one of the most racist and totally insane things we still do.   

We have a black President... are we still holding to this idea that white people are unwilling to vote for anyone but a white person to represent them?  Or that racial representation trumps neighborhood representation? 

How about we have requirements that 9 of the council seats be filled by women? 

If we just drew boxes around neighborhoods without worrying about race, I would bet money we'd have nearly the same numbers of black and white people on the city council that we have now.