Monday, July 26, 2010
Charter Commission Tackles Districting
Posted by John Branston on Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 9:59 AM
The most likely outcome appears to be a proposal for 13 single-member districts and four 3-member districts, for a total of 25 representatives in a metropolitan government. An alternative plan would have 13 single-member districts and four super districts with one member each for a total of 17 representatives.
The commission meets at 4 p.m. Monday in the Shelby County government building. Commissioners are nearing the end of their work and plan to have a final document on August 10th. The referendum is in November.
The legislative districting job is complicated. There are 236 precincts and more than 900,000 people in Shelby County. The goal is "to create a metropolitan council that provides solid representation for all citizens without being unwieldy."
There are a couple of guiding principles and one big timing problem.
The timing problem is the 2010 Census. It won't be available until 2011, so commissioners are trying to make a best guess based on 2008 Census estimates and the 2000 Census. The city of Memphis has an increasing number of black residents (63 percent in 2008) and a declining number of white residents (32 percent in 2008). So does Shelby County, where the 2008 Census estimates were 51 percent black and 43 percent white.
The guiding principles are roughly equal population in each district, recognition of "communities of like interest" relative to physical, social, and economic issues, and racial representation in line with the federal Voting Rights Act.
In the current city and county government structure, there are 13 members on the Memphis City Council and 13 on the Shelby County Commission.
Comments (3)
Showing 1-3 of 3
25 is better than 13 but 33 would be best and a much greater number should be single member representing fewer people each. The final numbers and how the districts are drawn really is a deal breaker for me, piled on top of the disenfranchisement that will come from not being proportionally represented in the urban tax district.
like
dislike
Where's the map of this plan so that others can take a look at it and can compare data? I'm really interested in these Super Districts. Are they as crappy and meant to over represent East Memphis like we have now?
3 reps from each super district allows current council members and commissioners the ability to get elected without having to compete with each other.
Why would someone living outside of the city of Memphis volunteer to give up all of their representation and triple their taxes for no reason other than making the crooks in Memphis government happy? Can someone please explain the benefit to me as a county resident?
THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
SPECIAL ISSUES
