Thoughts on this? http://blogs.chron.com/houstonpolitics/2011/04/parker_administration_lays_out.html http://www.khou.com/home/Proposed-Houston-district-lines-revealed-119331169.html Proposed Houston district lines revealed HOUSTON -- The proposed new Houston district lines are out and they’re already meeting some opposition. The city council is adding two new seats -- Districts J and K. Some council members expected the two new districts to be predominantly Latino and African-American. But this proposal doesn’t carve out a so-called “Hispanic seat.” Council member James Rodriguez said that is causing concern. "We have two Latino seats that are currently filled," Rodriguez said. "We were looking for a new seat. So I know that that's going to be an issue. I'm already hearing from some of my constituents and other activists from the Latino community." Jerry Wood, the city’s redistricting consultant, said that was done to protect the current Hispanic seats. Spreading the Latino population into a new seat, Wood said, might make it tougher to elect a Hispanic councilmember in District H, which is currently represented by Ed Gonzalez. "One of the new districts is majority Anglo," Wood said. "But it's majority Anglo defensively -- in order to make sure that we do not have a retrogressive affect in the existing Hispanic-majority and African-American majority districts." The biggest changes might be in District C, which covers everything from the Rice Village area to far southwest Houston. It is represented by council member Anne Clutterbuck who would also essentially be drawn out of her current district with the creation of District J. Wood said he made that decision, in part, because Clutterbuck is term-limited. Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing next week and vote on the plan next month.
Here is the message from Councilman James Rodriguez (District I): This morning the administration unveiled the Proposed Redistricting Plan for the City of Houston and I regret to say that it is a plan that Latino leaders, activists and the overall Latino community should not support. I want to thank the Mayor and her staff for the time and effort they put in to the redistricting process. While I support the redrawn District I and will defer to my colleague Ed Gonzalez on his position on the redrawn District H, I cannot support other aspects of the plan because it does not provide the Latino community with the opportunity to increase Latino representation on city council. There are currently two Latinos that are elected to City Council out of the nine council districts. Under the proposed plan for eleven city council districts, it is likely that only two Latinos would get elected. This is not acceptable. The two new districts that were created, Districts J and K, will likely elect an Anglo progressive and an African American. According to the 2010 Census, of the current nine council districts, four have a Latino majority population: District A (52%), District F (56%), District H (63%), and District I (74%). During the City of Houston Redistricting Town Hall Meetings that were conducted throughout the city last month, Latino leaders called for a plan that created opportunities for increased Latino representation on city council. Districts H and I are represented by Latinos. The proposed plan has following Latino populations in the districts mentioned: District A (56%), District F (55%), District H (71%), and District I (77%). The proposed plan does not present the Latino community with the opportunity to increase our representation on city council any time soon. Here are some questions that I presented to the Mayor and the administration this morning: “I attended a couple of the town hall meetings and heard the voices of Latino leaders calling for more Latino representation on City Council. It is my understanding that Latinos were also present at all the other town hall meetings and spoke for more representation. Latinos are the fastest growing community in Houston and are the largest population group at 43.8%. The expectation among Latino leaders and activists is that at least one of the new districts should be a Latino district. This plan at first glance, doesn’t appear to satisfy the concerns of the Latino leaders and activists. I don’t think we will find much support for this plan among Latino leaders and activists. Can you respond?” “As I stated earlier, I don’t think this plan will garner much support among Latino leaders or activists. In looking at the map, I see a big line being drawn down Studewood in the Heights, one of the city’s most vocal neighborhoods, so you have set a precedent of sorts in splitting up a neighborhood. Can any of the districts in your plan be surgically tweaked to make it a Latino opportunity district, even at the expense of splitting neighborhoods?” “In looking at the map, one of the new districts is poised to elect an African American – I don’t have a problem with that. The other is poised to elect an Anglo – an Anglo Democrat or Anglo progressive – again I don’t have a problem with that. But can you see the frustration on the faces of Latino leaders and activists when they look at the proposed map and they see a current two out of nine districts is now two out of eleven. Where are the Latino gains in this map?” In addition, my colleague Jarvis Johnson asked the following question: “How can we justify the creation of a new Anglo majority population district, when the population growth of the city has been in the Latino, African American, and Asian American communities?” In the coming days I will be working with the administration to see if our concerns and issues can be satisfactorily resolved. In the meantime, I urge you to go to the city’s website at Redistricting 2011 and review the proposed plan. In addition I ask that you attend the following hearings at City Hall: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 City Hall, 901 Bagby 2nd Floor, Council Chambers 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 City Hall, 901 Bagby 2nd Floor, Council Chambers 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 City Hall, 901 Bagby 2nd Floor, Council Chambers 7:00 p.m.
I find this kind of bald-faced racial politicking to be pretty offputting. I think it is a bit pathetic to be thinking of racial identities in drawing the maps in the first place. But, from what I read here, Latinos have majorities in 4 districts but still can only get 2 Latinos elected. So why should another district be gift-wrapped for them? Could they get another Latino elected if it was? Isn't it quite possible (if they have viable candidates and a decent campaigning machine) that they'll get Latinos in those other 2 districts and have 4 out of 11 seats in the near future. (That is to say nothing of the potential to get a Latino representative of a non-Latino district.) Besides, it's not like redistricting is making voters out of thin air. By splitting Anglo voters up, and given the growth of the Latino population in the city, it's quite possible that Latinos will eventually win both of those now-Anglo districts in the future. What these Latino leaders should be focusing on is grooming viable leaders and getting out the vote. That would be better for them then gifts from City Council.
You're a b****, but I'm not so sure about Latina and I am certain that you have less wisdom than my 7 year old.
Well, before I agree or disagree, I have to point out the reason racial identities exist in this process in the first place. Minorities had to basically sue the city to get diversity on city council, because we weren't complying with the Voting Rights Act (which resulted in every representative being a white male until 1971). The theory is that the electorate should be somewhat representative of the community, which it wasn't and wouldn't be if it weren't for the current process. History has shown us that if certain communities have no representation then their needs will be ignored, or slighted. The current process is a byproduct of a settlement with the Department of Justice because we were supressing minority voting rights and representation.
And complying with the voting rights act and the settlement with the department of justice isn't good enough?
You're right and I recognize that. I think that our districts had been gerrymandered to keep minorities out of city council in the first place is part of my displeasure with racial politics. We shouldn't have done that then; I just wish it wasn't the case. But now, 40 years later, I don't think we should still be thinking of these things in such narrow racial definitions. There is more to representing a citizen than representing his race. I don't think our council members are doing us any favors to continue to agitate on these parameters.
Redrawing the districts now is a part of the settlement compliance, which called for it to happen again after the city reached 2.1 million people (which really happened years ago).
I fully agree with that. I think the way the districts are being redrawn is to elect a certain demographic in a certain area AND to protect the folks currently in office. For example, it's no surprise that the district getting chopped up (District C) is the one with an open seat in the next election. I don't think race should be the primary reason to chop up an area, but I do think it should be taken into account somewhat to make sure the city has some type of representation from everyone (the reason we have to split the city up anyway).
Right, ok. is part of the compliance that Rodriguez gets to decide whether to support the redistricting based on his interpretation of equality of racial representation?
Agree completely. It almost seems that the implication is that an elected council person (minority or otherwise) has no obligation to any race aside from their own, which is obviously ludicrous, but you can see what led up to this.
