February 28, 2011 Today, the New Orleans City Council held its first Election Code and Reapportionment Committee meeting. Following the release of federal census data collected every ten years, the Council is mandated by the City’s Home Rule Charter and State Law to initiate a process to redistrict the five city council district boundaries.
The Election Code and Reapportionment Committee recommended that the full Council accept the proposal of Redistricting LLC to provide consulting services to assist the Council in completing the redistricting process. The Council’s Request for Proposal asked for a minimum of two community meetings in each Council District. The Redistricting Public Meetings must begin by early June.
According to Council Vice President and Committee Chair Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, to ensure an objective and effective public process that benefits citizens and neighborhoods we must rely on professionals with global objectivity to lead our discussions and public meetings.
“As Councilmembers, we must work to create a climate that empowers our neighborhoods and citizens to speak up during the redistricting process and engage in all public processes. We must never forget that the voice of our neighborhoods led us in our recovery and they will continue to lead us in the future.”
The Council must adopt by ordinance a redistricting plan and submit the plan to the Justice Department within six months of the release of the census figures. Following that timeline, the deadline for submittal to the Justice Department is August 4, 2011. To meet the deadline, the Council must introduce a redistricting ordinance by mid-July. The redistricting plan must reflect an equal population in each Council District. Based on the current census, the population of each Council District should contain approximately 68,000 to 69,000 people with a 5% variance. The plan must also adhere to the Voting Rights Act by not impacting unfairly the minority voting population.
At its inaugural meeting the Committee also heard a presentation from the President of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana Robert Travis Scott. Scott presented PAR’s recently released Louisiana Redistricting: A 2011 Progress Report and analysis of best practices to consider as the redistricting process begins.
