PEORIA - Here's an account of the July 18 redistricting meeting held by the West Bluff Council, by activist and volunteer Judy Stalling:
On Monday July 18, the West Bluff Council held a forum on City Council re-districting . The forum was held at the Bradley University Student Center. The President of the Council said the goal of the forum was to obtain citizen input on the issues facing the re-districting of the City Council. The President also pointed out that Map 12 had been recommended to the City Council by the Ad Hoc Council Commission as a point to begin the discussion of re-districting.
The President asked each neighborhood representative to state an opinion on which sample district map was best and which concerns needed to be addressed.
Several issues were raised. The West Bluff must remain cohesive. For example, the Main Street Business Project would suffer if the Bluff were broken up. All the neighborhoods expressed concern that the neighborhoods remain together. Another concern was lack of transparency in citizen input. Lack of understanding the time table for completing the re-districting was also expressed.
Councilwoman Van Auken said federal law requires city re-districting by December 2012. The City Election Commission was aiming for September 2012. In any case she assured the audience that there was plenty of time to complete the job.
Based on the Federal Constitution the five Council Districts must be realigned with the 2010 census. This requires 23,000 eligible voters per district. To meet this goal Districts One , Two, Three and Four must be redrawn to gain voters and District Five must be redrawn to lose voters. She said Map 12 keeps all neighborhood associations in the same district.
Councilwoman Van Auken explained some of the complexities of the re-districting
Issue. Peoria’s current system of five districts plus five at large representatives plus cumulative voting inevitably intrudes on a discussion of re-districting. This system was the result of a court case and any changes are subject to judicial review. Any change in the system will be done with a referendum.
Concerns raised by audience members included:
- Changing the configuration of the First District to encompass more of the Bluff. Madison Manor is already part of the First.
- Trying a map with 8 or 10 single member districts.
- Preserving minority voting.
- Comparing Peoria to the voting systems of similar cities in Illinois.
- Reviewing the upcoming Bradley study on at large and cumulative voting.
-- Judy Stalling
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