Tony Hill wrote, "What's the plan for redistricting of Mpls. wards?
It should have been done this year. . . . The danger is that someone will
sue to force another election in these wards on the grounds that the
redistricting wasn't done in time for the election. . . . I was around in
'81, and that year redistricting was finished by early June. Somebody blew
it this time."
Nobody has blown it yet. City redistricting occurs in years ending in
two, and so is not scheduled until next year.
State law (Minn. Statutes sec. 204B.135) provides that "a city that
elects its council members by wards may not redistrict those wards before
the legislature has been redistricted in a year ending in one or two. The
wards must be redistricted within 60 days after the legislature has been
redistricted or at least 19 weeks before the state primary election in the
year ending in two, whichever is first." The Legislature has set 19 March
2002 as its target date for reapportioning the state's legislative
districts. The proposed timeline and other information regarding that
process are available online at the web page of Geographic Information
Systems Office at
http://www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/gis/html/redis-list.html.
The City Charter (ch. 1, sec. 3) provides that "in each year ending in
the number two, or whenever the number of Wards is changed, or when required
by court order, [a] Redistricting Commission shall be established to draw
Ward boundaries." The Commission's members are nominated "not later than
February 1 in years ending in two." Information about the Minneapolis
redistricting process is available on the City Clerk's web page at
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/clerk/elections/redistrict.html.
After the 1990 Census, the City Council adopted new ward boundaries in
April 1992. The map resulting from that process (as revised in 1996) is
available online at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/about/maps/wards.pdf.
Brian Melendez
St. Anthony West (Ward 3)
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