Commissioners present: Trostel, Claypatch, Ferrara,
Markus, Pettiford, Schwarzkopf, Stafford.
Commissioners absent: Collier, Finch.
Meeting was called to order. After roll was taken the
agenda and minutes from the previous meeting were
approved.
There will be a special meeting of the Redistricting
Commission at 6pm on Thursday, March 14 to solicite
input from members of the various diversity
communities. The meeting will take place in the
Council Chambers, Rm 317, in City Hall. Due to
scheduling conflicts, Minneapolis Cable will not be
able to cover the proceedings, though an attempt was
made by the commission for the meeting to be
televised.
Each commissioner was asked what criteria/guidelines
they were interested in using to draw the map.
Commissioner Ferrara expressed the hope that the
commission could avoid splitting neighborhoods as much
as possible. He recounted his experience in the Linden
Hills neighborhood during the 80's when they had two
(or three) council members. Commissioner Pettiford
spoke briefly of making sure that all of the city were
represented.
Commissioner Stafford would like to see the map drawn
with only a 2% deviation as much as possible, no
drastic changes in the current map (only those to
obtain the correct populations) and would like to see
4 minority opportunity wards. Commissioner
Schwartzkopf would like to see as little as a 1 or 1/2
% deviation (!), also would like to see as little
change in the map as possible (keep similar wards),
cut neighborhoods as little as possible keeping in
mind the deviation and at least 2 minority opp. wards.
Commissioner Markus expressed mixed feelings on
splitting neighborhoods and about there being a
downtown ward and also was somewhat dismissive about
consideration of where current CMs are (incumbent
protection). Commissioner Claypatch said he didn't
have a preset list and reiterated some of what was
said earlier by the others.
Ferrara questioned the need for a smaller deviation
than the charter requires. Schwartzkopf and Stafford
noted the legal requirements while keeping communities
of interest together.
There is an interest by most of the commissioners to
keep the Hollman development in mind when drawing the
map. Schwartkopf questioned doing so when the
development and residents aren't there yet. The others
still seemed to want to consider those future
residents when drawing the map due to the enormity of
the project and projected new residents.
The commission went over the timeline for completing
the plan and moved the date for accepting the
tentative plan to April 2 so as to fulfill legal
notice requirements. The commission meeting to
finalize the ward plan shall be on April 12. The last
public hearing on the plan shall be April 11.
There will be a training for commissioners and staff
on the GIS mapping system tomorrow at 2pm at 220
TriTech Bldg. There are only 5 computers licensed to
use the mapping tech and arrangements were made so as
to make it more convenient for staff to use it at odd
hours.
Meeting adjourned at about 7:30.
Loki Anderson
Marshall Terrace
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
There were apparently a couple other list members
present, 'cause when Rick Stafford mentioned David
Brauer's maps in an aside, there were a couple soft
chuckles from the audience. I hope others share their
observations.
=====
"In their styes with all their backing
They don't care what goes on around
In their eyes there's something lacking
What they need's a damn good whacking"
-George Harrison
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