October 5, 2011 Final City Council Amended Maps

Since last week three new "final" amended maps are now posted at http://www.dallascityhall.com/Redistricting/planReview.html .  Two are under the "October 5, 2011 Final City Council Amended Maps" heading and a third is posted below that with "October 5, Proposed Floor Amendment Map" in the heading.  A statistical report on each map is given.

With these maps, a total of 14 maps have been considered since the redistricting process left the Redistricting Commission and went before the Dallas City Council. The third alternative map for consideration 10-5-11 is by Council members Atkins, Caraway and Davis.  It is also the fourth map of these 14 considered by the Dallas City Council that has two minority coalition districts. (Minority coalition districts are those districts wherein no single ethnic group has a voting age population majority.)

Only one of these four, 2 coalition district, maps also has 8 majority minority districts. That is wPlan03c presented by Mayor Rawlings. The other three only have 7 majority minority districts, and too many of those majority districts are very weak.

Only one of these 14 maps also has three majority Black districts that are also all above 52% Black voting age. That is wPlan03c presented by Mayor Rawlings that has all three Black voting age districts above 55%. This map also has a 30.7% Black voting age coalition district that could easily be amended to be above 35% Black voting age without affecting the other strong majority Black districts.

Only one of these 14 maps also has five majority Hispanic districts that are above 54% Hispanic voting age. That is wPlan03c presented by Mayor Rawlings that has all Hispanic voting age majority districts above 57%. Four of those 5 districts are above 62%!

Only one of these 14 maps also is the most compact of all maps being considered. That is wPlan03c presented by Mayor Rawlings.  It has an average district perimeter that is 32.64 miles, several miles shorter than the other maps.

The normal result of having the most compact redistricting map in a town that is over 71% minority is that you will also have the highest minority representation, especially when it seems the other maps were designed to minimize minority representation. The days of an Anglo majority on the Dallas City Council should be coming to an end unless there is a refusal to follow the redistricting guidelines we are supposed to be working under, and the laws of this great nation.

Eight minority seats should be almost certain, but that is only true with the plan by Mayor Rawlings. With Mayor Rawling's plan, not only is an 8th district an almost certainty, but a 9th, and maybe even a 10th minority seat, are real possibilities due to the two minority opportunity districts.  Here is a chart that documents these differences between the plans:

Click on chart to enlarge it.

The exception to the representation predicted above is that candidate competence may overshadow all other variables in voting. Hopefully such visible competence and dedication will become increasingly common as more candidates of all races file for office in more compact districts on all sides of Dallas.  Dallas is in a place to become a truly great American City as a more truly representative city council helps that happen.

Another positive note about progress in Dallas relates to the stories that have been floated about Dallas loosing Black population.  While this is true, it represents a loss of less than 6/10 of one percentage point in the Black population.  The redistricting agony in finding a 4th Black district is due to the 16,000 Blacks who moved out of the four Black majority districts in Dallas.  However, over 11,000 of this population did not leave Dallas.  Most of the Black population movement appears to have been to the north within Dallas.  Many of the northern districts grew significantly in Black population.  An increasingly inclusive Dallas is certainly not a problem!