Orlando Commissioner Daisy Lynum (District 5), called one redistricting map proposal presented at a recent Community Redistricting Advisory Board Meeting, “a cruel joke”.
Lynum was outraged over the drawing of district lines from two districts represented by African Americans, which aims to reduce the Black population in each to a level of 50 percent or lower. She charged that, Doug Head, a former Orange County Democratic Committee Chairman, is aggressively pushing this, because reportedly, there has been significant growth of African Americans in other Orlando neighborhoods, such as Metrowest and Rosemont.
Lynum said that Head’s proposal includes moving the Mercy Drive/Silver Star corridor, Parramore and the Rock Lake neighborhoods to District 3, represented by Commissioner Robert Stuart of College Park. The map proposal also shifts the Metrowest Community from District 6 to District 5.
“Residents at the meeting were shocked by this proposed demolition of the two districts by a man once considered an ally for the West side,” Lynum said in a statement. “Doug Head’s proposal was so extreme that the Advisory Board voted it down by a slim margin of five to four, with Chairman Wayne Rich, Jacqueline Barr, a D-5 appointee, and Bishop Allen Wiggins, a D-6 appointee, leading the charge.”
But Head’s proposal was not without support as Cleave Frink, appointed by District 3 Commissioner Stuart, said it was worth considering.
“Doug Head’s proposal for District 5 and District 6 is a move backwards in minority/majority drawn districts, which would result in a legal challenge,” Lynum declared. “All City residents must stay engaged in the redistricting process to ensure that we are following the law as much as is practicable.”
It was unclear at the meeting whether Head was a shill for a particular commissioner or had drawn the district lines based on his own naive understanding of redistricting.
The editorial suggestion at the end of this article is excessive. I am neigher a shill nor naive. I am trying to wrestle with the fact that the City of Orlando, with the support of Commissioner Lynum, has annexed massive new neighborhoods and that White and Hispanic residents have moved into that annexed territory. At the same time Black residents have also moved out of older core neighborhoods and into new areas where they need a stronger voice. The movement of people compells change and some of the change is going to be painful for certain elected officials who want to cling to power based on old assumptions. It is surely an interesting discussion and a lot more people need to be in on the discussion about the future. Factually, the Committee accepted a revision of this proposal (one which was worse in some respects for the Commissioner) but I am hopeful that the era of packing black voters into one district is over. Commissioenr Ings wins electiosn in a Dsitrict that is 47% Black. A black Commissioner ought to be able to win election in a district that is 51% Black as is District 5 (Lynum currrently) in this proposal. When you add in the benefit of a strong 40% black voice in a third district, this is an idea that merits discussion, not accusations. It is not a “joke”.