As the 2011 redistricting process draws to a close, residents will have a final opportunity to offer their input at a public hearing on Monday afternoon during which Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and the city council will be asked to accept the report of the Redistricting Advisory Board (RAB).
At a workshop on Monday morning, chair of the 2011 RAB, Wayne Rich, formally presented the Final Report of a Recommended Plan for Redistricting to the City Council, which has the unanimous approval of the RAB.
In presenting the final report, Rich recalled the duties of the RAB from the outset and noted that the process was “more of a challenge than anyone else anticipated.”
He informed that over the last several months, the RAB held more than a dozen public hearings, six of which were held in the community in each of the City Council districts. Nearly a dozen sub-committee meetings in which citizens of Orlando participated had also been convened.
The RAB’s recommended plan for redistricting emerged from 66 different versions of maps presented, 22 of which had been put forward by the public, Rich said. The maps were winnowed down to 21, which the RAB discussed and accepted for further consideration. The single recommended plan kept existing boundaries largely intact, he said.
Rich lauded the public’s participation in the redistricting process, noting that it was a “vital component.”
The most significant changes highlighted in the recommended 2011 plan include:
- District 1 experienced a population decline from 52,980 to 38,320 persons, to bring it in line with the ‘ideal’ population size
- District 2 has a nearly 54 percent predominantly Hispanic population, on account of population growth
- District 5 has seen a decline of 2 percent of the African-American population to less than 65 percent
- District 6 no longer has a majority of African-Americans, although it still has a majority-minority district when all minority groups are added together.
“My concern is that District 6 has lost some of its minority voter support, and not only in the population, but also in the territory,” said Sam Ings, Commissioner District 6. “Obviously, I will be submitting some amendments to this. Hopefully, it will be such that it will be amenable to us all.”
Ings doesn’t have a lot of time to do so, as well as, garner the support from all concerned.
The City Council is being asked to accept the Final Report of a Recommended Plan for Redistricting today, following which it will be reduced to an Ordinance for the first reading, expected to take place on October 17. While not effective until the City Charter is amended, a second reading and adoption of the Ordinance is planned for October 31.
The proposed time table is to have city commissioners in charge of their newly contoured districts effective November 14, when the Ordinance takes effect.
