The Peoria City Council approved a new council district map Tuesday evening. Here it is:
This is the district map known as Map “B.” It was a close vote, with the council as well as the redistricting committee divided. Ayes were Gulley (1st Dist.), Riggenbach (3rd Dist.), Irving (5th Dist.), Akeson (At-Large), Turner (At-Large), and Weaver (At-Large). Nays were Mayor Ardis, Van Auken (2nd Dist.), Spears (4th Dist.), Sandberg (At-Large), and Spain (At-Large).
On the District 150 school board’s agenda for Monday night, September 12, is a resolution to adopt a new voting district map. Every ten years, elected bodies adjust their representative boundaries to ensure equal representation by population based on the U.S. Census numbers. For District 150, things are a little more complicated because they also have to comply with a 1987 Voting Rights lawsuit settlement agreement.
Before the lawsuit, District 150 board members were all elected at-large. Now the school district has been split into three voting districts. District 1 is deliberately drawn so that it has a “voting age population which will be composed of a majority of minority race voters,” and has one representative. Districts 2 and 3 split up the remaining population and have three representatives each. Here’s how it breaks out:
| District | # of Reps | Mean Voting Age Population |
Actual Proposed Voting Age Population |
Deviation | Black Pop. | Total Minority Pop. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 10,951 | 10,717 | -2.1% | 63.47% | 73.60% |
| 2 | 3 | 32,853 | 32,839 | -0.04% | 35.84% | 45.75% |
| 3 | 3 | 32,853 | 33,102 | +0.7579% | 14.18% | 22.83% |
As you can see, it really works out to 10,951 voters per representative (ideally), but rather than split the district into seven districts, they have a goal of one with 10,951 voters and one representative, and two with 32,853 (10,951 x 3) voters and three representatives each. They don’t have to meet the goal perfectly, but they have to be within a 5% deviation of the mean. This proposed map meets that standard.
The data provided by the school district also provides a picture of what we all know but rarely see quantified: the farther north you go, the fewer minorities there are. And remember, this isn’t the entire City of Peoria, just District 150.
Here’s the proposed map:
Hat tip: Emerge Peoria
At the Uplands Residential Association meeting Thursday evening, residents voted to support establishing ten City Council districts to replace the current system of five district and five at-large representatives. Meeting attendees expressed several reasons smaller districts and the elimination of at-large representation would be better for the City. Smaller districts would:
The Uplands also voted to support eight districts with two at-large members if a ten-district solution is unachievable.
In other business, The Uplands expressed concern that the Pi Beta Phi Sorority (a.k.a. “Pi Phi House”), 1004 N. Institute Pl., which is for sale, is being listed as a multi-family residence for up to 29 people, or possible commercial location. In checking with the Planning and Growth Department of the City, the property is zoned R-4 (single-family residential), with a grandfathered sorority use. Thus, the property can only be used for a sorority or a single-family home. Any other use would require rezoning. It was decided to send a letter to the realtor explaining these facts so it can be listed accurately.
As promised at Tuesday’s council meeting, the City has released maps showing how the City might look with eight or ten council districts instead of five. Here’s the explanation:
The Ad Hoc Committee of the City Council on Redistricting conducted several public meetings regarding criteria and possible maps for new boundaries of five City Council districts. The boundary changes are required to have nearly equal districts based on the 2010 Census data. Map 12 was selected by the Committee as an example of what the boundaries could be like for five districts. For five districts, the goal of each district was 23,001 people with a maximum deviation of 5% [21,851 to 24,151].
In response to recent discussion at a neighborhood forum in the West Bluff, the Administration has prepared maps with either eight or ten districts as examples of what that number of districts could look like. Note that for each map staff used the criteria of:
- Nearly equal population with a maximum deviation of 5%, with the lower range of population in those areas planned or expecting growth
- Compact
- Contiguous
- Keeping together neighborhoods
- Using major thoroughfares as boundaries, with more weight on keeping together neighborhoods
Please find attached six maps that are examples of how the City could be divided into either eight or ten districts….
- Maps 14 – 16 are examples of eight districts, with the goal of 14,376 people with a maximum deviation of 5% for a range of 13,657 to 15,095.
- Maps 17 – 19 are examples of ten districts, with the goal of 11,500 people with a maximum deviation of 5% for a range of 10,926 to 12,076.
Note that these maps, along with minutes and recommendations from the Committee, will be scheduled for discussion at a future Council meeting.
Any questions or comments about the maps may be addressed to the City of Peoria Planning Department, 309?494?8600 or planning@ci.peoria.il.us.
And here are the maps (PDF): 
072911-Redistricting-MapsикониПравославни икони
That’s one of the questions that will be debated at the West Bluff Council Redistricting Forum taking place tonight in the Michel Student Center Ballroom at Bradley University starting at 7 p.m. Of course, the West Bluff will be looking at it from their perspective (i.e., will it be good for the West Bluff to be included in the first district?).
Here’s one interesting point for the neighborhoods to consider from that perspective. In the last election (earlier this year), there were 552 ballots cast in the West Bluff (precincts 15 through 20), and there were 654 ballots cast in the entire first district (precincts 1 through 14). Additionally, on the proposed map, downtown moves out of the first district and into the third. Downtown (precinct 12) accounted for 105 of those first district votes in the last election. This would indicate that, if the proposed map were adopted and the West Bluff got moved to the first district, the West Bluff would likely have quite a bit of influence in the election of the first district representative.
Of course, it would also be a good idea to look at this from another perspective: Is having the West Bluff (and their influence) included in the first district good for the first district?
The City Council’s redistricting committee voted to recommend Map #12 to the full Council for discussion:
I was out of town and unable to attend the meeting. But the Journal Star reports the map was approved by a 3-1 vote. Voting in favor were Barbara Van Auken (2nd Dist.), Tim Riggenbach (3rd Dist.), and Bill Spears (4th Dist.). Dan Irving (5th Dist.) voted against the map, and Clyde Gulley (1st Dist.) “was absent from the vote.”
As mentioned in a previous post, this map would move the West Bluff into the first district (from the second), and move downtown Peoria — including the Warehouse District — to the third district (from the first). The second district boundary has moved to the north. And north Peoria is more evenly divided between the fourth and fifth districts.
Spears, the chairman of the redistricting committee, reportedly said that the map, “if it’s approved by the council or not, will return to the committee for further public discussion,” after it’s discussed by the full Council.
What are your thoughts on the proposed new boundaries?
The latest proposed maps from Peoria’s Planning and Growth Department show downtown and the Warehouse District being moved from the first to the third district, and the West Bluff moving from the second to the first district. You can see the maps and population information on the city’s website, or here:
The City’s Redistricting Committee had asked staff to put more emphasis on keeping established neighborhoods together, and also to take into consideration the future growth predictions for the city. Each district needs to have relatively equal population, but can have up to a 5% deviation. Based on the deviations on these new maps, the City evidently expects to see the most growth in the first and second districts, and the least growth in the fourth and fifth districts. In 2000, the City accurately predicted the most growth would be in the fifth district.
The next redistricting committee meeting is Tuesday, July 5, at 4:30 p.m. in City Council chambers. Also, the West Bluff Council will host an open forum for West Bluff neighbors to discuss the importance of redistricting at 7 p.m. Monday, July 18, at the Bradley University Student Center.
Only a few people spoke at Tuesday’s City Council redistricting committee meeting, but those who did had one thing in common. They did not want to see their neighborhoods divided between two or more council districts. City staff was instructed to discard the maps that carved up the West Bluff and/or the Florence Avenue Neighborhood Association and come back with more alternatives that keep neighborhoods within a single council district.
There was also a request for staff to quantify what kind of population growth the City expects over the next ten years — taking into account plans for the Warehouse District, East Village Growth Cell, Main Street Commons, and growth cells in the current fifth district — and use that information to assist in drawing new district boundaries. Here’s how this information helps: when drawing new boundaries, the city is required to make each district equal in population. But they don’t have to be exactly equal — they’re allowed a range of deviation of up to five percent. So, if you expect one district to grow faster than the others, you can make that district a little smaller in population, as long as it’s within the five percent range. This helps keep districts from getting too lopsided over the next ten years.
The committee also recommended that the full City Council discuss whether to increase the number of council districts in the city and/or do away with cumulative voting for at-large council members. The committee felt that discussion was outside of their purview and should be taken up by the entire council.
The next redistricting committee meeting will be Tuesday, July 5, at 4:30 p.m. in City Council chambers. The meeting time was moved an hour earlier so that third district councilman Riggenbach (who was unable to attend last night’s meeting due to an unexpected work assignment) can attend both the redistricting committee meeting and an East Village Growth Cell meeting at Glen Oak School that same night at 6 p.m.
Continue reading Residents: Keep our neighborhoods together (UPDATED)
City staff has created nine options for new Peoria City Council districts. You can see all the proposed maps in the Redistricting Committee June 21 meeting packet from the City’s website. I’ve also put a copy of the maps on my site here:
Several different scenarios are included: columnar districts (north to south), layered districts (east to west), drawn-out-from-center districts, and districts expanded from current boundaries (there are several of these). All of them have one thing in common: the fifth district gets smaller and the other four districts get bigger.
There’s also an interesting memo from Randy Ray at the end of the packet that details what the process would be for changing the number of districts and council members, and eliminating cumulative voting for at-large council members. The City’s current system of government (five at-large council members elected by cumulative voting plus five district council members) was established as the result of a civil rights lawsuit in the 1980s, so any change to this system would have to be approved by the federal court that decided that case. In addition, state law requires that changes to the system of government be approved by the voters via referendum. So the process would be this: A public referendum would have to be drafted and approved first by the federal court and then the voters. In order to have enough time to comply with redistricting requirements, the decision would have to be made this year (2011) on whether they wanted to try to make these changes. It will be interesting to hear the discussion on this possibility at the next meeting.
The next meeting of the redistricting committee is Tuesday, June 21, at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers.
A: They’re both largely in the 17th Congressional District, according to the latest gerrymander:
Generally speaking, Peoria south of War Memorial Drive will be in the 17th, and North Peoria will be in the 18th. The 17th covers tremendous territory, extending to Illinois’ borders with Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Rockford is carved up similar to Peoria. Talk about your legislators choosing their voters….
Here’s some good coverage from Capitol Fax, the Bloomington Pantagraph, Peoria Pundit, and the Chicago Tribune.