A resolution on the agenda for the Tuesday, July 13 City Council meeting will be the first action in the City Council redistricting process that will take place this fall.
The Greensboro City Council elections have been delayed to March and April or May 2022, in order for this redistricting process to take place. However, preliminary figures indicate that because Greensboro has grown in population at a rate of less than 1 percent a year since 2010, the city likely will not be required to redistrict.
In 2011, the City Council was not required to redistrict but decided to do so to even up the five City Council districts. It appears it is the intent of the City Council to take similar action this year.
The resolution is titled, “Resolution Establishing an Open and Nonpartisan Procedure for the 2021 Greensboro (NC) City Council Redistricting.”
The City Council elections are nonpartisan, but the current City Council has no Republicans.
The resolution states, “an open, participatory, and transparent process whereby broad citizen input is actively sought and given full consideration in the redrawing of the Greensboro City Council districts more fully reflects the commitment of the Council to represent the will of the vote.”
The resolution notes that the new districts should be “drawn respecting and taking into consideration the integrity of our city’s neighborhoods and communities of interest.”
And that the open and transparent process “includes firm timelines announced well in advance, prompt communication of draft plans” that will be posted on accessible websites and published in local news outlets and providing people with access to redistricting tools so they can provide feedback.
The City Council doesn’t miss many opportunities to take a jab at the North Carolina Legislature, so the resolution states, “The Greensboro City Council also hereby formally requests the NC General Assembly to adopt procedures for the 2021 legislative and Congressional redistricting embodying the same principles, processes, and measures outlined above, thereby securing our citizens’ rights to participate in said redistricting on the basis of equity, nonpartisanship, fairness, and transparency.”
If the City Council actually follows the directives in the resolution, it will be a vast departure from the way this City Council has conducted the city’s business for the past four years when even some city councilmembers have not been provided with information prior to meetings about actions the majority of council planned to take.
But it is an election year.
Redistricting while the board is partisan shows zero efforts to be have continued non partisan. It reaks of pushing long term agendas to ensure future council spots.
Bingo!
The first rule of politics is to stay in office, no matter what. And what’s with . . . .”communities of interest” portion of the resolution? Isn’t ALL of Greensboro made up of communities of interest?
The current maps of the districts are designed for democrats, pure and simple.