Redistricting Plan Approved Despite Concerns About One Westside Precinct

A five-member panel tasked with redrawing the seven County Council districts unanimously approved a plan that unites several communities that were split up 10 years ago while also protecting all seven incumbents.

However, one proposed change in the map, shifting the Woodlawn High School precinct from the 4th District to the 1st District, didn't sit well with one member of the commission.

"It's making it very hard for me to vote positive on this," said Ralph Wright, a commission member selected by Councilman Ken Oliver.

"We're swinging the numbers of District 1, they're now higher than District 4," said Wright. 'We've almost reversed what we've started with."

Wright said he would have preferred to move the Featherbed Lane Elementary School precinct from Oliver's district to the one represented by Councilman Tom Quirk. The net effect would have been to create two districts about about 113,000 people each, Wright said.

Other commission members said moving the Woodlawn High School precinct made more sense because it keeps Quirk's district more compact. It had the extra benefit of making the 1st District nearly 30 percent African-American — the second highest concentration of the seven redrawn council districts.

Wright ultimately agreed to vote for the plan when members of the commission agreed to add language to a report that outlined his objections. Wright said the message would allow the council to consider his concerns.

Ed Crizer, chairman of the commission, said the panel looked at the issue of creating a second minority-majority district.

"Mathematically, I don't think it would have worked out," Crizer said, adding that a second such district might have been possible only if the commission could have added an eight district.

The commission legally could not add or subtract districts.

Crizer and others pointed out that the increase in African-American voters in the 1st District could ultimately lead to the creation of that second minority-majority district.

Wednesday's final meeting of the commission and its three earlier public hearings differed from the redistricting process 10 years ago.

In 2001, the council took it upon itself to redistrict the county as had been done in previous decades. During that process, the council erased  district lines completely in an attempt to create a district that was expected to elect the county's first African-American council member.

But that process divided a number of communities throughout the county and ended in one of the best attended and most contentious council meetings anyone could remember. Because of that, the council changed the County Charter to create a commission that would be charged with redrawing the districts.

The commission's three public hearings and the final meeting Wednesday were lightly attended.

Other highlights of the plan include re-uniting the Perry Hall area into the 5th District, and most of Reisterstown will also fall into the 2nd District with part in the 4th District. Previously, the area was split into three districts.

None of the seven members were redistricted out of their current seats.

"We really can't take a council member away from the vast majority of people in a district who elected them," said Robert Latshaw, the lone Republican on the commission.

Politically speaking, most council members said they believed the changes strengthened their positions in their respective districts.

It is likely that the council will schedule a public hearing on the commission's recommendation for August.

A vote on the proposal could come as early as September.