Councilman DeJohn Proposes Council Districts

By Dave Freneaux
(For an Editorial on this subject, see "The Elephant in the Room" under Editorials.)

    In an interview with Central Speaks, Council Member Louis DeJohn shared that he is moving forward with an Ordinance which would create five City Council Districts for the 2014 Central City Council elections.  Mr. DeJohn says many Central citizens have made it clear that they want each area of the city to have a single Council Member who lives in their area to be elected by that area and represent their needs to the Council.  With all five current Council Members living in School Board District 1, citizens in other areas of Central have expressed that they were not well represented in the current "At Large" Council election format.  This Ordinance will be introduced at next Tuesday’s Council meeting, but by law no discussion or action will be taken until the following Council meeting on July 12th.

    Council Members LoBue, Messina and Washington campaigned in favor of Districts in 2010, and Council Members Moak and DeJohn have since come out in support of Districts.  Mr. DeJohn further notes that the City Council recently unanimously approved $20,000 for the hiring of a demographer, which is a required step in the process of creating of Districts.  The process of creating districts of equal population and then having the Districts approved by the Justice Department does take time, which is the reason Council Member DeJohn is introducing this Ordinance at this time.