As you may recall from previous posts, the City of Houston is adding two additional Council seats due to population increases.

Yesterday, the first draft of a map was presented at City Council along with animated discussion of the proposed plan.

I am, admittedly, a bit of a demographic junkie and enjoy studying numbers. The census data for the City of Houston has fascinated since the release in February. Our City is truly the melting pot we thought it to be.

Our population has also done something else that we don’t see in many major cities. It has diversified across the city. No single existing Council district has a majority of White residents. These numbers reflect that our diverse population crosses all the boundaries. While I personally feel that this is something to celebrate, it creates true challenges for redistricting.

The City’s overall population is 43% Hispanic. Unfortunately, that number does not correlate with registered voters. Our make-up shifts dramatically when we evaluate voting age population and those registered to vote.

Latino Council Members are already voicing their opposition to the maps presented. Council Member James Rodriguez issued a statement yesterday and stated, “This morning the administration unveiled the Proposed Redistricting Plan for the City of Houston and I regret to say that it is a plan that Latino leaders, activists and the overall Latino community should not support.”

The new plan solidifies population of the two existing Latino districts and creates two additional “opportunity” districts. “Opportunity” means that the Hispanic population is more than 50% but there are not enough registered voters currently to dominate the voting population in the district.

The City Planning Department has more information available on each district. Click here.

Here’s the map presented at Council on Wednesday:
redistrict_map