KEEP IT SIMPLE
April Webb stood up and asked why wouldn't we disturb
as few people as possible with local redistricting. Her ques
tion came at the first redistricting public hearing at Gaines
Elementary School, and it cut right to the heart of the compet
ing plans to slice and dice Athens-Clarke County. Her question
provided a moment of clarity that made you stop and think:
why indeed would we shift all these people around when we
don't have to?
There's something about redistricting that makes people go
crazy. We're required to have voting districts that are equal in
population and don't discriminate against racial minorities. But
redistricting also seems to be open season for righting every
wrong in government or wronging every right.
April Webb looked at the redistricting committee's maps
and its percentages and totals, and she noticed that Linda
Meggers, probably the most experienced redistricting consul
tant in the state, has shifted lines to bring districts back into
relative population equality as required by law without diluting
minority voting strength. Then, April Webb looked at the com
mittee's other plan, which equalizes districts while increasing
minority strength in some and decreasing it in others. She
noticed that this second plan, in order to accomplish changes
not much different from the first plan, relies on massive voter
displacement into new districts—in some districts half or
more of the citizens would be
voting in new districts and
new precincts. April Webb
compared the two plans that
accomplish basically the same
thing—except that one relies
on massive voter disloca
tion—and asked "Why?"
Why indeed cause 43,000
people (twice that if you
include superdistrict reas
signments) to have to vote in
new polling places, instead of
only 4300 under consultant Linda Meggers' plan? People have
enough trouble remembering where to vote now. A massive dis-
location on the scale of 43,000 voters is a needless disruption
of voting patterns—which of course hits hardest on those who
are working two jobs and taking care of a house full of kids
and have trouble keeping up with where their voting booth will
be this year. Such a plan disenfranchises the very minority vot- :
ers it aims to enhance.
Meanwhile, speaking of minority voters, our newly minted
Republican representative Doug McKillip has been lurking on
the fringes of the redistricting debate, promising to produce
his own plan that will enhance Republican voting in our non
partisan local elections. [See City Dope, p. 4.] McKillip showed
up at the Gaines Elementary hearing and cross-examined Linda r
Meggers like a trial lawyer, trying every trick to get her to say
that she had been instructed to protect incumbent commis
sioners in her redistricting plan.
But that's not all. Word came at that redistricting hear
ing that local lawyer Ken Dious has produced his own plan
to enhance minority voting by eliminating our superdistricts
and creating 10 smaller commission districts. Before the local
redistricting committee could even sit down to examine the
Dious plan, Rep. McKillip expressed so much admiration for it
that you would think he wrote it himself. McKillip is even sub
mitting the Dious plan to the district designers in Atlanta as
the starting point for his own still awaited plan to redo ACC.
So now, as our local redistricting committee is winding up
its business with public hearings, we've got a last-minute plan
that would re-write the structure of our local government, and
McKillip is sending it to Atlanta with his blessing.
There are many good arguments to be made for and against
superdistricts, but behind closed doors in Atlanta is not the
place for those arguments about Athens.
April Webb nailed it. Redistricting Athens-Clarke County can
easily be effected with minimal disruption of voting patterns,
and that's the way we should do it. All the rest is politics,
which should be debated in the proper forums and addressed
by our citizens, with changes made to our government as they
see fit, not foisted upon us by clandestine interests purporting
to be fair and balanced.
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole com
Why indeed cause
43,000 people
(twice that if you
include superdistrict
reassignments) to
have to vote in new
polling places...?
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
NEWS <§2 FEATURES
City Dope 5
Athens News and Views
Students protested the Board of Regents' ban on undocumented students at the
Arch last week.
Google That Sh!t 8
Search: Haiti minimum wage
Don't expect the standard of living to rise here as long as the U S is enabling
wage slavery in Haiti.
Art Notes 9
Surprise the Sky
Trace Gallery s current exhibit features three artists who explore transformative
processes
Reality Check 23
Matters of the Heart and Loins
Yes. you should try online dating
IM1US0©
Threats & Promises 11
Music News and Gossip
Donations collected for musician Tim White! New music from Vespolma, Gripe and
Ken Will Morton 1 And more...
FLT RSK 13
This Is the RMX!
Local electronic wonders celebrate the release of their remix album featuring some
of Athens' best DJs
LETTERS 4
CITY DOPE 5
CITY PAGES 5
CAPITOL IMPACT 6
ATHENS RISING 7
GOOGLE THAT SH!T 8
ART NOTES 9
MOVIE DOPE 10
THREATS & PROMISES 11
RECORD REVIEWS 12
FLT RSK 13
VIEUX FARKA T0URE 14
THE CALENDAR! 15
BULLETIN BOARD 20
ART AROUND TOWN 21
COMICS 22
REALITY CHECK 23
CLASSIFIEDS 24
EVERYDAY PEOPLE 27
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