Redistricting Meeting Held at Roscoe Wilson

The City of Lubbock held its third Redistricting Meeting on Wednesday evening in the Roscoe Wilson Elementary Cafeteria.  The Committee Members attending included:

• J.O. Warnick, Jr., Chairman
• Burley Owen
• Maurice Stanley of Jerry's Barber Shop
• Olga Aguero
• Maurice Williams
• Morris Wilkes
• Marc McDougal, former Mayor
• Byrnie Bass
• Bill Bates
• Maggie Trejo, former City Councilwoman
• Ken Corbin
• Michelle Hunter
• Charlie Hamilton

City Staff attending included:

• Sam Medina, City Attorney
• John Grace, Asst. City Attorney
• Becky Garza, City Secretary
• Quincy White, Asst. City Manager

District 3 City Councilman Todd Klein and his wife Manda also attended.

Baylor University Law School Professor Michael Morrision, who worked with the City on the previous two Redistricting efforts, opened the meeting and explained the reasons why Lubbock must go through the process.  City Council Districts are based upon population.  Mr. Morrison reported that the 2010 Census showed Lubbock's population to be 229,573. Divided by the six districts mandated by the City Charter, each district should have 38,262.  The current district boundaries show the following populations:

1. 33,096
2. 33,149
3. 36,120
4. 38,661
5. 44,817
6. 43,730

So with the exception of District 4, some boundaries must be adjusted to get the population numbers in line without diluting any minority representation. The majority of the population grew toward the South and Southwest. 

Mr. Morrision detailed the demographic breakdowns of the districts. 
District Three:
White     64%
Black       6%
Hispanic 27%
Other       3%

He then showed four proposed maps which attempt to address the required boundary changes.  Mr. Morrision said that in additionally the boundaries were drawn to be consistent with the current voting precincts. 

Several citizens asked questions about the process, the availability of information, demographic and population shifts.

All Lubbock residents are invited to attend any of the remaining three meetings scheduled for the remainder of this month.

UNIT resident Mary Vines, commented that the map that best represented the District without strange boundaries is Model 2B.