Decatur City Commission Votes Once For Two District Voting Map
Decatur Metro | June 8, 2011Here’s something I probably should have mentioned before the Mayor’s casual “corking fee” observation post yesterday.
On Monday, the Decatur City Commission set up two maps in their meeting room at City Hall. One showed two voting districts (both alike in dignity) with three areas moved from the northern district into the south to abide by the “one person/one vote” law, and the other a five-district map – one for each commish – that cobbled together a majority minority district.
Now I couldn’t see the five-district map, but Commissioner Cunningham made reference that it looked a bit like Fulton County, and that the borders didn’t really make as much sense as the current North/South split. She even went so far as to say that the five-district sorta felt like “gerrymandering”, and that if/when the U.S. Justice Dept. called her about the redistricting – since she’s the only minority race commissioner – she would wholeheartedly endorse the two district map.
At the end of the discussion, the Commission voted unanimously in favor of the two district map. Now, per the Fed, the City Commission must vote TWICE on the new maps, giving the public time to voice its opinion. So they will vote again on the maps next week.
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Hoping we won’t be calling for a plague on both the districts anytime soon.
Love the Shakespeare reference, and please no poxes (especially since those are contagious!)
The 5-district map available anywhere? I’m kinda curious what sort of gerrymandering was required to get a majority-minority district.
There was piece in the AJC yesterday or the day before, in the DeKalb County section of Metro, about Kecia Cunningham’s concerns about the loss of diversity in the City of Decatur. Not sure if those comments and this one are related.
This is what Ms. Cunningham said:
“We are basically losing our long-time African American neighborhoods,” she said. “We are a city that’s long prided itself on diversity, yet when the rubber meets the road, we’re not living up to that promise. We’re becoming more of a homogenous middle-class city.”
My question is, why do so many believe the word “diversity” means only African-America vs. European-American (gotta stick with the PC terms)?
To Ms. Cunningham, I say “rubbish.” Decatur DOES live up to its promise of diversity. Take a look around at one of our many city events…gay and lesbian, young and old, black and white, liberal and conservative, American and foreign-born, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant, etc. Decatur IS diversity.
Finally, what the hell is wrong with Decatur being a middle-class city? The city (and for that matter, the county, state and country) thrive with a strong middle class.
I despise her sort of narrow-minded thinking; it leads only to continued division between classes, races, ethnicities, religions, and preference.
Perhaps it was just a poorly chosen phrase but I can’t help but miss the irony of characterizing diversity in terms of “African American neighborhoods.” Categorizing a neighborhood by race is pretty much the polar opposite of diversity, from both a theoretical and practical standpoint.
Changes have taken place here over the years. Many (most?) have been positive but some have served to make the city either less desirable or less accessible for significant numbers of African Americans. This is unfortunate and I think most Decaturites would agree with certain efforts to remedy it (though there would likely be much disagreement over exactly what type of efforts were appropriate).
That said, I have no desire to extend open arms to the African American community only to have them end up in an “African American neighborhood.” My neighborhood is open to all. Ya’ll come.
“…less desirable or less accessible for significant numbers of African Americans.” How so, specifically to African Americans?
Those are the dramatic numbers. There seems to be general agreement that AAs are leaving both by choice (that is, the community has become less desirable to them for whatever reasons) and/or because they can no longer afford to stay (meaning the city has become less accessible, economically speaking).
It is, or could be, equally true for white residents who have left, but I wasn’t referring to them because that’s not what the thread was talking about.
DTR: “I despise her sort of narrow minded thinking; it leads only to continued division between classes, races, ethnicities, religions, and preferences.”
Whoo boy… I’d say this isn’t so much a case of Kecia Cunningham being a narrow minded thinker as it is of your narrow reading of the AJC article using only your lens on race and class, then deciding you knew what she meant. Maybe you didn’t find the dramatic census shift startling (or newsworthy enough to mention). She was simply stating facts– facts that are a real concern to many Decatur folks. You’ll find many of the same things said in the Strategic Plan’s Roundtables comments and in threads on here.
And take Commissioner Cunningham’s election districts stance: At Monday’s Commission Meeting (and the previous one where the election districts were first discussed), her comments were focused on what truly matters: having election boundaries that fall naturally along neighborhood lines to allow for bringing neighbors together, not just artificially piecing something together. She also stated that she would be very comfortable in taking the Dept of Justice phone call to say that the map without the majority minority district is the way to go. Not much divisive about that!
That one dang weird no-context blurb by the AJC, but certainly worth giving its own post.