Yesterday afternoon, the D.C. Council gave preliminary approval to a revised redistricting plan after a pair of high-profile amendments to the plan failed to garner the votes needed to enact changes.
The revised plan, as noted on Monday, is a big political win for Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells. Wells’ ward would have fractured along neighborhood lines under the previous plan. In the new plan, the D.C. Jail’s 2,000 or so inmates and the waterfront Reservation 13 tract would be counted as part of Ward 7, allowing Ward 6 to continue to hold the entirety of both the Hill East and Rosedale neighborhoods.
The loudest complaints about the plan came from Ward 8’s Marion Barry, who was the lone dissenting vote on the final bill. Barry, who frequently stated that he believed “the fix was in” in regards to redistricting plan, was certainly was the Councilmember who was the most hard done by, if you want to look at it in those terms. He was unable to politically maneuver the Census tract holding Nationals Park into his ward, and actually lost a portion of the ward that included a new development featuring a Yes! Organic Market. Dubbing the process racially motivated and “morally wrong,” Barry threatened to bring a complaint to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder over the new map. Any action on the part of Holder seems like an incredible longshot, though.
Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh also suggested moving the portion of Woodley Park lying in Ward 1 over to her ward, an expected move which would not have created a domino effect requiring other changes. But Councilmembers voted it down, opting to show solidarity for the work of the redistricting committee. Councilmember Phil Mendelson, a member of the committee, also noted that the addition of Woodley Park to Ward 3 would give it the highest deviation from the average ward population.
The Council will hold a final vote on the plan on June 21 at 10 a.m. Beginning the day after, eight ward redistricting committees consisting of residents appointed by ward councilmembers will be formed in order to propose new boundaries of the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
