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Tell us: How confident are you about Boston’s redistricting process?
City Council has a week to come up with and agree on the new map.
City officials have one week left to agree on a Boston City Council district map after a federal judge barred the use of the Council’s proposed map earlier this month.
The proposed district map would have moved a number of conservative-leaning and majority-white precincts in Dorchester from District 3 to District 4 with Mattapan. Precincts in South Boston would also have moved to District 3. Judge Patti Saris ruled that race played too large a role in the restructuring of the maps and prohibited the city from using the map in municipal elections this fall.
After the ruling, Mayor Michelle Wu told the City Council that it had until May 30 to come up with a new map that could be approved for use before elections in November. The mayor then proposed her own map, which she said, “unifies neighborhoods across the city.”
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“I believe that putting whole neighborhoods in single council districts encourages neighborhood organizing and civic engagement,” Wu wrote in a letter to City Council. “With that goal in mind, our proposed map unifies neighborhoods across the city. The result is a City Council district map that unifies communities of interest within districts and attempts, as best as possible, to reflect how residents experience the city in their daily lives.”
City Councilor Kendra Lara has also proposed a new map that brings South Boston into a single district, keeps the areas of Cedar Grove and Adams Village in District 3, and unifies Lower Mills, Little Saigon, and West Roxbury, among other changes.
Michelle Wu Redistricting P… by Ross Cristantiello
Kendra Lara Redistricting Map 5.15.23 by Ross Cristantiello on Scribd
The redistricting process has been contentious for the City Council. Conservative and moderate members of the council objected to the original map’s divvying up of District 3 and two members, President Ed Flynn and Frank Baker, helped fund the court challenge of the initial map. Progressive lawmakers, however, argue that the new map should undercut the political power of people of color and immigrants.
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The Council’s Civil Rights Committee has been tasked with creating the new map. The Committee is chaired by Ruthzee Louijeune and Erin Murphy, both at-large councilors. District 1 Councilor Gabriela Coletta pushed for the issue to be taken up by the Committee to emphasize voting rights as a civil rights issue.
“We are charged by a federal court ruling…to go back to the drawing board. We need to ensure that any and all political motivations are left at the door, and that we conduct a fair and open and impartial process moving forward,” Coletta told Boston.com.
With the May 30 deadline looming and fall elections just months away, we want to know: Do you think the redistricting plans are being rushed?
Tell us if you think the City Council has enough time to put together a satisfactory plan or if they should postpone this process further to get it right. Share your thoughts by filling out the survey below or e-mailing us at [email protected] and we may feature your response in a future article or on Boston.com social media channels.
Should City Council postpone redistricting plans?
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