URGENT: City Council may ditch one gerrymandering plan for another!

Trial A for Trial D switcheroo may be under way! 

 

High-level rumor has it that the Columbia City Council may ditch the vastly unpopular Ward Reapportionment Trial D at the last minute FOR the slightly less unpopular Trial A.   

 

But the People have spoken and want Trial E!

 

Sounds like the Town Bosses are hoping to catch Benton-Stephens neighbors flat-footed and use the old "divide and conquer" strategy.  "We Want a Gerrymander plan," the Bosses are crying down at City Hall.   "We want them central city progressives out of our hair!   If we can't get all of 'em out, then we'll take half of 'em out." 

 

Trial D robs several 4th Ward neighborhoods and Benton-Stephens neighbors in the 3rd Ward of their Council representation.   Trial A just robs Benton-Stephens of its Council representation.   Both Trial A and Trial D are gerrymandering plans designed to decrease central city representation on the Columbia City Council. 

 

"Don't let the Columbia City Council weasel out and vote for a different BAD PLAN!" is the new rally cry.  "TRIAL E is what the public wants. 

 

Not Trial A.  Not Trial D.  Not Trial B.    The People Want Trial E."   

 

 

1 comment:

1. 
   Pam Cooper October 16, 2011 at 8:01 AM

   After reading David Webber's Op-Ed in the Sunday Trib, I'm thinking that we just ought to throw out all plans and start over again, this time considering the possibility of having at least some, if not all, at-large council members. As he points out, the current system invites gerrymandering mischief as we have seen in the current heated controversy, and also serves the city less well because council members tend to address the best interests of their ward, or at worst, themselves and their supporters, rather than the best interests of the city overall. I also continue to question how a city that has grown as rapidly as Columbia in the last several years can operate with only six council members.

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