City council redistricting map meeting
By: Crystal Whitman
Updated: July 13, 2012
Who represents you could soon be changing in the City of Shreveport, as the city redraws lines to reflect census results.
Council members held a meeting tonight at Independence Stadium
A series of public meetings are underway to educate, Shreveport residents on new boundary lines being drawn up for the City Council's 7 districts.
Thursday night, the meeting consisted of an over view of the 2010 census and how it applies to the redistricting process
The meeting included a presentation by demographer Gary Joiner, who drew the maps, followed by a question and answer session.
"the City of Shreveport over the last 10 years have been very stable in total population. However, we have seen a lot of movement in and around the city itself so district D, the southeast part of the city has grown almost 19% where district b has shrunk 10 %.
There's been a tremendous amount of growth in high-end housing in district D because of the fear of crime.
"People that want to stay in Shreveport but don't want to be in the old corp, that is the place of preference so they are really moving out there," Joiner said.
For a redistricting plan to succeed, it needs to take into account the demographics of the communities within a district, so elected officials reflect a balanced area.
http://www.shreveportla.gov/pdf/Proposed%20Council%20Redistricting%20plan%206.pdf
