Detroit's City Council Districts Decided

**MSUguy** · January-20-12, 02:30 PM

After a years-long battle, and a city charter revision requiring it, the Detroit City Council on Monday will publicly unveil four draft maps of seven council districts from which members will be elected next year.

[Proposed district images added by moderator] The proposed districts, if approved, would require most current council members to move to continue to serve, City Council President Charles Pugh said in an exclusive interview this week. At least four live in one proposed district.None of the proposed maps includes a downtown district, elevating concerns that the fate of Detroit’s corporate heart will compete in one district against neighborhoods. And each of the four maps includes a southwest district, which could lead to the election of the city’s first Hispanic city council member.“The overriding goal was to follow state law,” Pugh said. “There is no way to draw the lines due to race, religion, income, influence of your neighborhood. Obviously, nobody wants to create pockets of poverty or pockets of wealth. But we also want to comport with state law. You err on the side of state law.http://www.freep.com/article/2012012...text|FRONTPAGE''I don't see major any issues with them, but I'm inclined to pick 1 or 2 as they keep downtown and midtown together.1.http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4184121120.PDF2.http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4184122120.PDF

3.http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4184123120.PDF

4.http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4184124120.PDF

**Brian1979** · January-20-12, 02:43 PM

This is a good move indeed. This should have been done years ago, now we just need a real city council.

**Danny** · January-20-12, 03:21 PM

It won't be no coucil by districts if Governor Snyder, the Nerd appoints a Emergency Manager.

**Richard** · January-20-12, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by Brian1979

This is a good move indeed. This should have been done years ago, now we just need a real city council.

Exactly , just think if the neighborhoods had representation years ago how nice they probably would be now,city council members must live in and fight for their district if they do not then they get voted out by the residents that are in the district . It gives the voice back to the residents provided they speak up.

**Brian1979** · January-21-12, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by Richard

Exactly , just think if the neighborhoods had representation years ago how nice they probably would be now,city council members must live in and fight for their district if they do not then they get voted out by the residents that are in the district . It gives the voice back to the residents provided they speak up.

It's almost like making seven different cities, but it'd all be one big city. I think this is going to do a lot to rebuild Detroit if this is done correctly. Now we need to get going on mass transit.

**antongast** · January-21-12, 01:23 AM

Just eyeballing these, the third one seems the most logical to me in terms of which areas are put together. It has the fewest votes in the poll, though.

**mam2009** · January-24-12, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by antongast

Just eyeballing these, the third one seems the most logical to me in terms of which areas are put together. It has the fewest votes in the poll, though.

Ditto. The way the neighborhoods are grouped seems to be more closely tied to how those neighborhoods historically have tended to identify with each other anyway. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

**Gistok** · January-20-12, 04:11 PM

Some of these are pretty unusual... such as #4 that has St. John Hospital [[far east as you can go) and includes, east riverfront, Belle Isle, RenCen, Greektown and Eastern Market...

**DetroitPlanner** · January-20-12, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by MSUguy

I don't see major any issues with them, but I'm inclined to pick 1 or 2 as they keep downtown and midtown together.

If they were split between two districts and they share common needs then why on earth would you only want one representative on council???

Just as well. Better for the neighborhoods.

**Hypestyles** · January-20-12, 04:25 PM

interesting.. so are the designs going to a formal public vote or is it just based on general "feedback" at these public meetings and whoever makes a phone call or sends a letter?

**Detroitnerd** · January-20-12, 04:33 PM

Actually, I'm pretty satisfied with the districts.

**maxx** · January-20-12, 04:40 PM

Doesn't it say something about the pool of potential council candidates that four are from one part of the city? Are these districts really going to improve the council?

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · January-20-12, 05:36 PM

You can vote in a freep poll if you follow that link

**Detroitnerd** · January-20-12, 05:55 PM

I expect there will be some shady dealings where carpetbags will "move from" Palmer Park to some in-name-only house where they spend a couple hours a week. How will we enforce district representation? That's another question we haven't answered.

**Richard** · January-20-12, 06:05 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

I expect there will be some shady dealings where carpetbags will "move from" Palmer Park to some in-name-only house where they spend a couple hours a week. How will we enforce district representation? That's another question we haven't answered.

That's when a thing called civic duty steps in ,if you know about it make it heard or recall them and vote somebody else in that will care about their district and who lives there.

**laphoque** · January-20-12, 11:16 PM

Originally Posted by Richard

That's when a thing called civic duty steps in ,if you know about it make it heard or recall them and vote somebody else in that will care about their district and who lives there.

Exactly. It's incumbent on the citizens to watch this. And I think they will. People are aware of a councilmember in their neighborhood. Cockrel would show up to blockparties.

I'm pleasantly surprised. Now if we can get rid of the council's drivers and somehow force them to make use of the bus. Then we might have a viable transit system.

**corktownyuppie** · January-22-12, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

I expect there will be some shady dealings where carpetbags will "move from" Palmer Park to some in-name-only house where they spend a couple hours a week. How will we enforce district representation? That's another question we haven't answered.

It's a tough question, though I think it won't too much of a factor. At the end of the day, politicians are acutely aware of the people who are voting for them. If you look at the districts on any of those maps, someone living on the border of one district can be living in a totally different world from someone in the same district but on the other side. What will matter is that when money is spent campaigning, polling, and being out in the streets, politicians know who put them in office.

**East Detroit** · January-21-12, 07:35 AM

I like option #3.

Gives the far northeast side its own representative who would concentrate solely on that area [[not Belle Isle or other monuments, just the neighborhoods).

**313WX** · January-21-12, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

I like option #3.

Gives the far northeast side its own representative who would concentrate solely on that area [[not Belle Isle or other monuments, just the neighborhoods).

Agreed.

Plus, the NE neighborhoods bordering 8 Mile wouldn't be lumped together with all the poorer neighborhoods [[I.E. City Airport area). At least the district with East English Village/Morningside in this choice and the other ones would share some of these areas.

I also agree #4 would be pretty awful.

**Richard** · January-21-12, 09:22 AM

Thanks for posting the images here.

I would agree on #3 also because by splitting up the CBD it eliminates what would be the most powerful politically at this time and does give the rest of the neighborhoods a better chance,based on the areas that you guys talk about here it looks like there are in each district a stable area mixed with unstable areas which would give at least a solid base to work with .

You need to have strong supporting neighborhoods in order to have a strong core,in the past many cities dumped millions into rebuilding the core only to find out that they then had a rebuilt core surrounded by neglect .

**maxx** · January-23-12, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

I like option #3.

Gives the far northeast side its own representative who would concentrate solely on that area [[not Belle Isle or other monuments, just the neighborhoods).

Isn't that rather short-sighted?

**AGinthe313** · January-23-12, 04:09 PM

Based on the proposed maps it appears that Southwest Detroit will likely have their own district regardless of the final decision. Does anyone familiar with Southwest Detroit know of any potential candidates that might make a run for a seat on the city council? Are any of the current council members from that proposed district? I don’t know the community that well, so I’m curious to know if there are any highly regarded community leaders that are likely to emerge. One other point/question – has Sue Mosley [[Midtown area) ever campaigned for a city council seat? Personally I think she would be a great addition to the city council.

**Richard** · January-24-12, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

I like option #3.

Gives the far northeast side its own representative who would concentrate solely on that area [[not Belle Isle or other monuments, just the neighborhoods).

Originally Posted by maxx

Isn't that rather short-sighted?

maxx in the interest of the discussion would you care to elaborate a bit more as to your views as to why it is a bit short-sited?

**corktownyuppie** · February-03-12, 10:22 AM

This newly proposed district map makes the most sense to me and still meets the demographic guidelines set by the law.

http://www.freep.com/article/2012020...xt|FRONTPAGE|p

But local think tank Data Driven Detroit has come up with a fifth option -- districts drawn to respect longstanding neighborhood boundaries and intended to build on the sense of community that residents in different parts of the city already have.D3's map, which also offers a more even balance of population among districts, is the first I've seen that draws on qualitative input as well as rudimentary quantitative measures.And what would be a better qualitative consideration than neighborhood sensibilities, which were the impetus behind the drive to convert from an at-large City Council in the first place?