City of Phoenix Redistricting - Only a few days left to decide which district you want to end up in for the next 10 years!

May 7th, 2012

Phoenix is required to re-balance its council districts every ten years to assure that each of the eight districts has approximately an equal population size. The ideal population size for each district has been set at 180,000.

Redistricting principles are as follows:

  • As equal population per district as possible
  • Protect minority voting strength
  • Maintain four minority districts
  • Maintain geographic compactness
  • Maintain continuity
  • Maintain communities of interest
  • Minimal changes to boundaries
  • Preserve political boundaries
  • Maintain continuity of representation

The first round of public meetings on the redistricting project started on 1/31/12 and ended on 2/17/12. An outside consultant hired by the City drew up different maps from the information collected at these meetings, and presented them to the City Council.

On 4/3/12, the City Council approved going forward with two Concept Maps. These maps are hereinafter referred to as Concept Map "88" and Concept Map "C." The maps have been divided into map areas for ease of reference.

To see where your neighborhood currently is, and where it has ended up in the two proposed new maps click on these links:

Citizens for Phoenix have carefully reviewed both Concept Maps "88" and "C," and as a result are making the following recommendations:

We Reject Concept Map "88" Based Upon its Following Failings:

  • In District 1 - The Concept Map "88" does not align with three basic redistricting principles. In particular, the top part of north and north east Phoenix is totally removed from its contiguous relationship with District 2 and attached to District 1 where there is no existing history of a community of interest. As that part of District 2 is generally the underdeveloped land of the north Valley, this change has a couple of major implications. In ten years that area plus the north end of District 1 will likely have a far greater disproportionate population count than any other city district. Second is that the workload created by placing almost all the underdeveloped land in one council person's district creates a disproportionate work load, making it rather difficult for that councilperson to attend to issues in the rest of the district.
  • As to District 5 - It throws the concepts of respecting existing communities of interests and continuity "out of the window". It impacts over 23 neighborhood associations, several negatively. Examples are North Glen Square Neighborhood Association and Washington Park Neighborhood Association which are split between District 5 and District 3. Most damaging of all, the following District 5 assets are reassigned by Concept Map "88" out of the district:

    Alicia Park
    Arizona Surgical Center
    Blue Cross Blue Shield
    Cordova
    El Caro Golf Course
    Fire Station 30
    Gardenia School
    Helen Drake Senior Center
    Homestead Park
    Mariposa Park
    MHP
    Richard Miller
    Royal Palm Middle School
  • District 6 and 8 - On 2/15/12, during Round One of Redistricting, Map areas 801, 802 and 803 (Arcadia/Osborn Neighborhood Association) from District 8 were supported for transfer to District 6. This resulted in a more regular northern boundary for District 8 and realigned these areas with their historic communities of interest. "Phoenix 88" reverses the Round One support regarding areas 801, 802 and 803 by splitting them into three different Districts. Area 801 goes to District 4, Area 802 stays with District 8 and Area 803 goes to District 6. This split creates a negative result.
  • Lack of Diversity - Phoenix "88" packs the voting age Hispanic populations in Districts 5 and 7 while substantially reducing the same population in District 4. This would appear to be contrary to the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) goals. Maps must me presented to DOJ in the Fall through January of 2013.

Citizen for Phoenix Recommends Action on Either of the Following Two Options:

Option 1: Support for Concept Plan "C"

No Redistricting Map is going to be perfect; however Concept Map "C" is not characterized by the failings listed below for Phoenix "88" and is reasonably consistent with adherence to the redistricting principles of respecting existing communities of interests, compactness and continuity. It is for these reasons that Citizens for Phoenix supports Concept Map "C" for the final Phoenix Redistricting Map.

Email the Mayor and City Council Members if you agree that Concept Map "C" in its existing form is the one you want to support.

Click here to e-mail the Mayor, City Council, and City Clerk to support this option

Option 2 - Support for Concept Plan "C" with your modifications:

If you wish to tweak Concept Map "C," feel free to do so. Be sure to refer to the map areas so your desires can be correctly interpreted. Citizen comments will be reviewed by the consultant. The consultant will then consolidate them into one map which will be presented to the City Council on 6/19/12. It then goes to D.O.J. for review plus adoption in January 2013.

You have the following options for communicating your concerns and modifications for this option:

Get involved and choose one of these options today - or you may wake up next Election Day in a City Council District you don't want to be in.