The Columbus City Council Wednesday began discussions on redistricting the city’s six wards, during a specially called meeting at which Mayor Robert Smith was absent and Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin presided.
Consultant Chris Watson, of Oxford-based Bridge and Watson, Inc., said the meeting was for the councilmen to start discussing desires for their specific wards.
“Our first and foremost task is to re-balance the population,” Watson said. “Columbus has a 20 percent deviance from overpopulated to underpopulated. This number has to get under 10 percent. We measure all people regardless of race or color.”
Redistricting, whereby legislative or voting districts are redrawn, is mandated by the U.S. Justice Department and falls under Section Five of The Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“This redistricting cannot make it worse for minority voters, than the current plan,” Watson said. “The minorities we are talking about in Columbus are African-Americans. Mississippi is a black and white state. Our goal is to get the population balanced in the wards.”
Census data from 2010 shows Ward 4 is the most underpopulated ward, with a variance of negative 427 or negative 10 percent, down from 219 people in 2000. Ward 6 is the most heavily populated, with a positive variance of 360 or 9.1 percent.
Watson said Wards 1 and 2 were the least likely to need major changes.
“Numerically, you don’t necessarily need to change,” said Watson. “The numbers are close enough, so that we can work with them.”
Ward 1 has a negative variance of 105 people, and Ward 2 has an overpopulation of 118 people.
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens said he wanted to lose some of the population in his ward.
“You said the word ‘necessarily;’ that’s the word I’m hearing,” Mickens said. “I want to be brought down to the norm. Everyone calls my ward the East Columbus ward, but it goes all the way from downtown to East Columbus. I’m the only ward that touches four other wards. I would like to take it out of downtown.”
Watson said he would look into Mickens’ request, but he would not be able to engineer specific ward lines until a later date.
With Ward 3 high in population and Ward 4 being the lowest populated ward in the city, Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box said he had already been in talks with Ward 4 Councilman Fred Stewart about how they could work together.
“I’ve talked with (Stewart) about moving the boundaries of our wards,” Box said. “It would add more into his ward and get him closer to his number.”
Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem, whose ward is short about 269 people, accused Box and Stewart of conducting “secret meetings.”
“Right now, I’m just listening,” Karriem said. “I’m exploring all my options. I didn’t know we were making decisions today. Seems like most folks have already met and carved out their wards. I haven’t had these private meetings to carve up our wards. I didn’t realize we were having secret meetings.”
The conversation grew heated, as Mickens concurred with Karriem about alleged “secret meetings,” accusing Box and Stewart of unethical practices.
“We didn’t have these secret meetings and make any backdoor deals like you did,” Mickens said.
“We didn’t make any backdoor deals,” Box responded. “You should have been having meetings and making plans for your ward. Everybody knows why you want to cut Fifth Street out of your ward. Why don’t you tell them why you want to do this?”
Mickens did not directly answer Box’s question, but said he had “won” the ward and he wasn’t “scared of anything.”
After the meeting, Box elaborated on his accusations against Mickens.
“I think he wants to lose the Fifth Street area, because (former Ward 2 Councilwoman Susan Mackay) is going to run against him and he wants to run her out of his ward,” Box said. “She lives on Fifth Street. She ran against him last time and almost beat him. The election was very close. I didn’t do anything wrong. There were no backdoor deals. I’m just doing what I’m elected to do.”
Mackay declined to comment on Box’s allegations and would not confirm if she is considering running for the Ward 2 seat.
Calls to Mickens were not returned.
Gavin, whose ward is the city’s most populated, was most concerned about a polling place.
“My biggest concern is losing our voting precinct,” Gavin said. “We are already having it moved from (Brandon Elementary School) to (Joe Cook Elementary Fine Arts Magnet School).”
Watson said he didn’t foresee a major geographic change to accommodate Gavin’s concerns.
From 2010 US Census
Ward 1 Gene Taylor
White 8.6%
Black 89.9%
Population 3,385
-105 underpopulated
Ward 2 Joseph Mickens
White 41.8%
Black 56.2%
Population 4,058
+118 overpopulated
Ward 3 Charlie Box
White 55%
Black 43.4%
Population 4,263
+323 overpopulated
Ward 4 Fred Stewart
White 14.2%
Black 84.1%
Population 3,513
-427 underpopulated (most underpopulated ward)
Ward 5 Kabir Karriem
White 35.6%
Black 62.1%
Population 3,761
-269 underpopulated
Ward 6 Bill Gavin
White 62%
Black 32%
Population 3,940
+360 overpopulated (most overpopulated ward)
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