The city of Waveland finalized its redistricting plans last week, paving the way for the plan to be sent to the U.S. Justice Department for final approval.
This Tuesday, the board of aldermen will hold a public hearing on the plan and then send it off for final approval.
The city will keep its current four-ward system, but there are several changes in the boundaries and sizes of the wards.
“The board has tentatively made its choice,” Mayor Tommy Longo said last week. “Everyone has a part of the beach-front, but only two wards split the annexed area.”
A major change will be in the middle-town area currently in Ward Three.
The area houses the vast majority of the city’s minority population, however, the current ward boundaries split Herlihy Street in half.
The new plan will place nearly all of Herlihy Street and most of the middle-town community in Ward Two.
Waveland does not have a predominantly minority ward because there is only an estimated 10 percent minority population in the city.
By changing the boundary lines, most of the minority residents will now be voting in Ward Two.
Amar Street resident Clarence Harris–who also serves on the city’s planning and zoning commission–said Tuesday he believes the majority of the middle-town residents support the change.
“I cannot speak for everyone, but I think we’re pleased overall,” Harris said. “It was split right down the middle, but now everyone is in the same ward. We feel like we will have more of a say and if anyone wants to run, they will actually have a chance to get some votes.”
Ward Three will lose some of those voters, but pick up others such as the residents of apartment complexes on Waveland Avenue.
The redistricting will make each ward virtually the same in terms of population.
Under the new plan, Ward One will have 1,009 residents, Ward Two, 987; Ward Three, 998; and Ward Four, 998.
To make the numbers equal, planners had to add residents to Wards One and Three and take away from Ward Four.
The redistricting was necessary after the city annexed the Shoreline Park area in 2006.
Prior to the 2006 election, the city received an emergency redistrict plan to place all of the annexed area in Ward Four until the complete plan could be drafted.
With city elections looming this November, the city must complete its new plan by June, when the qualification period begins.
The new plan splits the annexed area into Wards One and Four.
“I don’t know a soul in the annexed area, but I will be happy to meet them and represent them,” Ward One Alderman Lili Stahler said. “Just tell me who to represent, and I’ll do it.”
The new redistricting plan will be adopted for this year’s election, but it may change again in the near future.
After the 2010 census, the numbers will be reevaluated and the issue may be revisited, Longo said last month.
“As more people come back to the city, the numbers will change,” he said. “This is something we may have to do again.”
BY: Dwayne Bremer
The Sea Coast Echo
