Council considers member districts

Council considers member districts

Written by Rachel Youens Monday, 01 October 2007

According to the 2000 census, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith represents about 650,000 constituents in his congressional district. Austin City Council members represent 735,088 by the latest Austin demographer’s statistics, and they do so with half the staff of a congressman.

The City of Austin has always elected city council members at large, with each of the six members elected by and representing the entire city. But Council member Mike Martinez said he feels that as the city grows, it’s time to reevaluate this system. With council approval, he convened a committee in April to look at the benefit of changing the city charter to establish a district representative system.

“We’re the largest metropolitan city in the country that still uses an at-large system,” said Martinez, who receives e-mails daily from Austinites asking if he is their council member. “Right now we have to know just enough about everything to get by. It forces us to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.”

Why now

Assembling the committee now was important because the Austin city charter may only be amended every two years. Another Austin group, Stop Domain Subsidies, is gathering signatures to push for a different amendment. If SDS gathers enough signatures to get its amendment on the ballot, the city council amendment must be voted on now or it will have to wait until 2010.

“Every part of the city feels underpaid attention to, but I do think that the Northwest Austin neighborhoods sometimes are a little behind the curve on information,” said Milwood Neighborhood Association President Dustin Lanier, who has been attending the committee meetings. “A single-member district can potentially have a lot of impact on how this growing part of the city gets involved in issues.”

The committee, headed by former Austin mayor Gus Garcia, is looking at several different options for dividing the city and mixing district and at-large council positions. Garcia was unavailable for comment. One option splits the city into two districts along Lamar Boulevard, while another splits the city into seven parts. Both Houston and Dallas run under a district system.

“I’ve never said ‘single-member districts.’ I’ve just advocated some geographic system of dividing up the city,” Martinez said. “The current system makes us into a very centrist council. A debate needs views from all over the spectrum. Different areas have different interests and having folks from both ends allows us to have a real debate.”

Complications

An element that complicates the district division is the Voting Rights Act. Enacted in 1965, the act enforces the 14th and 15th Amendments that protect a citizen’s right to vote. It only covers nine states including Texas. The Voting Rights Act requires the city to receive federal clearance before making any change to election procedures to ensure that the system remains fair. So, the districts must be drawn so that they have an equal population division and give minorities fair representation. This is difficult, according to the council’s consultant, J. Gerald Herbert, because the city’s minority population is spread out and it’s difficult to draw a district without splitting up neighborhoods with common interests. The city council presently features one black, one Hispanic and one Asian member.

“The current system isn’t really made to benefit people from north Austin, it’s made to benefit people from the central core. Districts could open the playing field some,” Lanier said.

At-large city councils were first introduced at the turn of the century to end political corruption where city council members, or ward bosses, were pitted against one another in gaining city resources. Council districts have been brought to Austin voters in the past, most recently in 2002, and have failed.

“One of the reasons the districts haven’t passed before is because the proposition went to voters without a map of the districts. Who is going to vote for districts when they don’t have a map to look at?” Martinez said. “Other times it has been because council members didn’t like the districts, so they created opposition.”

Beyond improving council members’ ability to represent, the smaller districts can also help to democratize who can run for election by cutting down the costs of campaigning.

“During campaign season, I was spending every night going to different forums and neighborhood meetings across the city. All the council members were fighting for the same 50 or 60 endorsements. Money is spent on mail-outs and TV spots. It’s very costly,” Martinez said.

The committee will continue to meet and take public input through January, when they will make a presentation to the city council on their recommendation. If the council approves the amendment, it could be on the ballot in May. If the amendment is voted on and passes, it must then get federal approval under the Voting Rights Act before it can go into effect.

“When it feels like things happen to the neighborhoods, but don’t involve the neighborhood, it’s time to look at how things are run,” Lanier said.

City charter, council history

The City Charter

• The City of Austin was chartered in 1909. A charter is similar to a constitution.
• The city charter can only be amended every two years. It was last amended in May 2006.
• Austin citizens can push for an amendment to the city charter collecting signatures from a varying percent of the city’s voting population, usually between 10 and 15 percent. The city council validates these signatures, and if there are enough, the amendment is put on the ballot. This is what the group Stop Domain Subsidies is currently doing.

Voting Rights Act

• There is no federal legal requirement to maximize or minimize the number of minority-dominant districts, but when the department of justice looks at the city’s district plans they will look at criteria such as:
  • political cohesion of minority groups
  • the city’s history of electing minority candidates
  • how many minority groups were involved in making the plan
  • if the plan splinters minorities into too many districts

Population Equality

One of the basic constitutional requirements of drawing the city council districts is that they be of equal population, which is difficult to do while still keeping neighborhoods of common interest together. There is a formula for figuring out the appropriate population deviation. The government considers only a population deviation of 10 percent between different districts to be constitutional.

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