Neighborhood associations in 78704 lobby to stay together

Austinites have gotten a glimpse of what their new voting districts may look like.

The Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission unanimously approved a preliminary map of the proposed districts during its Sept. 28 public meeting.

The map divides Central Austin into several districts.

• District 1 includes much of East Austin.
• District 3 includes pieces of the 78704 ZIP code, East Riverside Drive and East Cesar Chavez Street toward US 183.
• District 4 includes the Rundberg area and parts of Airport Boulevard.
• District 7 includes Tarrytown, pieces of Bryker Woods, Rosedale, Allandale, Crestview and the Tech Ridge area.
• District 9 includes pieces of 78704, downtown Austin, The University of Texas and the Mueller development.
• The ICRC is expected to approve a finalized map in December for use starting with the November 2014 elections.

Background

Last November, Austin voters approved Proposition 3, which changed how City Council members will be elected.

Currently the six council members and mayor are elected at-large, or elected by everyone to represent everyone. Starting in November 2014, Austinites will elect 10 council members to represent newly created voting districts, while the mayor will still be elected at-large.

The city auditor's office helped form the ICRC earlier this year to draw the new voting districts.

The ICRC has been meeting since June. So far, it has hired its own staff, heard public comments and received map ideas from various civic groups and grass-roots organizations.

From there, the map must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice and must meet Voting Rights Act standards, according to the Austin City Charter. Ideally each district should have 79,783 residents in it, but a small percentage greater or less than that amount is acceptable.

78704 ZIP code

Several neighborhood groups have opposed the preliminary map for dividing the 78704 ZIP code, which they argue is a community of interest—a protected status under the Voting Rights Act.

South River City Citizens Neighborhood Association opposes the preliminary map, Vice President Carol Martin said.

She said it was wrong not to include the neighborhood with others that share many common issues.

Patty Sprinkle, president of the Galindo Elementary Neighborhood Association, said the Galindo area is home to major events such as Austin City Limits and new developments.

"If you dilute what little ability we have to react to plane banners flying overhead or noise or sound or whatever those issues are, then you really are taking away our characteristics of our neighborhood and what we value," she said.

South Austin resident Tom Nuckols said that being in District 9, he was not in the same district as his local grocery store but was in the same district as The Home Depot in the Mueller development, even though he has never set foot in the store.

He said that communities of interest use the same roads, parks, libraries, grocery stores and restaurants.

Central Austin concerns

Allandale resident David Orshalick said his neighborhood association requested that Allandale be grouped with Bryker Woods and areas north of it.

"Allandale sits in a gerrymandered district where our ability to have any influence on the City Council will be diluted," he said. "We are with folks who do not necessarily share the same interests or voting patterns or socioeconomic level."

During the Oct. 12 ICRC meeting, resident James Nortey said that the Mueller development wants to be placed in District 1 and offered map suggestions.

Resident Barry Lewis said downtown voters were concerned about parity.

He said that when completed, hundreds of new apartments and condominiums would make District 9's population larger than the allowable variation.

For more information, visit www.austinredistricting.org.