Near-unanimous criticism of proposed Council district maps at public hearing

Council President Darrell Clarke said they have to fix the map before a vote

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Voters were sharply critical of the new map that Philadelphia City Council is considering for its district seats.

About 20 people testified at Wednesday’s public hearing on the map, virtually all of them finding some fault with it. The process by which the map was drawn got even more bad reviews.

The old map (left) versus the new proposed map (right).
The old map (left) versus the new proposed map (right). Photo credit Dan McGlone

Council President Darrell Clarke said at the outset that the map will be revised before it goes up for a vote. He specified the most glaring error, the 10.2% difference between the most and least populous districts, a violation of the one-person, one-vote standard that redistricting is supposed to address in the first place.

But voters had other complaints, too.

Several Fishtown residents, including Peter Wolanin, lamented the division of their neighborhood into three Council districts.

"We are directly harmed by having our community split in this way," said Wolanin.

Counting the entire prison population as part of the Sixth District brought repeated criticism. Linda Miller called it “prison gerrymandering."

"The voices of community members in an incarcerated person’s home are lessened with prison gerrymandering," said Miller.

Dante McCall spent weeks learning about electoral maps and working with dozens of fellow Philadelphians to draw a model map for Council districts, only to learn that there was no public input until after the new map was introduced.

"Not even giving an opportunity for the people to be a part of this process of drawing these maps is basically telling us we don’t know what’s best for us," said McCall.

Pat Christmas of the Committee of Seventy urged Council to slow the process down to allow more input.

"There’s no reason we have to get this done right away, and we do want the best possible map," said Christmas.

Clarke promised the final map would include the concerns shared at the hearing.

"This is a challenge and I’m not making any excuses for us, but I just want to let you know we do hear what you say," said Clarke.

Under the city charter, Council must pass a new map by February 12, or they don’t get paid.

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