Anchorage’s Reapportionment Committee is starting to narrow down the options for a new voting district map that will lead to a 12th Anchorage Assembly seat, and each district having two representatives.
The committee meeting Wednesday morning at Conference Room 155 at City Hall was a contentious one, but in the end members were able to agree on what they didn’t like about some of the maps submitted.were discussed, and committee members agreed that any map deemed acceptable should have a combined district population deviation below 10%, keep neighborhoods together, and offer voters fair and equal representation. Redistricting happens every 10 years when new data is released by the U.S. Census.
In the end, the committee decided to move forward with four maps: Anchorage Action - V2, Robert Hockema - V2, Alaskans For Fair Redistricting, and Denny Wells Map B. In the Anchorage Action map proposal, District 1 would gain Midtown north of Northern Lights on the east side of the Seward Highway, and north of 36th Avenue east of Minnesota and west of the Seward Highway. The district expands east to Boniface Parkway north of Debarr. District 2 would stay the same.
A map submitted by assembly member John Weddleton was originally accepted by the committee, but it was later tossed out, after the committee decided not to allow and discuss two maps submitted by assembly member Jamie Allard because her group missed the submission deadline. “She definitely did not get them in on Friday at 5 p.m. They came on Monday but they didn’t come in complete. They came in in a manner that needed additional work by the contractors, so the body just decided not to accept maps that came in late,” said committee chair and Assembly Vice Chair Chris Constant. “But there is plenty of opportunity. Any committee member can submit a draft map as a substitute version or amendment.
Allard, who attended the meeting by phone, said thinks the process is being rushed, and the committee has plenty of time to consider all maps submitted.has another meeting scheduled for next Monday, Feb. 14 from 9 a.m. to noon, and they plan on holding public meetings on the proposed maps on Feb. 24 and March 1. All maps need to be approved by the full assembly by May 23.
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