Council Wraps Up ANC Redistricting Process

Council member Michael Brown and Council member Jack Evans, co-chairpersons of the Subcommittee on Redistricting, listened to public testimony on proposed advisory neighborhood redistricting Tuesday.

After hours of testimony the council members thanked all who participated in the exchange.

"We have come to the end of our work here," said Evans. He said he hopes to wrap up the redistricting process by year's end.

He thanked ANC Commissioner Tom Birch of Georgetown for his leading role in the Ward 2 redistricting proposal.

"Ward 2 did have its issues...Tom Birch was able to solve those issues," said Evans.

One particularly sticky area for Ward 2 was the division of students into single member districts in Georgetown.

The initial plan proposed by the Georgetown task force members would have created two super districts to contain all of the students; the size was well outside the preferred 10 percent range above or below 2,000 peopl in a district.

that putting them into two districts did not meet the guidelines in the redistricting statute and failed to meet the .

They pushed for a , bringing the total number to nine in ANC2E. This proposal failed to garner enough votes within the task force.

In his testimony Tuesday, Birch told the council about the to address some of the student concerns. In the end Georgetown students gained one additional single member district, though they have the ability in any district in which they reside.

"I chose to redraw the plan with the objective of getting the population in each SMD closer to the preferred numbers," he explained.

Council member Michael Brown closed the hearing reminding residents that they can submit written testimony and comments until Dec. 9.

"You still have a couple more bites at the apple," he said.