LITTLE ROCK — Several neighborhoods west of Interstate 430 will find themselves in a new ward next year and a handful of resident associations will be split under changes to Little Rock’s ward boundaries approved Tuesday, despite requests from residents for more time and tweaks.
Little Rock’s seven ward boundaries were redrawn to reflect population changes over the past decade. The 2010 Census showed the city’s east side lost population while the west side boomed, meaning Ward 5 in west Little Rock had to shed residents and shrink while Ward 1’s boundaries near downtown had to grow and incorporate more people.
Those changes affected all boundary lines, leaving some residents across the city unhappy with the results.
“Send the staff back and ask them to draw it fair and equitably,” said Joe Busby, a member of the Fair Park Residents Association, who said Tuesday that Ward 2 south of Interstate 630 was unfairly split by the changes.
Busby told city directors that Ward 1 should have grown equally in every direction rather than mostly into Ward 2 territory, splitting the resident’s association along Fair Park Boulevard and nearby streets.
Busby and other residents said they are concerned that having to lobby two city directors on any issue will dilute their voice. Seven of the city’s 10 directors are elected by ward while the other three are elected at-large by all residents.
Pam Adcock, a former planning commissioner and state representative, said she wants the city to take more time to redraw boundaries to make all of southwest Little Rock one continuous ward rather than to continue having two separate wards.
Ward 2 stretches from 12th Street to south of Interstate 30 to include southwest Little Rock. Ward 7 also includes most of southwest Little Rock, including the Otter Creek area.
“Defer the vote tonight to give citizens time - not the staff, the citizens - to develop their own wards,” Adcock said.
James Thomson of the Briarwood Area Neighborhood Association also asked for tweaks. In the past two weeks, he said, the planners split his neighborhood, then combined it into one ward, and then split it again.
“We want to stay in one ward,” he said, preferably the ward including the redevelopment of the University Mall site just north of Interstate 630.
The board meeting Tuesday was considered the fourth public hearing on the maps, which were first presented to the public Sept. 29.
City directors did not make any changes Tuesday.
“Even if we had the time frame, I think we won’t ever appease everyone,” Ward 2 Director Ken Richardson said after listening to residents.
Ward 1 Director Erma Hendrix, however, voted against the new boundaries, saying she thought they had been “gerrymandered” to benefit certain wards and so city directors wouldn’t move into each other’s wards and face running against their colleagues.
Gerrymandering is a method of drawing a district to give one party or group a political advantage or keep another group from gaining power.
“We do not see any gerrymandering,” City Manager Bruce Moore responded, saying the main criterion was to ensure the population of each ward falls within 5 percent of 27,646 residents. The city grew from 183,133 residents in 2000 to 193,524 last year.
He said he also took into consideration natural boundaries, such as streets, and keeping neighborhood associations intact when redrawing ward boundaries.
Under the boundaries adopted Tuesday, Ward 5 will give up territory south of Kanis Road to Ward 6, meaning the ward now stretches from University Avenue west to the Pulaski County line. The growing west Little Rock part of the city will now have three ward representatives on the Board of Directors.
Ward 4 loses some of its territory to Ward 3 on its northern end, meaning it will no longer include neighborhoods east of Interstate 430 north of Cantrell Road.
Ward 7 in southwest Little Rock loses some of its territory on its eastern boundaries to Ward 2, which stretches from the city’s southern limits north to 12th Street.
Ward 1, which includes downtown and neighborhoods near the airport, now stretches west to Oak Street and Fair Park Boulevard in some areas. The northern boundaries of Ward 2 wraps Ward 1 to form what one city director called a “backward 7.”
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/26/2011