Youngstown council starts to look at ward redistricting

Youngstown council starts to look at ward redistricting

YOUNGSTOWN

An initial meeting today of city council about redistricting Youngstown’s seven wards didn’t answer too many questions.

But members plan to meet again to iron out the specifics even though they haven’t scheduled another meeting.

The members looked at the maps that balance the population of the seven wards, one by existing voting precincts and the other by census blocks. Both were prepared by the Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies.

None of the council members embraced the maps though the one based on voting precincts drew more attention.

“These are just examples,” said Bill D’Avignon, the city’s Community Development Agency director.

Currently, the population in each of the seven wards ranges from 7,227 in the South Side’s 6th Ward to 12,130 in the West Side’s 4th Ward, according to the 2010 census.

The voting precincts maps would have the populations range from 9,385 in the 5th Ward on the southwest side of the city to 9,884 on the upper West Side’s 4th Ward.

However, it makes significant changes to the North Side’s 3rd Ward and the 7th Ward on the southeast side.

For the complete story, read Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com