Warren council considers redistricting to balance wards

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

There are a lot of good reasons why Warren should redistrict its seven wards so that they are closer to the same size, and the process doesn’t have to be difficult, several speakers said at a Warren City Council committee meeting.

But the reality is that politics played a role the last time wards were redrawn in Warren in 1991, and politics can make the process very difficult to accomplish, others noted.

Councilman John Brown, whose 3rd Ward on the East Side hasn’t changed much over the years, called Wednesday’s meeting. He contacted two people from Youngstown State University’s Center For Urban and Regional Studies, asking them to carry out the redistricting for up to $3,000. They attended Wednesday’s meeting.

“Warren isn’t so far out of alignment that anyone should be too concerned about moving voters,” said Tom Finnerty, associate director of the Urban and Regional Studies center. “That’s why the price is so low — because it’s not a real involved process.”

“It’s not as out of whack as Youngstown wards are,” John Bralich, senior geographic-information system manager at the center, said of Warren’s wards.

Using census blocks would be the most efficient way to more equally redistribute the voters, he said.

Brown said he hoped city council will agree to let Finnerty and Bralich redraw the boundaries “and take the politics out of it.”

Brown said the wards are supposed to be redrawn every 10 years to keep the number of voters within 10 percent of each other, so that every citizen receives equal protection under the law, as the U.S. Constitution requires.

Currently, there is an 18 percent population difference between the smallest ward and the largest one.

Furthermore, state law and Warren ordinances require the population of the wards to be relatively equal, he said.

In the 2010 Census, the 1st Ward had 6,456 people, the 2nd Ward had 5,531, the 3rd Ward had 6,602, the 4th Ward had 5,417, the 5th Ward had 6,161, the 6th Ward had 4,845, and the 7th Ward had 6,545.

The city’s 41,557 residents from the 2010 Census would be equal at 5,937 residents per ward.

Brown said the boundary lines may have to be drawn again after the 2020 Census because Ohio law will require the city to drop from seven ward council members to six if the city’s population drops below 40,000.

In response to one of the questions from one of the 30 to 35 residents who attended, Finnerty said he and Bralich would draw the new lines, give the results to the city and make adjustments as necessary.

City council would have to approve the new boundaries.

Councilman Al Novak noted that there was a political reason why The Elms apartments behind Giant Eagle on Elm Road were moved out of the 2nd Ward in 1991 — to keep a political party central committee member in his ward.

Brown said moving The Elms back into the 2nd Ward would be a simple fix that would nearly balance the 2nd and 3rd Wards.