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Ward-reduction issue divides Youngstown voters
YOUNGSTOWN
A new redistricting map that balances the population of the city’s seven wards may never go into effect if Youngstown voters approve a charter amendment on the ballot to reduce the number of wards to five.
Members of the Committee for Responsible Redistricting, the organization backing the ward-reduction plan, said it is needed to make government more efficient in a city that has seen tremendous population declines.
“We have less residents, so there is no need for as many council members as we have,” said Chris Travers, the committee’s treasurer. “It’s not going to create additional problems, and we can use the savings from two council seats for fire or police protection.”
Council members make $27,817 annually in salary and receive health-insurance coverage.
Opponents of the plan say the reduction would put more of a strain on council members, which would impact residents and create a government that is less efficient.
“We’re still dealing with the same amount of area, but an increase in blight and crime,” said the Rev. Kenneth L. Simon, pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church and chairman of the Community Mobilization Coalition, a group of 17 African-American and Hispanic organizations that focuses on voter registration, education and getting people to vote.
“There is more need in the city. This plan would reduce access of people to their council members because each would have more constituents.”
The charter amendment bases the number of wards on population. If the city has at least 80,000 residents, there would be no reduction in the number of council members. Below 80,000 and the number of council members drops to five.
The city’s population in the 2010 census was 66,982, and has had a steady decline — among the steepest of any city in the nation — over the past 60 years. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Youngstown’s current population at 65,184.
If approved by voters, the charter amendment gives council 30 days after the ballot vote is certified to redraw the lines for five wards, effective with the 2015 election. If council fails to do so in time, the mayor would have 14 days to redistrict.
Rev. Mr. Simon said that is not enough time for council to draw fair boundaries.
That is a concern of some on council and why the board of control, at the request of council, agreed Thursday to hire Triad Research Group of Westlake for $7,500 to start the proposed redistricting now.
The firm will start preliminary work now so council would have enough time to consider maps with five wards should the amendment pass, said Law Director Martin Hume. If the ballot measure fails, the city would end its contract with Triad and pay the company for the work it’s done, he said.
Getting the existing seven wards redistricted proved to be a lengthy task.
Voters approved a charter amendment on the November 2012 ballot that gave some clarity to language in the city charter about redistricting the wards so each would have more balance. However, the charter’s language before that amendment called for council to redistrict to balance the wards after every census. The last time that was done was in the early 1980s.
The population in the wards currently ranges from 7,227 to 12,130, using 2010 census numbers.
It wasn’t until August 2013 that council had a meeting to discuss the redistricting, and on this past July 20, council voted on new boundary lines with population ranging from 8,949 to 9,534.
“This doesn’t give the new seven wards a chance,” said Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, who opposes the reduction.
If voters approve the amendment, each of the new five wards would have populations of about 13,400.
“The workload is not that much more difficult than what’s been [my] ward for decades,” said Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th and a supporter of the charter amendment.
The 4th Ward, which takes in the upper West Side, currently has 12,130 residents, using 2010 census numbers.
“The city can operate efficiently with five members,” Ray said. “It’s a savings. It’s a different Youngstown and we need to operate differently. Council needs to lead by example when it comes to saving money. It’s not the easy thing to do, but it’s necessary.”
Gillam said it is the less populated wards, such as the 6th Ward on the South Side, that need the most attention.
“It has the most problems, the most crime and the most demolitions,” Gillam said. “This [reduction] would stretch a councilperson and some people are going to be neglected.”
Travers said there were nine ward council members and three at-large members before the city charter was adopted in 1923, and then went to seven ward members. The city’s population in the 1920 census was 132,358. It’s about half of that now.
“It’s a weak argument to say there are too many constituents with five council members,” he said.
Those who want to reduce wards should have had community meetings to discuss the proposal, Mr. Simon said.
Supporters of the reduction said people were invited to attend their meetings, and this is something the public wants to consider as shown by the committee’s ability to collect 1,387 valid signatures on petitions to get the proposal on the ballot.
Also on the ballot for Youngstown residents are charter amendments to combine the economic-development and the community-development offices; and to make the code-enforcement and blight-remediation superintendent an unclassified position who would be hired by the mayor and could be fired by the mayor without a reason.