The cynical view of city politics is that it’s all about money and powerful interests.
Yet those forces aren’t readily apparent in the ongoing work of the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC), a group of 14 unpaid Austinites who were selected partially at random from a large pool of vetted applicants.
Under the 10-1 geographic council system created through a voter-approved change to the City Charter in 2012, the city has to redraw its boundaries every decade, to account for population changes. It’s similar to what happens at the state level when congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn. But in Austin the task falls not to elected politicians but to a citizens commission.
Each member of the volunteer commission will dedicate many hours over the next few months to redraw the city’s 10 council districts. It’s a job that will involve poring over census data, examining detailed demographic analysis, and weighing citizen input from across the city.
A handful of hired professionals will assist in the task—a mapping consultant, lawyer, and administrative manager—but the actual decisions will be made by the commissioners.
The group includes Austinites of diverse backgrounds, including an accountant, business analyst, small business owner, retiree, church pastor, and tech executive.
Read the rest of this article at The Austin Bulldog.
