Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.
A request by Las Vegas Councilman Michael Mack to revise ward boundaries could shake the relative harmony exhibited by the council since the spring elections.
"(Redistricting) was a very contentious issue in 2001, and I believe if we go down this path prior to the 2005 election ... whatever peace existed on the City Council will quickly evaporate," Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said. "That's how contentious this has the potential to be."
Her district and Mack's are two of the fastest growing in Las Vegas. Mack initially called the process "pretty painless," but when told of Boggs McDonald's comments, said he'd "like to sit down with her.
"I'd like to hear her concerns," he said. "I'm sure I'll sit down with each of the council members and hear their concerns (before we) go forward."
Mack said he wants the redistricting done because of the growth in his district, Ward 6.
"There's always been a level of support for keeping fairness amongst the wards," Mack said. "I haven't talked to any of my colleagues about it in depth but it's pretty well known there's (a population) imbalance."
Redistricting is required by the Las Vegas City Charter every 10 years, following the U.S. Census, and each ward must be within 5 percent of the population of the others. That number in that last round of redistricting, completed in 2002, was about 79,000.
City officials did not have the number of constituents in each ward, and said developing that information would be part of the process. Once the numbers are calculated, a process that should take a month to three months, they'll be presented to council for a decision on whether to move forward with redistricting. The city charter allows redistricting whenever the populations of each ward is more than 5 percent apart, but does not require it.
The last time around, in 2002, the issue was contentious mostly because of a group of residents was caught between wards. Ultimately, Boggs McDonald said, they ended up in a new ward where elections already had taken place, something that had already happened to them only a couple of years before.
City Council representatives are elected in odd years. The last election, this spring, was for wards 1, 3, and 5, represented now by Janet Moncrief, Gary Reese and Lawrence Weekly, respectively. The next election is scheduled for spring 2005 in wards 2, 4, and 6, now represented by Boggs McDonald, Larry Brown and Mack, respectively.
"I basically had to threaten to sue the city of Las Vegas on behalf of these citizens, working with the ACLU," said Boggs McDonald, who represents Ward 2. "It was decided these citizens would remain in place until after the 2005 elections so they would be able to cast a vote. Otherwise they would literally go from 1997 theoretically to 2007 before they could vote for a representative on city council.
"That is a clear violation of the 14th Amendment," she said. "I don't see how anyone's desire, whether it's a lesser workload or for political expediency ... outweighs someone's 14th Amendment rights to equal protection under the law."
Mayor Oscar Goodman was not available for comment on the issue, although in the past he has said he opposes a new round of redistricting.
The rest of the council appears split on redistricting:
-- Ward 5 Councilman Lawrence Weekly said he opposes it. "We just completed an election and to change my district now, the timing is not good. ... (Mack) had some concerns about the growth in his district, and I do understand. I think he has over 115,000 people. But I think he'll be fine for a while. And prior to council being expanded to what it is today, (council members) represented 125,000 constituents (each) and they did fine."
-- Ward 1 Councilwoman Janet Moncrief and Ward 3 Councilman Gary Reese said they generally supported the idea, though Reese said he could go either way. "I've always felt like we need to be within 5 percent of each other. I don't know what the figures are but if we're out of whack we need to redistrict ...
"With me, OK, I can't go north, south or east, I have to go west, so I'll just sit there and do what council wants. It's not a big hill for me to die for."
-- Ward 4 Councilman Larry Brown said he'd like to see the population figures for each district. "If council wishes to go forward I don't have any problems," he said. However, he said he has not had a chance to talk to Mack or Boggs McDonald.
"I certainly want to listen to what Lynette's concerns are, because she is a rational person and she probably has some legitimate concerns," Brown said. "And I'd like to know Michael's concerns in initiating (the request)."
Brown said he didn't think the issue would split the council in the long run.
"Right now there's some real good momentum on council ... and it's better to have this dialogue now in public than trying to do it closer to the '05 (election) cycle."
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