Mayor, council take cautious approach to redistricting

Sito Negron

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003 | 10:41 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman sounded a cautious note Monday when asked about redistricting, an idea brought up last week by Ward 6 Councilman Michael Mack, who represents one of the fastest-growing areas of the city.

"The process is very divisive," Goodman said. Referring to the round of drawing new City Council boundaries two years ago, he said, "I saw what it did to my council and I'll do whatever I can to avoid it."

Redistricting takes place every 10 years, after the federal census. Each ward's population must be within 5 percent of the others in the city after that redistricting, which during the last round, completed about two years ago, was about 79,000 per council member. Under the city charter, Las Vegas may rearrange ward boundaries whenever the population difference exceeds 5 percent, but that is up to a vote of the City Council.

City staff members are preparing population figures to determine how many constituents each ward represents and could make a presentation any time in the next couple of months. But the council cannot decide to pursue the redistricting process until 2004, based on a state law that forbids redistricting in an election year.

Council members serve four years and are elected in staggered cycles. In 2003, wards 1, 3 and 5 were up for election, along with the mayor. The next council election will be in 2005, when wards 2, 4, and 6 are on the ballot.

The initial reaction to Mack's proposal was mixed. Ward 2 Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald was strongly opposed, and Ward 5 Councilman Lawrence Weekly said the idea was ill-timed. Ward 1 Councilwoman Janet Moncrief and Ward 3 Councilman Gary Reese said the idea had merit, and Ward 4 Councilman Larry Brown said he wanted to hear more from both sides.

Mack, in northwest Las Vegas, and Boggs-McDonald, in western Las Vegas, represent the two fastest-growing segments of the city. To the west, the community of Summerlin in Boggs McDonald's ward is spurring growth within the Las Vegas city limits; to the northwest, largely in Mack's ward, an impending Bureau of Land Management sale, coupled with current development, could drive municipal growth for years.