Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 11:34 a.m.
The retired Wisconsin judge hired to draw a new ward map for Las Vegas said he was not told to create boundaries specifically to keep anyone in or out of Ward 1, where a group of residents angrily opposes being moved to a different district.
The residents say that they have fought hard to keep their neighborhoods from suffering commercial encroachment, blight, and other difficulties associated with mature areas inside the urbanized valley.
They also question how the map was drawn. It takes out one precinct -- just above Pinto Lane, which is west of Rancho Drive and south of Alta -- in which a couple of potential rivals to Ward 1 Councilwoman Janet Moncrief live.
Judge Frederick Kessler, who drew the map, said the redistricting used existing precinct lines and "I was never requested by any councilman or councilwoman to remove any particular area."
The proposed map was introduced at the City Council meeting of Sept. 15, and the special meeting is to take place Sept. 27, with the approval not scheduled until Oct. 20.
Redistricting is mandated every 10 years following the U.S. census if ward populations vary by more than 5 percent. It is allowed, but not required, any time the population variance exceeds 5 percent. However, the redistricting cannot take place during election years, which in Las Vegas are in odd-numbered years.
City figures showed that the rapid growth in the west and northwest created a large variance, from about 80,000 people in the mature, land-locked Wards 1, 3, and 5, to as many as 116,000 in Ward 6.
Kessler said his options were limited by timing and geography. Council members serve four-year terms. The even-numbered wards, where the last regular election was in 2001, are all to the west. They are up for election next year.
If people were moved to the odd-numbered wards, by the time they voted in 2007, they last would have voted in 2001.
However, there was a special election in Ward 2 this year, which means some of those people could be moved to Ward 1, just to the east, without forcing them to go the six years between elections.
That meant that Ward 1 could take some of Ward 2, and Ward 5 could then move down to take some of Ward 1, which is what happened.
"The (Steve) Wolfson (Ward 2) election gave us the one area we could take from without depriving people of the right to vote," Kessler said. "The geography says the only person we can give to, from Wolfson, was Moncrief.
"We took literally a whole line of neighborhoods below the freeway. We took a whole slew of neighborhoods, seven precincts below the freeway and put them into Weekly's district. We didn't just take one precinct," he said.
"Initially, I wanted to move (Ward 5 Councilman Lawrence) Weekly to (Ward 6 Councilman Michael) Mack's area, and make much cleaner lines. I'm not particularly happy with the unclean lines between the freeway and Rancho Drive but those were the only areas we could move."
Las Vegas Planning Director Bob Genzer, whose department assisted in preparing the population figures, but did not have a hand in drawing the proposed map, said, "It's a numbers game. The only thing I know for sure is that the first thing they look at is where the council member lives."
Otherwise, he said, "If you look at the existing wards, there are any number of places someone could say that (it looks odd). It's not like our city is divided into six equal segments."
Ward 4 Councilman Larry Brown said the map itself does not raise questions for him.
"In fact, the precinct in question abuts on the east and west and north all of Ward 5, so it doesn't jump out. If it was in Ward 1 it would even be more awkward as far as a blank canvas," Brown said.
However, Brown said, "the issue is certainly the people in the precinct and what they feel the redistricting would do to them."
He said that he was undecided on the issue of whether residents have a right to stay in a ward. For example, the Ward 1 residents who are angry about moving say they've been in their ward for more than 40 years, and they feel an attachment to their community as defined by the ward boundaries.
"I'm anxious to hear that testimony. Let's wait to hear the arguments at the public hearing," Brown said.
Moncrief did not return a telephone call seeking comment Thursday, but in the past has said she did not influence the redistricting proposal to keep anybody out of her district. She also has questioned whether a vocal minority ought to have undue influence over the process.
Brown said that there's no immediate need for redistricting.
"There's no mandate it has to be done. We have chosen as we have in the past when it gets that far out of proportion to take a look. This decision could have been pushed off until '06, but not longer," Brown said. "This is a hypothetical. Let's say there are some legitimate concerns about the boundaries and the process will push this beyond even years, it's not a mandate.
"We can allow this to go to 2006 and look at the numbers there."
The proposed boundary would put Leo Davenport, Moncrief's appointment to the planning commission, in Ward 5.
Davenport said he has not paid much attention to the issue, and has not spoken to Moncrief about it.
Living in the ward was one of her requirements for appointing someone to the commission, Davenport said.
"I don't know if being drawn out of it means I have to give it up," he said. "If she asked me to I'd gladly give it up. I'm still a resident of Nevada and the city of Las Vegas. I support them no matter what ward I'm in."
For example, he said, "my church is in Ward 6, and my business is in (Gary) Reese's district."
"I'd love to be in Janet's ward because I work well with all those people but I'll work in any ward," Davenport said.
He said he supports Moncrief. "If it was redistricted to eliminate some of her biggest foes I would think they could draw it to keep people in, also."
Former Clark County School Board member Lois Tarkanian, a resident of Ward 1 and someone whose name has been mentioned as a possible Ward 1 City Council candidate, does not support the redistricting.
She said she met with neighbors Monday, one of several meetings going on to discuss the issue.
Tarkanian said that even if the redrawn ward map followed precinct lines, "that's just where people go to go to vote. It has nothing to do with neighborhoods. Neighborhoods are what need to be united to have a voice.
"We worked so hard to keep the neighborhood integrity. We feel strongly if the redistricting is allowed it will reduce our strength in dealing with commercial zoning issues. By splitting it up we think we'll be dividing our united voice."
She said she was involved in sending out 1,200 mailers to residents, explaining the redistricting proposal.
Tarkanian said she and other neighbors learned of the proposal through media accounts.
"Even after we found out, we were just a small group, so we sent the mailers out because whatever position neighbors took, with something of this magnitude people should be notified," Tarkanian said.
archive
