Court redistricting likely to stand

I may be wrong, but the way I interpret this is that the U.S. Supreme Court is not likely to overturn the legislative and congressional redistricting maps that were prepared by lower court federal judges in San Antonio. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is requesting an emergency stay so that the racially biased maps prepared by the racist Texas Legislature can be put into effect. Whatever the court decides, however, it was nice to stumble across this new blog from the folks at Texas Monthly.

Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss

I stand corrected on my previous coalition statement.

The Dallas City Council redistricting process came to a swift and sudden end around 8:15 p.m. when the council voted 9-6 to accept Mayor Mike’s compromise map, which, at first blush, appears to have redistricted Delia Jasso, the primary author of a competing map, off the council. Voting against the proposal were the white Tea Party advocates and the Latinos on the council. The map was supported by the African Americans and other whites on the council. Interesting breakdown.

Although Jasso’s District 1 still has a predominantly Hispanic population, it now includes the North Oak Cliff areas of Kessler Park and Stevens Park who vote en masse to make sure they are not represented by a person of color.

So now the prospects are that the next council will look just like the previous ones: three Hispanics, four African Americans, seven whites.

Dallas City Council: It’s now White + Latino vs. African Americans

The redistricting process currently going on at the Dallas City Council proves we have a different realignment on that body. On one side you have the white and Latino council members. On the other, you have the four African American members. The ultimate prize is who gets the most seats on a redistricted council.

The African Americans (along with Mayor Mike, I should add) are fighting to retain their four council seats. Currently seven seats are held by whites. They are willing to reduce that number by one, but only one. Latinos, who currently represent the largest segment of Dallas’ population want five places on the council. That adds up to 15 council seats. Only problem with that is there are only 14 available. So who’s going to give?

The white/Latino group submitted its proposed council redistricting map to the city. The African American representatives submitted theirs. During today’s city council meeting, at which council members are supposed to approve a map, Mayor Mike, in another of his brilliant moves, picked one person from each group (Delia Jasso for the W/Ls and Tennell Atkins for the AAs), locked them in a room with him and said "Let’s come up with a compromise." Within 45 minutes they had.

Then the full council reconvened, theoretically to discuss the compromise map. But they didn’t. Led by council members Angela Hunt and Scott Griggs and later joined by Sandy Greyson, they went off on an irrelevant argument about the process, saying they weren’t involved in the discussion. Give me a break. By refusing to talk about the map that was presented, they took themselves out of the discussion. They should not blame others for what they are doing to themselves. But blaming others is quickly becoming Griggs’ MO and Greyson, who, like Griggs, is a Tea Party advocate, will find a way to align herself with him on just about everything. I thought Hunt was more intelligent than she’s acting here, but her track record on the council shows glaring inconsistencies in that area.

Look, if you don’t like the map, then make suggested changes to it and see how the rest of the council reacts. That’s the way the system works.

Mayor Mike, who is rapidly becoming my all time favorite Dallas mayor (and that admission really surprises me as well — I mistakenly didn’t think he had this type of leadership in him), currently has the council in recess so all of them can study the new map.

Prediction: It will be voted down because the W/L faction has more votes than the AA faction and finally the W/L proposed map will be approved. I won’t be all that happy with it — fairness should come into play here — but when fairness butts heads with power struggles, power wins out every time. If you don’t believe me, just look at the mess going on in Washington.

Mayor Mike makes me mad

I was sitting in the drive-through deposit lane at the bank this morning, listening on the car radio to the Dallas City Council’s morning speakers, when Mayor Mike decided to chime in after one presenter spoke on the topic of redistricting. MM said he was planning on calling a special council session on redistricting for 10 a.m. Saturday September 24.

Mayor Mike

As the smoke began coming out of my ears, my first thought was "This jerk doesn’t have the cajones to call a meeting for 10 a.m. on a Sunday. Wouldn’t want to offend all those who attend Gov. Hair’s Houston pep rallies. But it’s certainly OK to offend every Jew in the city and most of the Seventh Day Adventists. They don’t count anyway."

My second thought was if this guy or this lady or even this one were still on the council, the matzo would have really hit the fan. MM would have had to scramble to get out of council chambers with, to paraphrase Robert Johnson, the hellhounds on his tail.

Then, after making sure he offended all the Jews in the city, he took on the Fourth Estate. "Meeting on a Saturday means the media will have to work on a weekend." What does this idiot think: that little elves produce his Sunday and Monday newspapers?

I guess I should have seen this lunacy coming; it’s one the many reasons I didn’t vote for the man (but then I thought all the mayoral candidates this time around were seriously flawed and didn’t vote for any of them). But I was hoping I could maintain a modicum of respect for the man for more than just a couple of weeks into his four-year term. So much for hope. I just wonder what the Jewish media thinks of the guy.

As it turns out, more tolerant heads prevailed and, as of this moment, I don’t think an actual date or time has been set for the council’s redistricting meeting.

Proposed redistricing map: 5 white districts, 5 Hispanic districts, 3 black districts, one tossup (not really)

Proposed map of Dallas City Council districts

Dallas City Council member Vonciel Jones Hill cannot be a happy camper right about now. In the redistricting map that is being sent to the City Council by the Redistricting Commission, her District 5 has a 69 percent Hispanic population and a 22.5 percent black population. That does not bode well for a black seeking re-election to that district.

Newly election Anglo council member Scott Griggs will, if this map is approved, represent a district that is 58.8 percent Hispanic.

Only two districts, D-Wayne Carriedaway’s 4, and Tennell Atkins’s 8 can be considered absolutely safe districts for African-American representation. Caroline Davis’s District 7 has populatation that is 48 percent black, which should be good for a black candidate for now.

Other than 3 and 5, the predominantly Hispanic districts are the same as before: 1 (Delia Jasso), 2 (Pauline Medrano), and 6 (Monica Alonzo).

Angela Hunt’s District 14 (she is term limited so couldn’t run under any new map) which now stretches to Love Field on the west side of Highland Park, now only borders its ritzy neighbor on the south and the east. It is the whitest district in the city with an Anglo population of 69.3 percent.

Interestingly enough, the only district that does not have over 50 percent of either black, Hispanic or white citizens is mine, District 10. Hooray. I now live in the most diverse section of the city. I imagine however white candidates will still be elected to represent 10, although with a voting age population that is 42 percent white, 31 percent black and 20 percent Hispanic, that candidate might gave to be more liberal than those who represented this area in the past.

Of course, the City Council hasn’t gotten its grimy hands on this thing yet. The steam you see coming from the council’s chambers is probably emanating from Hill’s offices and she seeks ways to sabotage what the Redistricting Commission took great pains to accomplish.

Incidentally, if you want a comparison, here’s how the council districts are currently gerrymandered configured.