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Attachment B – Public Feedback <br /> <br />Public Comment: <br />Received: June 6, 2011 <br />From: Jim Hale <br />Dear Mayor and Council – <br /> <br />I’m unable to attend Thursday’ open house on redistricting, but…. <br /> <br />As Ed Russo reports, it may be “impractical” for each new ward to have exactly 19,548 residents. But it <br />is entirely practical, in this age of computer driven maps and census results, for the population each <br />ward to be within, say, one tenth of one percent of the ideal (or plus or minus 20). <br /> <br />If the city staff say that is impractical, that is just political rubbish or ordinary inertia. <br /> <br />Important questions to ask about this process might be: <br /> <br />How in the heck did it come to be that Ward 4 grew at LESS THAN the city-wide average rate when <br />there has been so much development in the Chase Gardens and Crescent area? <br />Did Ward 4 start out short of people last time? <br /> <br />How did Ward 3 grow FASTER than the city-wide average rate – when it has had next to zero new <br />building starts? <br />Did it start out long last time? <br />Or did the census just do a much improved job of counting students south of the river this time? <br />If so, why didn’t they do the same great job north of river? <br /> <br />The city doesn’t need a lot of high-minded discussion about principles to be used overall in this <br />process. <br /> <br />The Council merely needs to direct staff to make seven changes: <br /> <br />Move the .4% excess in Ward 8 to Ward 7. <br />Move the 7.6% excess in Ward 3 to Ward 2. <br />Move a number (1.7%) from Ward 1 to Ward 2 to get Ward 2 up to the ideal. <br />Move the 10.6% excess from Ward 6 to Ward 7. <br />Move 1.6% of the excess from Ward 5 to cure the shortage in Ward 4. <br />Move 1.1% of the excess from Ward 5 to Ward 7. <br />(The above changes would leave Ward 7 over by 11.7 per cent and Ward 1 short by 11.6%). <br />Move the resultant excess in Ward 7 to Ward 1. <br /> <br />The above changes place seven wards at the ideal, leaving Ward 1 over by +.1% (a difference due <br />only to rounding in the starting percentages). <br /> <br />None of these changes would necessarily jeopardize the residency of any councilor or commissioner. <br /> <br />It is neither rocket science nor difficult politics. Nor should it take up a lot of staff time. <br />9 <br /> <br />