Expect a crowd tomorrow to give testimony on the impending Kansas City Council redistricting.
Eventually, I think this thing will end up in a lawsuit that will stop the process and void the charter passage as unconstitutional.
IMPORTANT TKC REPORTING . . .
The (non-profit) leaders of the Latino Community are gathering to attend this City Hall meeting en masse . . . After a top secret meeting they came up with a plan that includes Guadalupe Center leader Cris Medina coming down from on high to note that his crew "are watching the situation."
Ministers from The African-American Community and assorted leaders will be present in the crowd as well. Noting some significant problems with the overtures made toward the 3rd District i.e. taking away the 3rd District vote.
I hear that not even Scott Wagner is comfortable with the Northland power play to take away power from the 3rd District . . . Or at least he's saying as much to African-American leadership.
HERE IS THE BEST, EXCLUSIVE INFO FROM A VERY WELL-CONNECTED TKC TIPSTER:
"City Staff claims it has data and they have done nothing to prepare for this -- All we have are headcounts - We have no Minority breakouts based on any substantial data."
Another AWESOME TKC TIPSTER notes:
"(City Attorney) Galen (Beaufort)'s interpretation of the charter positions us to violate the voting rights act and 14th Amendment."
Finally, this is important: "There is no data to tell us how much, for instance, how much the African-American population census track 1 has changed."
The essential question here is: "How can you determine voting districts if you have no good data on where people live."
Basically, the advice of the CCP to delay this thing for a year, surprisingly, seems to be the smartest advice out there.
And of course, it's worth noting that AWESOME TKC TIPSTERS broke this story before ANYBODY. Natch.
Developing . . .
CCP is wrong... it can't be delayed, per the charter.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you need to know racial makeups? The census is to count people. The redistricting should be colorblind and avoid gerrymandering.
Having said that, since the 3rd district has to grow and will most likely become more diverse, look for SSB and Freedom, Inc. to howl.
why redistrict now? it is a waste of taxpayers dollars as it has to be redone next year when the new city council is seated.
ReplyDeleteJust when you thought this Council could not look worse they consider redrawing their own districts 6 months before 8 incumbents are up for re-election. The City Attorney doesn't tell them until a few weeks that he thinks they have to do it. I know he has been busy doing outside legal work for a 19 year old stipper, but one phone call back in January would have avoided this mess.
ReplyDeleteWho is Scott Wagner?
ReplyDeleteWagener is a great guy. He could be great for KC.What a shame politics get in the way of a dedicated kc resident.This city is really getting out of hand with this currenT Mayor.
ReplyDeleteCan Kansas City annex Guadalajara?
ReplyDeleteSet up a district there?
Wagner is in the tank for that Royster; how do you feel about that one Tony?
ReplyDeleteI heard Wagner is telling minority communities that the Northland is trying to take away their power with the redistricting. Bad, bad. Race baiting=Scott is no longer my candidate. We need to recruit someone new to run if he really is doing that. Also, if he's publicly supporting Royster, that's silly. Why would he do that? I doubt that's true.
ReplyDeletedon't even you get tired of the phrase "hot mess", Tony?
ReplyDeleteGod knows we have.
Anon 12:12, you couldn't be more wrong. Wagner is not race baiting and the comments attributed to him don't even make sense. If Scott was your candidate, there is ample reason for him to remain so after redistricting... he is good for KC.
ReplyDeleteYou guys aren't getting it... they council HAS to redistrict, per the Charter. And you cant, per the charter, redistrict a sitting council person out of their district in mid-term.
ReplyDeleteWas is his platform? I ask because I can't really tell what his stance is from the web link that tony has provided. Its hard to tell anything because they guy likes video, and I can't watch those at work. And the few times he writes it out, like on crime, there are the most general statements. There is no innovation with this guy, how is he any different than then other 2 guys that are going to be getting in this race? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteI'm for open borders. Regardless of where I live in KC (or even if I live in Overland Park), I ought to get to vote in any KCMO district. If you say I can't, you're a racist!
ReplyDelete