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As Fort Worth heads into 2021, one of the biggest projects on the city's plate is increasing its number of council members from nine to 11 and redrawing its districts.
The city has scheduled a series of meetings in January to seek public input on redistricting. On Jan. 4 at 6 p.m., assistant city manager Fernando Costa and Redistricting Task Force chair Lorraine Miller will present Redistricting 101 to help residents learn more about the process. The session will be available on FWTV, the city’s website, and Facebook. Participants can submit questions to [email protected].
Then, at 6 p.m. on Jan. 11, 19, and 21, the city will host Webex meetings to gather public comments on redistricting. The Jan. 19 meeting will be conducted in Spanish.
It's a follow-up to an amendment Fort Worth voters approved in 2016, which called for the addition of two more council members and redistricting following the completion of the 2020 Census. After the city's Task Force on Race and Culture recommended that the districts have more diverse representation, the council appointed an 11-member Redistricting Task Force to evaluate the way districts had been drawn in the past and advise the council on what criteria and procedures should be followed in the future.
In early December, the task force presented an interim report listing 10 criteria for redistricting — among the recommendations, that districts "be approximately equal size" and "contain communities of interest [that is, 'a local population with shared socio-economic characteristics and political institutions that would benefit from unified representation'] in single districts." The full report is available here.
The task force also suggested that the city provide software training to residents and allow them to submit their own proposed redistricting plans for the city council to review.
Below is a schedule of the task force's upcoming events:
- January 2021: Gathering of public input
- Feb. 4, 2021, 3 p.m.: Discussion on public comments and drafting of final recommendations
- March 2, 2021, 3 p.m.: Presentation of final report to city council
- March 16, 2021, 7 p.m.: City council adopts resolution accepting the final report
