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From YouTube: City of Charlotte Press Conference : September 13, 2021
Description
City officials discuss redistricting process. To learn more about the overall process and what it means to you, please visit the following page:
https://charlottenc.gov/newsroom/cityhighlights/Pages/Charlotte_Redistricting.aspx
A
Good
morning
and
thank
you
cory
again,
my
name
is
patrick
baker.
I'm
the
city
attorney
here
in
charlotte.
I
wanted
to
discuss
with
you
some
of
the
frequently
asked
questions
about
redistricting.
The
first
question
is
what
is
redistricting
redistricting
is
the
process
of
drawing
new
boundaries
based
on
population
to
ensure
proper
representation?
A
Why
is
redistricting
required?
Charlotte
is
redistricting
as
required
by
law
after
a
decennial
census,
when
local
district
population
numbers
have
changed
significantly,
these
population
imbalances
go
against
the
one
person
one
vote.
Legal
principle
of
ensuring
all
districts
are
about
the
same
size
and
population.
A
According
to
the
rough
local
level,
2020
census
data
released
in
august
of
this
year,
charlotte's
total
population
of
eight
hundred
and
seventy
nine
thousand
one
hundred
and
eighty
eight
divided
across
seven
council
districts
should
equal
about
one
hundred
twenty
five
thousand
two
hundred
and
ninety
eight
people
per
district.
However,
six
out
of
the
seven
district
populations
are
substantially
out
of
balance
and
do
not
equal
that
number
third
question:
why
is
our
local
election
been
removed
to
spring
of
2022?
A
A
A
I'd
now
like
to
introduce
our
redistricting
committee
chair
and
district
2
council
member,
malcolm
graham,
who
will
speak
on
the
committee,
formed
their
goals
and
how
the
public
can
get
involved
in
this
process.
B
In
july
of
this
year,
mayor
laos
charged
the
committee
in
anticipation
of
the
2020
u.s
census
data
mayor
laos,
set
up
the
redistricting
committee,
chaired
by
myself
with
council
members,
azmir,
drakes
and
phillips,
serving
as
committee
members,
the
city
of
charlotte
also
contracted
with
the
charlotte
area
law,
firm,
parker
poll
and
land
planning
firm
in
focus
to
assist
with
legal
demographic,
geographic
geography,
information
system
services
throughout
the
redistricting
process,
based
on
the
input
from
the
citizens,
advisory
committee
and
governance
and
field
council's
general
consensus
to
the
recommendations
from
the
budget
and
effectiveness
committee
presented
on
june
28th,
the
committee
charges
as
follows:
one
importance
of
the
first
order.
B
B
The
importance
of
the
second
order
is
district
boundaries
may
follow
precinct
boundaries.
District
boundaries
may
be
drawn
considering
the
race
of
district
residents.
As
long
as
the
race
is
not
the
predominating
motivating,
factor,
districts
likely
to
be
impacted
by
future
annexation
or
growth
rates
may
be
smaller
to
minimize
impact
of
future
annexations
on
future
redistricting.
B
The
the
committee
first
met
on
august
23rd
and
we
made
it
again
on
august
7
7.
The
next
committee
meeting
will
be
september
20th.
Other
important
dates
are
as
follows.
These
are
really
important
one
september
30th
is
the
deadline
for
the
u.s
census.
Data
october
5th
is
our
public
engagement
session
october.
18Th
is
a
public
hearing
required
by
laura
after
receiving
census
data
and
before
new
districts
are
adopted
november
8th
is
our
presentation
of
district
record
recommendations
to
the
fellow
city
council
november
12th
deadline
to
notify
mecklenburg
county
board
of
elections.
B
If
a
dis
registrant
plan
will
be
not
reached
by
november
17th,
we
have
to
have
this
plan
reached
by
council
to
the
board
of
election
by
the
17th
november.
17Th
is
the
deadline
to
report
new
districts
to
mecklenburg,
county
board
of
elections
and,
lastly,
december
6
through
the
17th
filing
period
for
delayed
municipal
elections,
occur
if
the
city
does
not
provide
a
registered
gang
plan
for
the
board
of
election
by
november
17th.
B
B
Lastly,
this
is
really
important.
One
of
the
things
that
we
really
want
to
do
is
get
a
lot
of
public
input.
We
want
to
be
open,
we
want
to
be
engaging
and
we
want
to
make
sure
that
the
public
is
a
part
of
the
process.
So
we
encourage
the
public
to
do
the
following.
They
can
attend
the
virtual
public
engagement
session
on
tuesday
october
5th,
at
6
pm
you
can
register
at
clt.gov
dot,
m
e,
slash
redistricting,
that's
c
l
t
gov
dot,
m
e,
slash
redistricting.
B
B
So
we
really
are
happy
that
we're
moving
progressively
forward
in
terms
of
putting
our
plans
in
place.
The
committee
has
already
had
two
meetings,
we're
really
excited
about
where
we
headed
with
this
information.
Our
goal
is
to
follow
the
data,
as
it
leads
us
to
making
rational
decisions
on
behalf
of
the
citizens
of
charlotte.
We
want
your
participation.
I've
announced
those
two
dates
that
you
can
follow
with
us,
and
we
want
your
public
comments
again.
You
can
register
to
attend
the
october
5th
our
public
engagement
session
at
clt,
dot,
m
e,
slash
redistricting.
B
Thank
you
very
much
and
I
think
we
will
take
questions
from
mr
baker.
We
also
have
mac
mccauley
here
from
parker
poll,
as
well
as
also
the
attorney
mr
baker,
so
we'll
take
any
questions
that
you
may
have.
C
D
I
thank
you
curious.
I'm
not
sure
if
this
is
a
legal
aspect
or
if
this
is
for
for
you,
malcolm,
but
in
terms
of
we've,
seen
tark
bakar's
city
council
members
say
that
he
would
like
another
district
added
to
it
and
maybe
one
less
general
seat
and
then
you've
also
had
braxton
wilson
said.
Well,
let's
keep
the
general
seats,
but,
let's
add
one
more
district:
either
way
both
would
like
to
add
a
district.
Is
it
possible
to
add
districts?
And
if
so,
what
is
the
likelihood
of
that
happening?.
B
The
goal
and
objective
of
the
committee
is
to
follow
the
charge
as
presented
by
the
mayor
and
council.
Adding
an
eighth
additional
district
are
deleting
an
at
large
one
to
accomplish.
That
was
not
embedded
in
the
charge
that
we
were
giving
by
the
mayor
and
the
council,
so
the
redistricting
committee
will
not
be
going
in
that
direction
unless
other
authorized
by
the
mayor
council.
E
Hello,
everybody,
my
question
is
so
what
will
the
process
be
like?
I
guess
this
is
for
mac.
Are
you
going
to
present
one
map
that
the
committee
will
consider,
or
are
you
going
to
produce
multiple
maps
with
different
scenarios
that
the
committee
will
then
vote
out
of
committee
to
full
council.
F
As
the
consultant
we're
going
to
take
our
direction
from
the
redistricting
committee,
but
we
will
always
present
a
leased
change
map
will
present
any
other
maps
that
the
committee
tells
us
the
parameters
they
wish
to
see.
A
map
drawn
by.
My
guess
is
that,
by
the
time
this
is
over,
the
committee
will
have
looked
at
somewhere
between
five
and
ten
different
variations
of
maps.
It'll
be
up
to
the
committee
to
decide
which
one
of
those
or
which
several
of
those
to
put
in
front
of
the
full
council
for
decision.
G
And
these
maps
will
be
available
and
as
far
as
the
public
engagement
session,
how
many
maps
will
be
available
then,
and
other
public
engagement
you're
doing
to
ensure
that
problems
similar
to
the
2040
plan
of
people
being
concerned?
They
weren't
consulted.
How
will
you
make
sure
that
all
different
communities
are
represented
in
the
redistricting
process
that
they
get
their
say
and
that
it's
not
just
this
one
engagement
session?
You
talked
about.
B
Thank
you
very
much
for
the
question.
Our
goal
and
objective
is
to
be
as
transparent
as
possible
and
to
communicate,
educate
and
engage
the
public
along
the
way.
That's
one
of
the
reason
why
we're
doing
this
press
conference
here
today
to
ensure
that
you
guys
can
help
us
get
the
word
out
about
what
we're
doing
when
we're
doing
it,
and
why
we're
doing
it.
We
also
will
be
sending
information
out
engaging
the
public
through
all
the
city's
public
communication
channels.
B
Ib
facebook
instagram
those
things
that
the
city
uses
to
communicate
with
the
public,
and
so
we're
going
to
do
it
that
way
as
well.
All
of
our
meetings
are
open
and
available
to
the
public
online.
So
when
we
meet
again,
they
can
send
into
those
meetings
and
watch
what
we're
saying
and
what
we're
doing.
We
have
established
the
two
public
hearing
and
the
public
engagement
session,
and
I
gave
out
the
the
links
for
those
individuals
to
register
and
be
involved
in
that.
B
It
is
my
anticipation
that
when
we
do
have
the
first
public
engagement
sessions,
maps
will
be
available
for
public
review
and
comment
at
that
time.
As
mr
mccauley
said,
there
will
probably
be
three
to
four
options
that
we
put
before
the
the
commit
the
community
for
consideration,
as
well
as
the
council.
B
C
H
Good
morning,
thanks
corey
and
good
morning,
councilman,
graham
my
question
is:
can
you
explain
excuse
me,
can
you
explain
as
far
as
the
council
members
that
are
on
the
committee,
how
those
were
chosen
and
why
it's
majority
democrat
and
and
why
there's
only
one
republican
on
the
committee.
B
Well,
the
committee
was
selected
by
the
the
mayor
of
charlotte
val
she
selected.
The
members
of
the
committee
named
me
chairman.
As
you
know,
we
have
11
member
on
council.
Nine
are
democrats,
two
are
republicans,
so
I
think
the
makeup
of
the
committee
reflects
the
balance
on
the
on
the
council
itself.
C
Our
final
question
of
the
first
round,
we'll
go
to
steve
harrison
steve,
go
ahead
with
your
question.
I
Yeah
yeah
thanks
malcolm
you,
and
I
talked
about
this
last
week
about
the
the
committee's
decision
to
kind
of
remove
that
piece
of
the
criteria
that
talked
about
partisan
balance
and
trying
to
maintain
a
partisan
balance.
I
You
know
you
had
said
that
you
guys
did
that,
because
it's
just
not
possible
in
a
in
a
blue
city
like
charlotte
to
have
these
districts
be
equally
balanced,
but
in
terms
of
the
district
six
issue
is,
it
is,
is
keeping
that
is
keeping
the
partisan
balance
in
district
6,
something
that
the
committee
is
going
to
consider.
B
Part
of
what
we're
going
to
do
as
a
committee
is
follow
where
the
data
leads
us
and
make
those
decisions
according
to
facts
and
figures
on
the
ground,
and
so
there's
no
pre
determination.
What
district
2
is
going
to
look
like,
there's
no
predetermination.
What
district
6
is
going
to
look
like
we're
going
to
take
our
time
and
re
review
the
results
when
they
come
in.
B
We
also
are
going
to
talk
to
all
our
district
council
members
to
talk
specifically
about
things
in
the
districts
are
important
to
them,
and
then
we
will
sit
down
and
and
draw
the
maps
accordingly,
and
so
there's
no
predetermination,
rather
we're
going
to
try
to
keep
a
specific
districts,
obviously
the
spirit
of
what
we
want
to
do
right.
While
we
remove
those
two
language,
because
we
believe,
I
believe
in
the
committee
agreed
by
a
unanimous
vote-
that
we
want
to
provide
realistic
expectations
not
only
to
the
community
but
also
to
the
council
as
well.
B
B
Two
republican,
the
county
commission,
is
all
democrats
and
the
state
delegation,
I
think,
has
maybe
one
republican
member
out
of
about
18,
19,
20
and
so
again
I
think
that
let
you
know
how
this
is
going
to
play
out.
Obviously
it
would
be
great
to
have
a
partisan
balance.
I
think
that's
really
important.
The
goal
is
not
to
have
nine
two.
The
goal
is
just
to
draw
the
the
numbers
to
draw
the
city
and
the
map
according
to
the
data-
and
I
think
you
know
just
by
knowing
the
numbers
as
I
do.
B
I
think
we've
talked
about
this
as
well.
There's,
certainly
a
republican
district
for
sure
district
7
doesn't
have
to
have
any
changes
at
all.
It's
right
at
124,
000
district
6
will
probably
ended.
Italy
probably
be
a
toss
up
based
on
the
numbers,
but
that
has
to
be
bear
out
by
the
facts
and
the
data,
and
so
that's
what
we're
going
to
do.
We're
going
to
allow
the
the
city
planning
mr
mccauley
to
do
their
jobs
and
make
their
recommendations
to
us
and
so
we'll
follow
their
recommendations.
E
I'm
sorry,
let
me
see
how
I
want
to
phrase
this.
Is
there
any
concern
that
the
eyes
are
on
charlotte
to
see
how
charlotte
approaches,
creating
these
new
maps?
Do
you
feel,
like
raleigh,
is
paying
attention
to
what
charlotte
does
as
they
get
ready
to
create
their
own
maps
for
congressional
districts,
for
example,.
B
Then
the
numbers
are
the
numbers
on
the
numbers
right:
they
don't
change,
based
on
your
location
and
based
on
what
I
said
earlier
in
terms
of
the
demographics
on
the
ground
as
we
speak,
the
demographics
that
we
hope
to
to
get
in
by
september
30th
will
lead
us
to
what
we
do.
D
Thank
you,
malcolm
just
for
the
the
average
citizen
we're
talking
about
the
demographics
and
everything.
Can
you
explain
what
data
you
do
and
do
do
not
look
at?
Do
you
look
at
gender?
Do
you
look
at
race?
Do
you
look
at
which
party
they've
registered
for
what
all
do
you
look
at
when
it
goes
into
redistricting?
D
B
Want
to
have
our
mr
mccauley
answer
that
question
for
us.
F
The
data
that
the
committee
will
have
available
to
them
if
they're
interested
is
total
population
in
the
precincts
and
we're
not
one
of
the
things
that
we're
trying
to
do
is
keep
the
basic
building
block
as
the
precincts.
So
all
the
data
is
going
to
be
sliced
at
precinct
level.
They'll
have
total
population
of
the
precincts.
They'll
have
party
registration
in
the
precincts
and,
if
they're
interested,
we
can
pull
up
actual
voter
participation
in
that
precinct
age
is
not
necessarily
an
issue.
Gender
is
not
an
issue.
F
D
F
That's
the
constitutional
requirement
that
the
districts
be
roughly
equal
in
population,
but
in
a
partisan
election
system
like
this
one
where
people
are
elected
by
party,
the
candidates
and
the
public
and
the
two
political
parties
are
going
to
want
to
know
what
the
political
makeup
of
each
precinct
in
each
district
is
and
any
final
maps
that
are
considered.
So
no,
the
most
important
thing
is
pot
total
population
by
census.
Data
second
is
very
likely
to
be
party
registration
and
it's
on
a
par
with
race.
C
Okay,
jonathan
lowe.
H
So
councilman,
graham,
as
you
probably
are
aware,
due
to
your
service
at
the
state
level,
redistricting
is
a
contentious
subject
here
in
north
carolina.
Do
you
have
any
concern
for
number
one?
Do
you
have
any
concern
that
that
may
affect
public
participation
in
this
process
and
number
two?
How
do
you
you
know
plan
to
overcome
that?
I
know
you
just
went
through
a
lot
of
efforts
to
involve
the
public
but
encouraging
that
involvement.
How
do
you
plan
to
do
that.
B
Obviously,
the
political
parties
in
town
are
going
to
take
an
interest
in
this,
as
well
as
the
political
junkies
in
town
right,
and
so
I
think
those
who
are
closest
to
it
politically
will
find
the
topic
very
interesting
and
their
participation
will
will
be
give
a
given-
and
I
think,
just
educating
again
throughout
those
channels
and
encouraging
people
to
attend
both
the
public
engagement
session
right,
I
mean
so
we're
going
to
communicate
with
all
council
members
encouraging
them
to
share
with
their
constituents
what
we're
doing
while
we're
doing
it
when
we're
going
to
do
it-
and
hopefully
you
guys
in
the
media,
will
help
us
out
as
well
in
terms
of
educating
and
informing
the
public
through
your
news
reporting
about
what's
important
and
which
dates
are
important
and
right
now.
B
Those
dates
that
are
really
important
for
us
is
october
september
30th,
which
is
when
we
should
receive
the
last
data
dump
from
the
census
department.
The
commerce
department
october
5th
the
public
engagement
session
and
on
october
18th,
which
is
required
by
law,
the
public
hearing
and
so
we'll
be
marching
towards
those
dates
and
hopefully
begin
to
communicate
those
data
out
and
how
folks
can
participate
along
the
way.
C
So
to
our
reporters
on
the
line,
we've
gone
ahead
and
lowered
everyone's
hands.
So
if
you
do
have
one
more
question
that
you'd
like
to
ask
we'll
give
you
a
couple
seconds
to
utilize,
the
raise
my
hand
feature
otherwise,
we'll
end
in
just
a
moment.
I'll
give
you
all
a
couple
seconds.
C
Okay,
there
are
no
more
questions.
We
appreciate
all
of
our
reporters
for
joining
us
this
morning,
special
thanks
to
mr
graham
mr
baker
and
mr
mccarly
for
your
time.
This
morning,
a
quick
reminder
to
our
reporters,
a
video
from
today's
press
conference,
will
be
uploaded
to
the
dropbox
link
that
I
provided
to
all
of
you,
approximately
30
to
45
minutes
after
the
conclusion
of
this
event.
If
you
need
anything
from
us
in
the
meantime,
you
know
how
to
reach
us.
We
appreciate
everything
and
hope
you
all
have
a
great
rest
of
your
monday.