Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-25-16 Community RelationsOFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK COMMUNITY RELATIONS APRIL 25 2016 5:35 P.M. Committee Members Present: Randy Kelly, Gavin Ferlic, Karen White Other Council Present: Oliver Davis, John Voorde, Dr. David Varner, Jo M. Broden Others Present: City Clerk Kareemah Fowler, Alkeyna Aldridge, Joseph Molnar, Kathleen Cekanski - Farrand, Adriana Rodriguez Agenda: Bill No. 16 -37 — Supporting Redistricting Reform Bill No. 07 -16 — City Flag Bill No. 16 -39 — City Flag Retirement Ceremony Councilmember Randy Kelly, Vice - Chairperson of the Community Relations Committee, called the meeting to order with three (3) bills on the agenda. Bill No. 16 -37 — Supporting Redistricting Reform Councilmember Oliver Davis, 1801 Nash Street South Bend 46613, spoke as the presenter of this bill. This bill comes on the behalf of the League of Women Voters of South Bend and they are asking for a committee to be formed at the state level to look into redistricting reforms. Gerri Pawelski, 16402 BerryKnoll Way Granger IN, spoke in favor of the bill and as the president of the League of Women Voters for the South Bend area. The Indiana State Legislature passed a bill in 2015 to evaluate the benefits surrounding a possible change in the method for establishing election districts. With this proposed resolution, the League asks the Council to adopt the resolution which supports comprehensive redistricting reform including: the establishment of a citizen -led commission, the requirement that district boundaries respect various good voting practices (compactness, political competition, continuity, etc.) and that redistricting decisions disregard individual addresses, including incumbent addresses and those of political rivals. 455 County-City Building • 227 W. Jefferson BouleN and • South Bend, Indiana 46601 Phone 574 - 235 -9221 • Fax 574- 235 -9173 • TDD 574- 235 -5567 • www.SouthBendIN.gov JENNIFER M. COFFMAN ALKEYNA M. ALDRIDGE EMILY SEXTON CHIEF DEPUTY/ CHIEF OF STAFF DEPUTY/ DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK In Indiana currently, the General Assembly prepares and adopts redistricting plans. The problem with this method is that the players are the umpires. Having elected officials draw the maps encourages gerrymandering. Partisan gerrymandering is the practice of drawing districts to benefit a particular party or candidate. Both Democrats and Republicans engage in gerrymandering; the party in power draws the maps. Ms. Pawelski explained depending on how the districts are drawn you can get very different results from the same votes. These gerrymandered districts lead to malapportionment, which is bad or inequitable apportionment in a political'assembly. Ms. Pawelski gave examples of both instances in 2012 where Democrats would cast more votes than Republicans in a state and end up losing more elections and also examples where Republicans cast more votes in a state but ended up losing more elections. Legislatures create malapportionment, in states where Republicans controlled the process, their candidates won roughly 53 percent of the vote and 72 percent of the seats. In the states where Democrats controlled the process, their candidates won about 56 percent of the vote and 71 percent of the seats. Commissions reduce this problem. In states where courts, commissions or divided governments drew the maps, there was a much smaller disparity between the share of the popular vote and the number of seats won in Congress. In those states, Democrats won slightly more than half the vote and 56 percent of the seats and Republicans won 46 percent of the vote and 44 percent of the seats. In Indiana, Republicans generally win between 53 percent and 57 percent of the votes in state legislative races, but they have drawn the maps with such surgical precision that they now find themselves with 71 percent and 80 percent of the seats in the Indiana House and Senate, respectively. The negative consequences of gerrymandering are vast. In 2014, 44 of 100 House candidates and 10 of 25 Senate candidates ran unopposed. It discourages voting, Indiana's 2014 voter turnout was 28 %, the lowest in the nation. Gerrymandering can also splinter and harm communities of interest such as cities and towns, school districts, neighborhoods, and minorities. It is time for voters to pick their politicians and not politicians pick their voters. Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked about the makeup of this proposed commission. Ms. Pawelski responded the commission would be led by citizens. Some states have politicians involved and some have strictly citizens only. Councilmember Oliver Davis asked how the citizens would be chosen and if they would have to be bi- partisan because just because they are not a politician does not mean they are not biased. Ms. Pawelski sated the resolution does not flesh that out but clearly they would be politically active and informed people but it would be bi- partisan so it would be fair and equal in numbers. Ms. Pawelski provided the PowerPoint she used for her presentation and it is on file in the City Clerk's Office. 2 No one from the public spoke in favor of or opposition to the bill. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to send Bill 16 -37 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Karen White seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Bill No. 07 -16 — City Flag Bill No. 16 -39 — City Flag Retirement Ceremony Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to accept the substitute Bill 07 -16. Councilmember Karen White seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Councilmember Karen White made a motion to hear both Substitute Bill 07 -16 and Bill 16 -39 together. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic served as the presenter of this bill. He explained the process that lead to the creation of the flag and the extensive time and energy that the SB 150 group put forward. People in the community have gotten very excited about the flag and it can be seen throughout the City already. Bill 16 -39 establishes the retirement ceremony for the current city flag if the new flag is passed. Aaron Perri, Chair of the SB 150 Committee, spoke about the new city flag design. Last fall a special ad -hoc committee was formed to look at the redesign of the City Flag. A few meetings were held to decide the ground rules for the competition and for what could and should be represented in the flag. The competition had over two - hundred (200) submissions come in. The committee narrowed it down to three (3). There wasn't a strong consensus in the feedback from the community about the three (3) final flags. We picked up some things from each of the three (3) flags that the community stated they liked and a final designer combined those themes into this flag. The most prominent theme is the river and the yellow color is picked up from the former city flag. The red star/hexagram has the six (6) points to symbolize the six (6) Council Districts. The star really symbolizes anything worth striving for or achieving, such as why we use stars on the American Flag. Stars are actually on nearly two- thirds (2/3) of flags in the United States. Mr. Perri provided a presentation with various pictures of how the community has already taken to the flag in such a positive way before it is even official, the presentation is now on file in the City Clerk's Office. The pictures included t- shirts, lapels, businesses flying the flag outside their buildings and outside of Four Winds Field. These are not really things the City has spurred on in any way, it's just the community getting excited about it. It is an open source design so people have really run with it. Mr. Perri stated he doesn't know if all the people who have adopted the flag in all these different ways love the design itself, but it speaks to their love of this community and feeling involved which is very exciting. It is becoming a symbol we can use for whatever cause people in the City want. Mr. Perri stated the designer of the flag will be at the full Council meeting later in the day to explain more of the symbolism of the flag and his thought process. Vice - Chairperson Randy Kelly stated one thing that did not make it into the presentation is that the South Bend Bears Lacrosse Team have already adopted this into their uniforms and will come and speak later tonight. Mr. Perri stated that the flag really became a hybrid of what everyone seemed to want in the flag from the responses. There were over one - thousand (1,000) people who provided some feedback and one of the biggest comments was people wanted to see more of the river. Councilmember Dr. David Varner stated he really hates the red star on the flag for a variety of reasons, the simplest reason that it seems people were interested in it because it copies the Chicago Flag. Having it represent the six (6) Council districts is kind of crazy because South Bend has a lot more to offer than that for symbolism, which is not to diminish the efforts of anyone who put time in on this project. It is too bad that some people have jumped ahead of the official recognition of the flag. The river design makes sense and the bright yellow certainly makes sense but the star just does not. Councilmember Randy Kelly stated one of the things he likes about the star is that to him it shows the City as one entity. Six (6) separate districts but one (1) city. Councilmember Ferlic expressed he really appreciates the committee's work and of course we could go through another process that may lead to more people liking that one but there will probably always be a few people who don't like the design. It's difficult to always build complete community consensus, not to disrespect anyone's opinions but this exhaustive project created a symbol that has really come alive in the City. Councilmember Oliver Davis stated he wishes there was an actual vote so that we could look at the numbers. Everything the Council bases stuff on is based on numbers and having the vote would be useful. Also, another concern is if this Council votes this down it will still be going on in the community. Since it's already been embraced by the community our hands are tied. He would have liked the Council having the final two (2) or three (3) brought forward. Now it will look like the Council could be the bad guy. It seems like the Administration has already made their decision and it's not good for us to be put into this position. Councilmember Dr. David Varner asked if this is something that the Mayor could adopt by executive order. Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski- Farrand responded the legislative record is non - existent for the current flag. She also stated the resolution for the retirement ceremony has the incorrect new flag so a substitute of that flag would need to be developed. Mr. Perri added that last fall the Council did support a resolution that outlined this process that the committee would bring a final flag to be adopted. Councilmember Oliver Davis stressed he would have liked the process to be much quicker after the committee decided on this flag so the community did not have all this time to think it was already finalized. in Councilmember Dr. David Varner suggested possibly since there is no current legislation on the old flag, the Mayor could just adopt this by executive order and then no individual person looks like they jumped ship or they are the bad guy. No one from the public spoke in favor of the bill. Those speaking in opposition: Ann Puzzelo, 1247 E. Lasalle Ave. South Bend, stated she had concern about the red star. A six pointed star typically stands for the Jewish symbol. That symbol was not always such a happy thing for them as the Jewish people had to wear that symbol in Nazi Germany and lead to of course the horrors we all know about. At the most recent North East Neighborhood meeting a woman spoke up about that fact and she expressed the six pointed star as a very sad thing because it was used so horribly during that war. The star standing for the Council districts is really strange. There are twenty -three (23) second class cities in Indiana and they all have six (6) Council districts, so this is not something special to South Bend. This City is such a wonderful place and we could find a different symbol on that flag. Gary King, 730 N. Hill St. South Bend, stated the process of this flag selection was deeply flawed. Even though people worked really hard, we don't know who exactly was on the committee. There were two- hundred (200) some designs, Mr. King submitted three (3) of them, and it would have been nice if they would have narrowed that down to twenty (20) or so instead of just three (3). Perhaps they could have displayed the twenty (20) or so flags at the old hall of fame and given people options to vote instead of just a limited option. Mr. King suggested using the torch of Indiana instead of the star, the star is only used in Chicago's Flag. This flag is all over the place even though it has not even been officially adopted. Mr. King stated this new flag does not fit all the requirements of the resolution passed by the Council last fall. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to send Bills 07 -16 and 16 -39 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Karen White seconded the motion which passed by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. With no further business before the Committee, Vice - Chairperson Randy Kelly adjourned the meeting at 6:33 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Rand Kell Vice -Ch erson Y Y� IP