Proposed wards appeal to majority

The City Council will hold a community forum Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the City Hall council chambers, 400 E. Stewart Ave., to discuss the redistricting. Former Wisconsin judge Fred Kessler, who designed the planned ward changes, will be there.

The proposed ward map is available on the city's website: http:// www.ci.las-vegas.nv.us or at the city clerk's office in the first floor of City Hall.

The proposed map of the new city wards is as multicolored as Las Vegas is multicultural.

When the addition of two wards was first proposed, some political observers believed it would give minorities a better chance of getting elected to what has historically been a predominantly white board.

But the brown, green, pink, yellow, orange and blue colors signifying the new ward boundaries proposed by Fred Kessler, a retired Wisconsin judge, produced no district in which minorities are a majority.

As a result, the race card so often played in the high-stakes political game of redistricting has remained face down in the deck.

"What are they going to do, lump all the Hispanics together to try to make some giant Hispanic ward?" asked Priscilla Rocha, who had considered seeking an appointment to one of the new seats. "I have no beef about that map. It's impossible to force together a minority (majority) ward."

Kessler said Las Vegas is one of the most integrated cities he's ever been asked to reapportion, and he admits he struggled to increase minority percentages in each ward.

"There's just only so far you can tweak it," Kessler said.

On Tuesday residents will get a chance to comment on Kessler's proposed map during a community forum at 6 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 400 E. Stewart Ave.

But race, which has dominated discussion of previous redistricting, doesn't seem to be a concern.

"I voted for the expansion to get better representation," said West Las Vegas resident Robert Johnson, who is black. "To me it doesn't matter if a black gets elected in this ward, it matters that each council person has fewer residents."

The proposal halves Ward 3 and creates an average of 77,247 residents per council member. Ward 3 will still have the most residents (78,816) and Ward 4 will have the fewest (76,176) under the proposed changes. Now, each council member represents about 110,000 constituents.

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, the only woman ever to serve as a council member, said she thinks too much emphasis has been placed on race.

"To me, it's very important that we have team players and people who can problem-solve," Boggs McDonald said. "The person is what matters."

When a citizens committee met late last year to determine whether the council should be expanded, race was always an underlying theme. But a majority of committee members said they felt the council would have to have 11 seats in order to create a minority ward.

Under Kessler's proposed redistricting, Ward 5 would be the closest to a minority ward, even though it would still be 52 percent white.

That proposed district, which was carved out of Ward 3, includes West Las Vegas and a portion of the city's downtown area. Ward 5, as proposed, would be 29.8 percent black, 14.1 percent Hispanic, 2.8 percent Asian, and 1 percent American Indian.

Ward 3 would have the largest percentage of Hispanics citywide, at 24.3 percent, but would still have 57.6 percent of its population as white. The city's western and northwestern wards would be less diverse. Wards 2 would be 80.7 percent white, Ward 4 would be 82.3 percent white and Ward 6 would be 82.5 percent white.

Each of the proposed wards would be at least 5.9 percent black and 8.3 percent Hispanic.

The majority of the city's Hispanics have essentially been split into Wards 3 and 5 under the proposed changes. Without redistricting, Hispanics would have comprised 38 percent of Ward 3. When coupled with other ethnic percentages, Ward 3 would have been a majority minority ward.

Yet Mayor Oscar Goodman and his council colleagues have not heard any complaints from Hispanic community leaders about the proposal.

Hispanics in Politics President Fernando Romero, who has been critical of city redistricting efforts in the past, is now concentrating on winning enough support for an appointment in the newly proposed Ward 6.

In fact, a source familiar with the Hispanic community said the biggest controversy about the redistricting is whom Hispanics will support for an appointment.

The Latin Chamber of Commerce already has backed Romero for the appointment.

"I feel that we're going to cut our own throats," Rocha said. "I think we should have come up with three or four names.

"I have nothing against Fernando (Romero), but the entire Hispanic community hasn't been involved."

Rocha, a local teacher who serves on the state Board of Education, claims she felt pressured by Hispanic leaders into withdrawing from consideration for an appointment because they support Romero.

"What's the City Council going to say?" asked one leader. "They (the Latin Chamber) couldn't come up with anyone better than Fernando, so we're going to go with Orlando (Sanchez)."

Sanchez is the city's Building Services manager who recently expressed interest in an appointment. He has lived in the area that would be Ward 6 since 1991.

"I'm proud of my heritage," said Sanchez, a native of New Mexico. "But Las Vegas is a melting pot and this appointment should not be based on race."

Although minorities have flooded the council with interest in the Ward 5 seat, Ward 6 has drawn interest only from Sanchez and Romero. That ward is the least diverse and it's third richest, in terms of average median household income.

Boggs McDonald, who is black and representing the ward with the second highest average median income, said it is more important for a council candidate to be able to relate to all ethnic groups.

When it comes time for her to seek election to the Ward 2 seat to which she was appointed last month, Boggs McDonald said, race won't be a factor.

"You have to be able to build consensus and not focus on any one issue or ethnic group," Boggs McDonald said.

Las Vegas city politics has not historically been kind to minorities. Although blacks have been appointed to the council, they have lost their election bids. An Hispanic has never served on the council in any capacity.

The expansion of the council will cost $550,240 annually with one-time costs of $170,000.

After Tuesday's community forum, the City Council will decide whether to tweak Kessler's proposal, or leave it the way it is.

The council's decision on the map will then be introduced as a new bill and will be subject to another public hearing. After that hearing, the council will have final approval of the map and will then consider who to appoint to the new seats.

Although the appointments must be made by Jan. 1 under state legislation adopted earlier this year, the council expects to make the appointments in October.

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