Several City Council Members Will Take Their Shots at Redrawing the City's Districts

Turns out, Mayor Mike Rawlings isn't the only council member considering submitting an amendment to the final redistricting map sent to council. Last night I was told at least five other council members are planning on offering their own suggested alterations by today's 5 p.m. deadline, among them Vonciel Jones Hill, whose office confirms, and at least one coalition of three others who sit at the horseshoe. No one wants to go on the record in case they decide, well, it's just too much damned work. Doubtful that'll be the case.

Redistricting Project Manager Yasmin Barnes Tolliver tells Unfair Park this morning that "no one has actually turned in their amendment, but there are several working on them." I asked Tolliver to walk us through what will happen once they do submit their amendments.

She says that over the weekend and through Monday, the redistricting staff will test the submissions for compactness and contiguity, format the maps, then place them on the redistricting site by no later than Wednesday, fingers crossed, in advance of next Saturday's council hearing. "That depends on how many we get," she says. "If we get one from all 14, it could take a while. But we will have them up at least by Thursday."

And council members, she reminds, can do whatever they want to the maps -- even start from scratch. "It just depends on how much time they have," she says. "They can make minor amendments to the final map or look at a map in the inventory. They can do anything. It's up to the council to decide."

Council has till October 15 to approve the map it wants to send to the Department of Justice. But Tolliver says the DOJ won't actually receive it till staff has time to compile every last bit of data to go along with the map. It'll go be sent to D.C., Tolliver says, "we estimate a month after the final vote."