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October 3, 2001
TO THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADLEPHIA:
I am returning herewith as disapproved Bill No. 010523. Council passed this bill at its session on September 20, 2001.
Bill 010523 would redraw the boundaries of the City's ten councilmanic districts pursuant to Council's obligation under section 2-102 of the Home Rule Charter to do so after the federal government's completion of the census. As you know, redistricting is intended to adjust for geographic shifts in the City's population, in order to maintain roughly equal numbers of people in each of the ten districts. Equalization of population - in order to maintain the Constitutional principle of "one person-one vote" -- is a requirement of federal and state law as well as a requirement of our Charter. In addition, the law, as well as fundamental fairness, requires that particular consideration be given to the extent to which the plan provides cohesive racial and ethnic minority groups with opportunities to elect representatives of their choice equal to those of the majority.
I recognize that redistricting is difficult as a political and legal matter. For a variety of reasons, however, I cannot approve the bill that Council has passed.
First, the bill does not equalize the populations of the districts or promote the principle of "one person-one vote" as closely as it should and can. According to the 2000 Census, the City contains roughly 1,517,550 people; each Council district should therefore contain approximately 151,755 people. Under the bill, however, the 6th District would include almost 7,700 more people, or 5% more, than this number. The 9th District would contain approximately 3,700 less than 151,755 people, which is 2.44% smaller than the ideal number. The population spread between the largest and smallest districts would therefore be more than 11,400. This deviation is significantly higher than the population spreads afte...
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