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City council takes final action on redistricting

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Related stories:

• Mailings notify residents of changed representation (February 5, 2002)
• Students may lose city council seat (June 20, 2001)
• Tate may fight Powell in District 5 race (November 29, 2001)
• Legislator calls for redistricting bill (March 4, 2005)
• Students lose representation in city, county redistricting (January 22, 2002)

Also by Eileen Boyce:

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• Council approves smoking ban, guest policy ordinance (November 25, 2001)

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The Madison City Council unanimously adopted a redistricting plan setting 20 district boundaries for the next decade, or until Census 2010.

The plan, which has been in the works for several months, takes into account many suggestions from urban developers regarding the actual district design. The newly formed districts will not take effect until after the April 2003 City Council elections.

Some concerns existed about diminishing student representation by rearranging the districts, but the Council made a compromise to ensure student voices are heard.

In general, District 2 gained student neighborhoods, while District 5 lost many student blocks.

As Madison’s population moves west, the districts were rearranged to slide west.

District 2 gains several student-dominated blocks from District 4, including the Mansion Hill neighborhood west of James Madison Park and down East Gilman and Langdon Streets.

In 2003, the new District 5 will no longer be nearly 100 percent students. District 5 will include Camp Randall, University Heights and Madison West High School.

Ald. Mike Verveer said he worries undergraduates will have a harder time being elected in the new District 5.

“Residents in those neighborhoods tend to vote in higher numbers than students, so it will take a super spectacular undergraduate to hold that seat in the council,” Verveer said.

However, Verveer said the plan should be an effective alternative.

“The redistricting plan is the best we could do, given the population shifts in Madison,” he said. “It was the best of many other scenarios.”

The County Board adopted a redistricting plan this summer which will take effect in April 2002. The combination of the two redistricting plans means the city and county districts are no longer identical, which may cause confusion for voters.

The council also discussed Verveer’s Reasonable Guest Policy ordinance. This debate ended in a split voice vote and was referred back to the City Council Organization Committee.

Verveer’s ordinance suggested two basic conditions. One would forbid landlords from banning guests in their buildings at all times, and the other would require landlords to explain guest policies to prospective tenants at the lease signing.

Some members of the City Council feel this ordinance adds to city overregulation.

“They don’t want to have to force landlords to have guests [in their buildings,]” said Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8. “They think it shouldn’t be a right to have guests that could be threatening.”

A handful of Madison landlords in non-student neighborhoods have banned guests at all times from their complexes, as well as changed guest policies overnight without tenants’ knowledge, Verveer said.

Tuesday’s meeting was the second time the council referred the ordinance back to the Organization Committee.

“There has not been enough support to pass a meaningful ordinance,” Verveer said.