The Independent Redistricting Commission (the group charged with drawing the City Council single-member district boundaries) will hold meetings in each County Precinct to solicit input for drawing maps. The first meeting is this Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 6:30 PM at the Millennium Center (1156 Hargrave, Austin, TX ). A number of us are concerned that the Commission may draw Mueller outside of East Austin and lump it in with North Central Austin (just like with the AISD district). This would be counter to Mueller’s goal of East Austin Revitalization. Some members of the MNA Steering Committee will show up to speak, but there is strength in numbers. Please come to represent Mueller's importance to the East Austin (you don't have to speak if you don't want to).
Also, don't forget that the Mueller Social Hour is also on Wednesday from 5 to 7 at @HEB. Our plan is to first go to the Social Hour HEB and then some of us will carpool over to hearing. Feel free to send me any thoughts or concerns.
I grew up (born in 1945) in Austin in this neighborhood, and it is amusing to me to see the neighborhood called East Austin. It is east of IH 35, but that is all. I have no dog in the fight and do not care one way or the other, but if the Commission puts Mueller in East Austin, that is gerrymandering. Drawing lines for political or social purposes, of course, is what redistricting committees do.
Um. . . Mueller is not the east Austin you knew? Well, it can’t be geography, so it must be something else. Maybe the availability of new houses on an otherwise barren, noisy airfield? Or, the 1 out of 4 units that house people at 80 percent or less of MFI without looking like subsidized housing? Or, providing nice rental units for those above 55 at affordable rates? Or the increased shopping and employment opportunities, including an HEB, in a previously identified food desert? If not any of these things, then maybe does it have something to do with the types of people who live at Mueller? Perhaps it is people like Dennis MIck who one-handedly fixed handicapped accessibility to the voting precinct in Windsor Park or the dozens of other like him who assist their east side neighbors on a routine basis? Or, maybe it is the emergent leadership of young women like Kathy Sokolic or young Africa Americans like James Nortey and Kevin Foster? This old airport patch of land is probably not the east side you knew. There are a lot of new streets and buildings and many new people. Some old timers may not like the change and or perhaps think of it as too "different" to be considered as a part of east Austin. They may well be correct. I will leave that for others to decide.
As for the gerrymandering part, everyone needs to examine the committee charge and come to understand what that term is and what it is not.
I must say that this Independent Redistricting Commission is doing great work for us. By holding several meetings. I think they provide article reviews to understudies to manage their thesis task easily and should deserve appreciation form all of us. Thanks for guiding us in detail. Incredible efforts
