County Holds Redistricting Workshop at Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library

On Wednesday night, Hillsborough County officials held a two-hour redistricting public workshop at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library to allow the public to view maps, ask questions or leave a public video comment for the Hillsborough County website.

Steve Valdez, community relations manager for the county, kicked off the workshop at 2902 W. Bearss Avenue with a video explaining the concept of redistricting and showing the locations of future meetings.

A few facts on redistricting:

The process takes place every 10 years after U.S. census information is available. The county is allowed 120 days to draw commission districts with populations that are within 10 percent of each other. This is to ensure that no district vote represents a disproportionate amount of people.

The districts must be as condensed as possible, and they must be adjacent to each other. A commission district that will maximize the opportunity for a minority candidate to be elected must also be maintained. The percentage of minorities in that district, which is district three in Hillborough County, can't decrease when the boundaries are redrawn.

There are seven criteria for redistricting, which can be accessed by visiting http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/redistricting, along with a video explaining the process.

During the workshop, Edith Stewart, public affairs administrator for the county, explained that district two and district four currently have disproportionately large populations. This will be corrected by the redistricting process.

“We have tried to keep communities of a similar interest together,” Stewart said. “I think that Carrollwood will be kept in tact."

Barbara Aderhold, recording secretary with the Keystone Civic Association in northwest Hillsborough, believes that the effects of population redistribution will be minimal.

“The districts are not changing too drastically," she said. "I knew there would be some movement of lines, because of the census. Keystone, in the northwest corner of Hillsborough County, will not be affected.”

The workshop at the Jimmie B. Keel Library was the second of 10 total redistricting workshops to be held. After the remaining seven workshops are completed, a second set of two public meetings will take place. One will discuss alternative plans, and one to finalize the selection process.

For more information on redistricting, and to find out where and when the remaining meetings will be held, visit http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/redistricting.