JSPAN Testifies Before City Council on Philadelphia Redistricting

Adam Bonin, member of the JSPAN Board, joined by JSPAN Vice President Ken Myers, testified on September 6 at a hearing on redistricting before five members of the Philadelphia City Council.

Under federal law and the City Charter, every ten years Council is required to redraw the voting districts from which it is selected, in order to equalize populations. This highly political process is never easy. Council President Verna, opening the hearing, noted that unless a new map is drawn this month, pay will be withheld from Council members until a map is adopted.

Bonin explained the tension between the belief of the Founding Fathers that districts need not be drawn to ensure that particular interest groups were represented, and the modern view - taught to him by his law professor Barack Obama - that elected members do not act perfectly as a filter for the diverse views present in their own districts.

JSPAN's main recommendations are that the existing Latino district be preserved, and that changes in district lines strive to preserve the functioning communities that make up the City: neighborhoods, police districts, school attendance zones, local civic organizations, youth sports leagues, parishes and all the different small communities through which Philadelphians define themselves and in which they take pride. For the full text of Mr. Bonin's remarks click here.