THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 19, 1995 TAG: 9511170731
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
City Council, frustrated over a mandate by the General Assembly to alter the size of council voting districts, struggled Tuesday to find a way to make the changes work.
The General Assembly decreed early this year that the council must find a way to spread the city's population equally among the seven districts. Currently, the Blackwater Borough has fewer than 1,000 people and the Kempsville Borough has more than 150,000.
The council also was required to ask voters again whether they want to elect all council members or have the seven district representatives elected solely by the people of that district. Now, all 11 council members are elected by voters citywide, although the seven borough representatives must live in their boroughs.
The new council districts, with about 56,000 residents in each, will be drawn by the end of the year. Voters will be asked to consider the ballot question on election rules next May.
Council members said they are concerned that equally populated districts will be hard to govern.
There are so few people in the southern half of the city that creating a district with one-seventh of the city's population - about 56,000 people, according to the 1990 census - means creating a district of about 100 square miles.
``I just don't see a person being able to represent that kind of diversity,'' council member Barbara M. Henley said, in response to a proposed district map that showed one borough extending from the North Carolina line to just north of Virginia Beach Boulevard. ``That's one heck of a district.''
``The problems in the northern side of the city are people problems, problems of people relating to people,'' Council member Harold Heischober said. ``In the southern part of the city, the problems are land issue problems.''
On Tuesday, Maurice B. Jackson of the Council of Civic Organizations presented the council with a third way to divide up the city into seven equal districts. He had presented a map a few weeks earlier but revised it to take into account a map drawn by City Treasurer John T. Atkinson.
The city plans to send all three maps to its election consultants to determine which comes closest to meeting demands established by the U.S. Department of Justice for changing systems of election.
The council has had trouble deciding how to word the ballot question on election rules, and so members asked that the Beacon publish questions presented by the public and several council members. Last Sunday, readers were given the chance to call Infoline to voice support for one of the following seven questions.
The results are not scientific, but they do indicate general interest. The council is expected to choose the ballot language Nov. 28.
The questions and 653 votes received are as follows:
1. Should City Council request the General Assembly to amend the City Charter to provide for the election of councilpersons representing residence districts by the voters of their respective districts? Received 121 votes.
2. Should the method of electing those members of City Council who are elected from residence districts be amended from an at-large system where all of the voters of the city cast a ballot for each council member to a ward system where only those voters residing in a council member's district may cast a vote for that council member? Received 75 votes.
3. Should the City Council member elected from each residence district be elected by all qualified voters of the city (at-large) rather than only by the voters of that district (ward)? Received 33 votes.
4. Should those council members elected from residence districts (formerly boroughs) be elected by all of the qualified voters of the city at-large rather than being elected only by the qualified voters of a council member's district (a ward system)? Received 7 votes.
5. Should the City Council member elected to represent a particular borough be elected by all qualified voters throughout the city rather than only by the qualified voters residing in that particular borough? Received 14 votes.
6. Should the City Council member elected from each residence district be elected by all qualified voters of the city (at large) rather than only by the voters of that district (ward)?
If you wish to vote for all 11 council seats, vote YES! If you prefer to vote for only five of the 11 council seats, vote NO! Received 165 votes.
7. Should the City Council member elected to represent a particular borough be elected by all qualified voters throughout the city (an at-large system) rather than only by the qualified voters residing in that particular borough (a ward system)? Received 238 votes. by CNB