DATE: Tuesday, November 11, 1997            TAG: 9711110287

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   59 lines

PROPOSAL FOR REDRAWN DISTRICT 3RD DISTRICT WOULD STILL HAVE BLACK MAJORITY UNDER PROPOSAL

U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott would continue to represent a majority black constituency under a plan to redraw the 3rd Congressional District that has been proposed by several regional congressmen.

The plan was submitted Monday to a General Assembly subcommittee charged with drawing new boundaries this fall.

Scott's district, which includes parts of Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk and has a 64 percent black population, was declared an unconstitutional racial gerrymander by three federal judges this year.

The judges ordered the General Assembly to redraw congressional boundaries without trying to concentrate blacks within one district.

The meandering 220-mile 3rd District starts in Roanoke and Norfolk, winds through black neighborhoods in Petersburg and Richmond and stretches to the northern limits of Essex County.

The General Assembly approved the district in 1991, believing federal laws dictated that majority black districts be created whenever possible.

The U.S. Supreme Court has since ruled that achieving racial majorities cannot be the ``predominant'' reason for drawing a district. It has ruled that other qualities - such as the geographical compactness of the district - are more important.

The 3rd District proposed by the representatives would have a 53 percent black majority. It would continue to stretch from black neighborhoods in Norfolk and Portsmouth, but its northern boundary would be in Richmond.

The district would no longer wind into Petersburg or north through Essex County. To offset the loss, Scott would gain 36,000 constituents in Richmond and 34,000 in Henrico County.

The proposal was agreed to by four congressmen who would see their districts shifted in the redrawing: Scott; Herbert H. Bateman, R-1st District; Norman Sisisky, D-4th District; and Thomas J. Bliley, R-7th District.

But Democratic 2nd District Rep. Owen B. Pickett was unhappy with the plan, said state Del. Glenn R. Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, because it would continue to split Norfolk largely on racial lines, leaving Pickett with the white, Republican-leaning parts of the city.

Pickett could not be reached for comment Monday.

The plan would consolidate all of Virginia Beach in the 2nd District. Currently a portion of the city is in the 4th District.

The chairwoman of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, Alexandria Democrat Marian Van Landingham, said her panel will consider the congressional plan along with proposals submitted by other groups in upcoming weeks.

The panel also will hold public hearings in Newport News on Nov. 19 and Richmond on Nov. 25. ILLUSTRATION: VIRGINIAN-PILOT GRAPHIC

PROPOSED DISTRICTS

CURRENT DISTRICTS

These maps show the region's existing 3rd Congressional Voting

District, as well as proposed changes. The plan was presented Monday

to a General Assembly subcommittee that will be drawing new lines.

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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