[StBernard] St. Bernard, eastern New Orleans House members jockeying in redistricting

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard, eastern New Orleans House members jockeying in redistricting

Published: Friday, February 18, 2011, 4:54 PM     Updated: Friday, February
18, 2011, 5:06 PM

 By Bill Barrow, The Times-Picayune 

Rep. Reed Henderson, D-Violet, and his fellow Democrats who represent
portions of population-depleted eastern New Orleans could be headed for an
intense battle over legislative redistricting.

Henderson, whose District 103 is anchored in St. Bernard Parish, said he
wants to continue to represent the neighborhoods Orleans Parish from Paris
Avenue east to the St. Tammany Parish line. But the 9,000 residents in those
17 precincts are coveted numbers as Reps. Charmaine Marchand Stiaes
(District 99), Austin Badon (100) and Wesley Bishop (101) angle for New
Orleans districts that could give them the best hope for re-election.

House districts must end up with populations ranging from 41,105 to 45,332.
The ideal is 43,174. The problem is that the existing Districts 99, 100 and
101, all entirely contained within New Orleans, combine for only 71,674
residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau count that governs
redistricting. Adding all of the Orleans population in District 103 still
isn't enough for two complete districts. Reed's district is 19,531 short of
the ideal, though he stands to pick up population from the adjacent district
of Rep. Nita Hutter, R-Chalmette, who is term-limited.

Bishop, who won a January special election, said his priority is to have two
House Districts as close as possible to being self-contained in Orleans
Parish east of the Industrial Canal. Those sentiments are in line with
several residents who spoke at a public forum on redistricting Thursday
night.

But Henderson said the idea is self-defeating. For New Orleans to preserve
influence in the legislative process, it should want as many districts as
possible reaching into the parish, even if it means more actual
representatives who may live outside the city. "We are all in the same boat
on this end of the canal," Henderson said. "We've all been forgotten. We
were all wiped out. We are all struggling to come back."

The remapping session begins March 20 and must end by April 13.