May 22, 2013
Residents in one Enterprise neighborhood are not happy with a redistricting plan.
Those living in the Baptist Hill Community said their political power is strongly diluted under the plan proposed by a Troy consulting firm.
Those residents packed the Enterprise Council Meeting. Many are third, fourth and fifth generation descendents of that community. Under the redistricting plan, its minority population is diluted from 20 percent to around five percent, in order to achieve a majority African-American population in an adjacent district.
City Attorney Rainer Cotter said it's not a perfect plan, but it's the safest way to go from a legal standpoint.
The city council unanimously approved the redistricting plan. Councilmen feel it's the best way to comply with the federal voting rights act, which mandates maintaining a district with a 65 percent minority population.
