District C Redistricting Meeting Tonight‏

City Council representative, Kristin Gisleson Palmer, will host a public forum for East Bank constituents on Monday, April 25, from 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., at Holy Angels, 3500 St. Claude Avenue for District C residents (Bywater, French Quarter, Tremé, Marigny). She will explain the redistricting process, the timeline and answer questions from the audience.

BNA president Chris Lorenzen urges Bywater residents to come out in force for the meeting. "It's important we make it known that we want our neighborhood treated with respect and intelligence in the redistricting," Chris says.

All five city council districts will undergo changes in redistricting. (The council's two at-large seats, now held by Jackie Clarkson and Arnie Fielkow, will not be affected). The city's population shifts, as documented in the 2010 Census, showed what everyone knew, many areas lost large numbers of residents (Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East), while other neighborhoods actually increased in population (most of the West Bank). District C as now constituted includes all of Algiers (where Gisleson Palmer lives), and a swath of the East Bank from the Industrial Canal to Canal Street, and north to Claiborne Avenue, with a long, thin finger running along the Esplanade corridor to City Park. Map of District C

According to the 2010 Census numbers, the perfect population size for a district is 68,766. District C has the largest population of the five districts with 81,330. It is crucial to keep Bywater aligned with other historic neighborhoods in the redistricting. We will be part of a much larger area, and any plans to slice and dice the Bywater, Marigny, Tremé, French Quarter bloc should be discouraged in the strongest possible terms.

Tonight's meeting is one of two District C meetings. The second meeting will be May 10 on the West Bank. Contact the City Council for information about meetings in other districts and Gisleson Palmer's office for District C information (504)658-1030.