Council passes redistricting plan
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Council passes redistricting plan
Catherine Lucey
After weeks of debate, City Council today gave final passage to a redistricting plan that will clean up some of the current gerrymandering problems with the city's 10 Councilmanic distircts, although the population difference between districts will be very high.
The map passed 15-2, with Councilmen Brian O'Neill and Jack Kelly voting against. If the mayor signs off on the map, Council can get paid by tomorrow, Council President Anna Verna said. Under city law, Council would have gone without pay, if they didn't pass a map today.
Council plans to approve a map developed by Councilmen Frank DiCicco and Jim Kenney over a map created by a working group of Council members. The key difference between the maps is how they divvy up the 56th ward in Northeast Philadephia, which became the battleground of the talks.
In the DiCicco-Kenney map, the 56th ward will go to Republican 10th District Councilman Brian O'Neill. Currently the ward is split three ways and O'Neilll, who didn't want to pick up more Democratic votes, had been fighting the move. But efforts to help - in particular by Council members Darrell Clarke and Marian Tasco, who are seeking to become Council president -- failed.
O'Neill today was philosophical about the changes.
"It's my last choice, but you move on," O'Neill said. "It's about politics, it's about Council president, it's about who controls what in the Northeast."
The map expected to pass today has a 9.75 population difference between the largest and smallest districts, more than double the current population deviation between districts.
"It's my last choice, but you move on," O'Neill said. "It's about politics, it's about Council president, it's about who controls what in the Northeast."
And who controls the Northeast ??? Johnny "Doc", and his "boy" Bobby Henon, soon to be 6th district Councilman!!! I mean Henon might as well be Councilman NOW, since he's been involved in Council business since the DROP hearings!!! How does a UN-ELECTED offical get involved in Council business before the November election?? Does Johnny"Doc" arm reach that far, that you can by-pass a election to pass your candidate in ?????
— Dadair1- Dadair1: Johnny Doc is back and just might replace Don Bob Brady as the new kingpin of Philadelphia. Even Jim Vitetta Kenney has made amends with Doc because Kenney knows the writing is on the wall with him continuing to serve on Council since he barely survived re-election. All these parasites care about are money and power. I don't know how people like Jim Kenney and Marian Tasco are able to look at themselves in the mirror each day. They have no shame or integrity. — Serpico
- "the population difference between districts will be very high."
"The map expected to pass today has a 9.75 population difference between the largest and smallest districts, more than double the current population deviation between districts."
Simply irresponsible. Amazing that Council can get away with such blatant attempts to consolidate their power over the City. Oh, Committee of Seventy - I have something for you to complain about now!!!— citylumberjack - "It's about politics...who controls what in the Northeast" is all anyone needs to know about Philly politics. It's is not about democracy or providing good service to citizens. It is simply about consolidation of power. Sad.— bstew74
In a previous redistricting I was taken out of DiCicco's 1st district and put into Clarke's 5th. Now on some election days I go into the booth to see 2 hacks running basically unopposed: Darrell Clarke and Bob Brady.- Its all about the Democrat Machine and the unions running the city into the ground. 'nuff said...— psyrus
- Whatever comes from it, it won't be good for the Northeast--Philly's pocketbook with the least representation.— crystalrainbowspirit1
- o'neil's district has the same representation as every other, approx 150,000 residents. how are bridesburg and tacony under-represented, exactly?
— oliver north 
Comment removed.- Would have thought O'Neill had more support from friends on Council, all those he cut deals with in prior years. 15-2, Guess not!!!— phillygrlinfl
- so this is likely o'neill's last term on council? it's about time these RINOs were culled from the herd— oliver north
- ollie--where were you a few years ago when it was proven that deals were made to keep certain groups from making a difference in the make up of city council by redrawing their boundaries in obscene fashion?— crystalrainbowspirit1
- god help the Northeast---do you really think that a minority representative can represent whites effectively---nope they will be represented not at all, but asked to pay mightily.— crystalrainbowspirit1
- @crystal, what are you talking about? of council's 17 members, nine are white (dicicco, verna, krajewski, o'neil, green, greenlee, kelly, kenney and rizzo) and one is hispanic. how can you claim whites are under-represented if they're 42% of the city's population yet control 53% of council?— oliver north
- I don't get it. Isn't the one requirement that the districts are as population-equal to each other as possible. With a 10% delta between largest and smallest, it would seem this map is a prima facie failure. But nobody will bring suit. Because. We're. In. Philadelphia. A corrupt and corrupted government is one of the city's defining characteristics. Tragic.— Philly Resident 19146
- Comment removed.
- This is not a good development for incumbent Republican Councilman Brian O'Neill, who is now saddled with the D-heavy 56th Ward.— Dupes1
- Brian O'Neil has represented the district's citizens well, regardless of the awkwardness of his statement. I'm a hardcore Democrat, but have voted for Brian whenever he's run because he stands up for all of his constituents without asking their party affiliation.
— Jame - Let's look at this, o'neill should go he has done nothing period except dye his hair and make deals to keep him in office for 32 loooong years. DROP QUEEN TASCO wants to be council president so bad i think she would offer up her kids for the job, forget it DROP QUEEN go to ur retirement home. JIMMY VITETTA KENNEY is now clearly with johnny the godfather doc, jimmy v must have a thing for godfathers first the jailbird fumo who made jimmy v kenney from the days he was a college kid until his incarceration and now the DOC man who use to regularly spit at kenney. so there u have the new council doc now controls green, bill the elf greenley, vitetta kenney, henon, squilla, rubin, kenyatta johnson and blackwell. nutter controls drop queen tasco, curtis marvin gaye jones, wilson i hate white people goode, blondumb brown, bass, the fence straddlers are clarke, chaquita sanchez, and the moron republicans. great isn't it govt at it's worse !!!!!!!!!!!!!— the commodore
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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