Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) | repcaulkins.com
Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) | repcaulkins.com
Chicago City Council members have begun discussions on new redistricting maps as they await the release of full Census data next month.
The council is expected to start drawing the legislative boundaries in September, according to WTTW.
“Even the Democrat machine in Chicago understands they need census data to draw maps,” Rep. Dan Caulkins wrote in a July 1 Facebook post.
Among city council members dedicated to gauging the map properties of their constituents is Ald. Roberto Maldonado, WTTW reported.
While there have been calls for an independent commission to draw ward boundaries, Maldonado supports sticking to Chicago law, which places the map-making process in the hands of citizens.
“Independent commissions by definition should be independent,” Maldonado said, as reported by WTTW. “They won’t be independent. Those members will be appointed by somebody, they will respond to somebody, and I’m not naive enough that they would really be people dropped from heaven into this so-called independent commission, that nobody knows who they are, and they will come up with the perfect, ideal configuration of 50 wards.”
WTTW states a Chicago Advisory Redistricting Commission was recently formed with the goal of drawing a map based on census data along with input from the community.
Alerts Sign-up