Redistricting is in full swing in Plaquemines Parish with the school board holding a special meeting Wednesday night and a redistricting plan introduced by Council Chairman Mark “Hobbo” Cognevich up for consideration at Thursday’s council meeting.
If I were a betting man, I would have lost a bet. I would have predicted that the redistricting conversation would have lingered all the way until the deadline before being considered, at which time council members would have said, too bad, too sad, we must adopt whatever is before us because we have no time for any changes. That’s what’s happened in the past.
Cognevich is offering the only plan discussed at the public forums hosted by the government. Immediately following the forums, several Belle Chasse school board members and council members pointed out the obvious, that the districts in Belle Chasse had more residents per district than the districts in South Plaquemines. It would stand to reason that as Belle Chasse continues to grow, we should start with smaller districts so that all districts remain closer to the same in population.
Following the presentation of the first plan, Belle Chasse school board members seeking an alternative met with the demographer hired by the parish and came up with a modified plan which reduces population in Belle Chasse districts and adds population to southern districts. The alternate plans deserve to be heard. Cognevich says he has the votes and is moving forward on Thursday. Maybe it’s a smart parliamentary move to push through legislation while you have the votes, but it’s a disservice to the public to be locked into a plan for 10 years without hearing all the viable alternatives.
As a public service, we intended to print maps of both plans in today’s paper. These are highly detailed graphic renderings which are difficult to reproduce, given the elongated shape of Plaquemines Parish. The demographers did their best to get them to us by the deadline, but in the end, we could not verify or explain everything we were given. Misinformation is worse than no information at all.
We would be happy to print the maps of both proposed plans so they can be properly vetted unless the school board and the council are determined to ram through the one plan this week. Legally, the council has until May and the school board until June, so hopefully more discussion will take place.