Op-Ed: Redrawing District 1 in Charleston’s redistricting
Wed, 07/27/2022 - 10:28am
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By:
Boyd Gregg, Charleston City Council District 1 Representative
Greetings neighbors. I would like to provide some information for you on the city redistricting that we have been working on since I was elected in January.
As many of you know, the City is responsible for redrawing City Council district lines based on the results of the census. Since 2010, District 1 has been composed of the Cainhoy peninsula, Ansonborough, Gadsdenborough and the French Quarter. Due to rapid growth over the past decade, particularly on the Cainhoy peninsula, the district now contains approximately 17,500 people. In order to ensure that each district has an equal number of people, as required by state law, we need to bring that number down to roughly 12,500 in this year’s redistricting process.
The current draft plan accomplishes this by moving the downtown portions of District 1 (Ansonborough, Gadsdenborough, and the French Quarter) into District 8. That still leaves District 1 with approximately 14,500 people on the Cainhoy peninsula. The plan addresses this by shifting roughly 2,000 people on Daniel Island into District 8.
I would like to point the readership of The Daniel Island News to the draft maps that we have developed using the link and figure shown tinyurl.com/2p93e5nx. The areas in tan make up District 1 and the areas in purple are proposed to become part of District 8.
These maps were developed from citizen input with City of Charleston staff, the Mayor and City Council and will greatly benefit Daniel Island.
Under this plan, my Council colleague Mike Seekings will represent the portions of Daniel Island that shift over to District 8. Which means that, for the first time, we will have not one, but two members of City Council advocating for the interests of Daniel Island and more broadly, the Cainhoy peninsula.
I have been fortunate to have been able to get to know Mike over the last six months. Mike has been on Charleston City Council for 13 years and will be a great supporter for Daniel Island and our whole area. Please let me know if you have any questions as we continue to serve this great community.