City Council discussed a new Evanston ward map proposed by the Redistricting Committee on Monday.

Evanston began its redistricting process in December 2021, planning to create a new ward map based on the 2020 census. In June, the council will vote on a final map. 

State law does not require Evanston to redistrict based on the new census since the city’s population remained between 70,000 and 90,000. However, the current ward map was drafted in 2003. Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th), who chairs the committee, said the population changes in the wards since then make a new map necessary. 

The average ward in Evanston has 8,679 residents, according to the census. But that population varies widely across wards. For example, the 3rd Ward, with 9,691 residents, is significantly larger than the 9th Ward, which has only 7,920 residents.

The proposed map will evenly distribute the city’s population into the nine wards through small changes, Nieuwsma said. Instead of starting from scratch, the map modifies current ward boundaries to minimize confusion among voters. According to his presentation, the redistricting will impact about 4,600 residents. 

“What we’ve done here has achieved that low-touch objective by just moving a few blocks here and a few blocks there,” Nieuwsma said. “It’s a bit of a Tetris game.”

By minimizing the difference in population between wards, the new map has the capacity to absorb future population shifts. It also satisfies the committee’s other objectives, such as maintaining three majority non-white wards and having multiple councilmembers represent downtown Evanston, Nieuwsma added.

Ald. Clare Kelly (1st) asked if the city can redistrict only the 3rd and 9th wards and not impact the other ones. Nieuwsma said moving parts of the 3rd Ward to the 9th would interfere with the train track serving as a boundary between the two wards.

Kelly also raised her concern over the city’s decision to appoint a four-councilmember committee to handle redistricting.

“This sort of a committee should be a third party,” Kelly said. “In principle, a redistricting committee should not be made up of councilmembers.”

Ald. Devon Reid (8th), who also sits on the committee, echoed Kelly’s concern.

Reid said the council should approve the map the committee designs for the current redistricting cycle. But he added he is open to co-sponsoring an ordinance to reform the city’s redistricting process in the future.

“I do think that a better standard is that the elected officials aren’t choosing who our voters are,” Reid said.

Reid also said he would like to see a map with larger changes. He suggested increasing the number of renters in the 8th Ward to ensure their interests are represented on the council.

During public comment, Evanston resident Carl Klein said he disagrees with the city’s approach to redistricting.

“The Redistricting Committee currently is only proposing one map,” Klein said. “I don’t think that that’s the right approach. I also don’t think it’s the right approach that you are coming to the full council without allowing the full city, all of our residents to weigh in on these maps.”

Nieuwsma invited residents to attend the committee’s meetings in April and May or submit their feedback on the new map online. He said the committee would address the feedback and finalize the map design during the meetings. 

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @caseeey_he

Related Stories:

— The Daily Explains: Evanston’s redistricting process

— Redistricting Committee discusses 6th and 7th Wards at Tuesday meeting

— In Focus: As Evanston braces for its first ward redistricting in nearly two decades, residents say changing demographics speak to a lack of affordable housing