Philadelphia holds first public hearing on new city council boundaries

The first of three public hearings on redrawing city council district lines will happen tomorrow at Philadelphia City Hall.  

Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez said the gerrymandering that has gone on in Philadelphia was in part to prevent a woman like her from winning a district council seat.

“There’s this sense that my district is a redistricting nightmare because we were trying to create a Latino district, when it fact it was just the opposite,” she said.  “It was people working very hard not to follow the natural flow of population growth and shifts that has happened in the city.”

The councilwoman said this time around, the hearings are designed to give people an opportunity to have their say on how to draw new district boundaries.

“I think that there’s this sense that this is just cutting things up in 10 pieces,” she said.  “I think we have to look at the population shifts where the population trends are going and where they are going to increase.”

Tonight at 6:30 there is an online “webinar” teaching people how to try drawing their own district maps.  Find out more at FixPhillyDistricts.com