JJ published this post on March 1, 2011. The post reports what the Hinds County Board of Supervisors pulled during redistricting eight years ago. Why is JJ re-posting this story? Be patient. All will be made clear soon enough.
The Hinds County Board of Supervisors adopted one of four redistricting proposals submitted by Derrick Johnson last night. The plan splits Clinton in half and adds two precincts (approximately four thousand black voters) to District 1, increasing the black voting age population from 55% to 60% in that district (The current map, the accepted map, and the video of the entire meeting are posted below.). The courthouse was packed as over 150 people attended the meeting. All of the media showed up to cover the hearing as well.
The Board posted three proposed maps yesterday at the offices in downtown Jackson yesterday morning at 9:00 AM. However, the maps were not posted at the Raymond office until after 1:00 PM. To make matters worse, the proposal that was adopted last night, was NEVER made available for public viewing at any county offices or on the county website. The first time any member of the public viewed the plan was at 6:00 PM last night, when the meeting started.
The ideal amount of population for each district in this round of redistricting is 49,057. Census data showed each district had the following population:
District 1: 48,853
District 2: 46,312
District 3: 48,823
District 4: 53,396
District 5: 47,901
Districts 1, 3, and 5 are within the accepted deviation from the target of 49,057. Districts 2 and 4 require adjustment so as to meet redistricting goals. Theoretically speaking, a plan could move approximately three thousand people from District 4 to District 2 and meet the criteria of the required redistricting. Clinton is split in two as Learned, half of Raymond, and half of Clinton move into Doug Anderson's district.
However, the plan adopted last night places Precincts 39 and 41 in District 1. District 1 is only 204 voters below the goal of 49,057 yet the plan placed Precinct 39 (East of Hanging Moss to North State Street), 98% black with 1,030 voters and Precinct 41 (West of Hanging Moss to Watkins Drive), 99% black with 1,797 voters, into District 1 while transferring Precincts 1 and 5 (Belhaven Heights and downtown Jackson around High Street ) 50% black with 1,241 voters, into District 5. The black voting age population increased from 55% to 60% in District 1 as a result of the plan swapping two precincts approximately 50/50 black/white districts containing 1,241 voters with two precincts that were 99% black with 2,827 voters. yielding a difference of 1,586 votes (link for data used). One can surely bet Robert Graham loved this plan.
The plan makes the following changes in black voting age population (BVAP) in each district:
District 1: 55.73% to 59.42%
District 2: 73.07% to 67%
District 3: 88.35% to 87.94%
District 4: 45% to 45.2%
District 5: 71.12% to 69.48%
and the following population changes in each district:
District 1: 48,853 to 50,747
District 2: 46,312 to 46,715
District 3: 48,823 to 51,182
District 4: 53,396 to 48,635
District 5: 47,901 to 48,006
While it seems District 2 did not increase much in population even though it was the most deficient, it apparently satisfies redistricting criteria as the difference between the largest district and the smallest district have to be within 4,905 of each other. Mr. Johnson could have used two methods: calculate population totals that had to be no more than 5% above or below the target of 49,057 OR (which he apparently did) take the standard deviation of 10% (4,905) and redraw the districts so the largest and smallest were within 4,905.
So to recap this entire story. The Board of Supervisors did not place the matter of hiring Mr. Johnson for redistricting services or the matter of redistricting itself on the December 20, 2010 agenda. Mr. Graham moved and Mrs. Hobson-Calhoun seconded, the motion to hire Mr. Johnson and pay him a fee of $40,000 for redistricting services, twice the fee charged by Central Mississippi Planning & Development District. The Board then schedules a "public hearing" for February 22, 2011 for input on redistricting. No notice is placed on the county website, at the courthouse, or in the Clarion-Ledger. Notice was only placed twice in the Jackson Advocate, a small weekly circulation distributed primarily in the black community.
Mr. Johnson appears at the meeting with no plans, no maps, and no census data to present to the voters and gets very hostile when questioned by the public for his failure to provide this information. What little census data he does provide is found this past weekend to be in error as it was from the 1990's. The Board of Supervisors then does not make any plans available for public inspection until the day of the hearing and even then the plan adopted by the Board was never released to the public until the hearing started and was not placed on the county website until this morning. The Board adopts a plan that splits Clinton and two and instead of addressing the shortfall in District 2, focuses more on "blackening" Mr. Graham's district, which required no adjusting. Gotta love county politics.
Note: Check out this diatribe by Doug Anderson on WJTV's website about the prospect about gaining more white voters. Too bad the reporter didn't bother to ask him why he had a problem with having white voters. That was a golden opportunity to nail him. Of course, its a reporter, we're in a small market, its probably the reporter's first job, his station has cutbacks, blah blah blah, its not his fault. Guess its too much to expect a black reporter to ask a black Supervisor about his racist comments at WJTV.
Earlier posts on subject
Clarion-Ledger drops the ball again
WLBT Editorial
Hearing set for Monday night
Redistricting fireworks at Hinds BOS last night. Video of entire meeting.
WLBT coverage of redistricting meeting
Hinds redistricting meeting tonight More redistricting follies by Hinds Supes?
Northside Sun covers hiring of Derrick Johnson
Hinds Supes sneak paying President of Mississippi NAACP into meeting
Monday, February 18, 2019
Repost: Hinds Supes Adopts Plan, Splits Clinton
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32 comments:
Remind me. Is this the redistricting plan wherein Precinct 8 ( Belhaven Fire Station) was assigned to District 2, Precinct 9 ( Belhaven College) was assigned to District 1 and Precinct 1( Belhaven Heights/Welty Library ) was assigned to District 5?
4:23, that's part of it. District 2 ran from Utica to Brownsville to Belhaven. District 1 dropped downtown and picked up the so-called (by Robert Graham) "neighborhood" of precincts 39 and 41 with a 98% black voting population of 4,000. Fit right in with NE Jackson. All while busting Clinton putting part in District 2 and part in District 4.
Mine got changed from the Meat Merchandising building at Raymond to a Missionary Baptist Church. I thought there was a separation of church and state
As disagreeable as I sometimes find KF to be, that was solid reporting, which is why I frequent this site.
This is the redistricting plan that will be replaced after next years census so why are we still reading such outdated news?
Supervisor Fisher sued over this. I think the suit is still out there somewhere. Funny thing is, they tried to draw Fisher out of his district by giving half of Clinton to D2 and then they ended up with two supervisors from Clinton. Fisher won re-election anyway, then Greer, then Morgan.
So, really nothing happened other than Johnson walked off with $40,000 and Graham got a guaranteed winnable district.
Kingfish has made more posts on this 9 year old topic than he did about the twenty something year old River Hills hottie who taught tennis lessons.
But which subject got the most comments? Comm'on Kingfish.
Clinton will be better for this, not as bad as Edwards, but good as Bolton.
Anything to do with the Mayor of Edwards Marcus Wallace who actually lives in Madison?
Marcus lives in Edwards he just stay in Madison
This is the first story Kingfish really cut his teeth on. He greatly exposed the Hinds County BOS corruption back in the day. The Irby crash and Heather Spencer story were also early stories on JJ
So, Clinton is complaining that they now have 2 supervisors instead of 1? Why would Fisher by suing over that?
How many non-profits is Derrick Johnson the President or Director of, and has paid any taxes on any income from any of them? He's a hired gun paid with taxpayer funds.
What percentage of Hinds is white? What percentage of the board is white? Do the math. They got it right..... unless you just don't like Graham padding his stats. And of course they paid $39,000 too much for the study. But the districts are about right for government work.
Phil Fisher is the best Supervisor we have ever had. I can't believe how many roads he has paved in the last 2 years. I never thought I would see this in Hinds County. I will always vote for him.
Derrick Johnson, has he attended a Hinds board meeting ever? He looked lost as a 8 year old boy in a women's locker room. He should have just mailed an invoice. That was an embarrassing performance.
This is a long drawn out series of posts to promote Spooner as Sheriff. Get to the point.
Who the hell is left in Hinds county who reads JJ?
Fisher ran for Supervisor and jumped ship shortly thereafter to be Dictator of Clinton. He is doing just fine. Hasn’t done shinola but he is loved.
This all happened when Supervisor Fisher was serving in the Gulf War. Derrick Johnson tried to pull a fast one on him. Shame on those supervisors.
I live off of Springridge Road. Every road in every direction from my house has been paved this year. Don’t change nothin! Please.
Wallace lives in Madison. Not Edwards.
Served over a term but ok, you get to define "shortly".
What’s the deal with “stay” v “live”? I hear stay from people who own their places.
Clinton should secede from Hinds County and move into Madison County. And build a wall.
So far the only message I get is hire quality honest people to do your work or it comes back to haunt you for years and years.
Seems like Hinds County has been managed much much better since this date. Fisher won, Greer won, Morgan won, Airwave got kicked out, roads are being paved, bond rating is strong, Continental is coming.....what the heck more could you have asked for in 2012?
I moved to Gallman shortly after this happened. Never looked back.
4:41, you had me at meat merchandising.
Maybe Kingfish will post the punchline before the next census.
8:07 KF loves whiners, like yourself.
Looks like these districts were drawn to ensure all majority black districts. They could make two majority white districts if they wanted. NE Jacktown and Clinton/Raymond would be at least close.
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