21946: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-City reaches agreement on redistricting lawsuit (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

  Posted on Mon, May. 17, 2004

NORTH MIAMI


Political Roundup: City reaches agreement on redistricting lawsuit


North Miami has settled its federal lawsuit against Miami-Dade County over
its 2001 County Commission redistricting, which carved North Miami into four
districts.

The city sued because it said redistricting ''disenfranchised'' the power of
the Haitian-American vote by splitting up the city, from two to four county
commissioners.

The suit accused the county of ''gerrymandering'' -- drawing irregular
voting boundaries to serve a special political purpose.

North Miami, a city of about 60,00 people, has a sizable Haitian-American
population and a majority Haitian-American City Council.

Under the settlement, Miami-Dade will hold workshops across the county in
various languages to inform the public on impending redistricting efforts.

The county will also create a 13-member ''citizens redistricting advisory
board'' to help the county figure out new districts.

-- DAVID OVALLE

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