Caddo Commission to consider 3 proposals for redrawing its 12 districts

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) —There are three proposals for redrawing the 12 Caddo Commission districts based on the latest census numbers.

Commissioners will meet at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 in their chambers at Government Plaza. Among items on their agenda is the introduction of ordinances putting forth the three plans.

Citizens got an opportunity to view the proposals and ask questions beforehand during an informational gathering held Wednesday afternoon.

Some walked away frustrated and confused.

“The maps are good, but they’re hard for us to understand. There are so many,” resident Brend O’Brock said. “That really doesn’t address the issues that we had in the last voting election because we had some people who could not vote for mayor or city council because of the redistricting maps.”

H. Calvin Austin III, pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Shreveport, observed: “In order for this to pass for our parish to become more solid and more united, I think we need to change to include the others to their actual descriptiveness. If they’re Asian, they ought to be called Asian; if they’re Hispanic, they ought to be called Hispanic.”

The commission said the recent census shows Caddo’s population decreased by a little more than 17,000 between 2010 and 2020. Experts said the maps are to help reflect that change.

“District 1, there’s no change in the three plans,” explained Cedric Floyd, president of Data Center LLC. ”For every other plan, you have different precincts that make up District 2, and different precincts that make up District 3.”

All of the proposed maps show each of the 12 districts would have an ideal district size of more than 19,800 residents. However, the plan deviation is different for each map, all less than 10%.

“Redistricting, to me, is based on two things; and that is population growth and the distribution of the voters,” Caddo Commission President Roy Burrell said.

“That is people move around from one place to the other, so that is lines are going to have to change in order to come up with an equal number that’s close to equal in each district. That’s the most logical, and sometimes people don’t understand that.”

Burrell, who authored one of the three proposals to be introduced Thursday, said the commission will choose a final redistricting map Feb. 23.

THE PLANS

The benchmark plan shows how the Caddo Commission’s districts are drawn now:

Ordinance 6308 is sponsored by District 5 Commissioner Roy Burrell:

• ORD 6308 2023 CADDO PC PLAN A-1 ORDINANCE-CRF23.PDF
• ORD 6308 EXHIBIT- COMPONENTS FOR PLAN A-1.PDF
• ORD 6308 EXHIBIT PLAN A-1 MAP.PDF
• ORD 6308 EXHIBIT- PLAN A-1 POP SUMMARY.PDF
• ORD 6308 EXHIBIT PLAN A-1 PRECINCT CHANGES.PDF

Ordinance 6309 is sponsored by District 1 Commissioner Todd A. Hopkins:

• ORD 6309 ALTERNATE PLAN COMPONENTS.PDF
• ORD 6309 ALTERNATE PLAN MAP.PDF
• ORD 6309 PLAN ALTERNATE POP SUMMARY.PDF
• ORD 6309 PLAN ALTERNATE PRECINCT CHANGES.PDF
• ORD 6309 PLAN ALTERNATE.PDF

And Ordinance 6310 is sponsored by District 3 Commissioner Steven Jackson and District 2 Commissioner Lyndon B. Johnson:

• ORD 6310 PLAN AA.PDF
• ORD 6310 PLAN AA COMPONENTS.PDF
• ORD 6310 PLAN AA MAP.PDF
• ORD 6310 PLAN AA POP SUMMARY.PDF
• ORD 6310 PLAN AA PRECINCT CHANGES.PDF

Burrell said the Caddo Commission will choose a final redistricting map on February 23.

[RELATED: Residents invited to share thoughts on potential district maps at Caddo Commission meeting]

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