September 20–27, 2001

news

Red-Light District

Mayor Street will almost certainly veto a redistricting bill sponsored by Council President Anna Verna.

by Gwen Shaffer

Dividing line: Clarke’s district loses these 8th Ward divisions under Verna’s proposal.

City Council members voted overwhelmingly to pass a councilmanic-redistricting bill out of committee last week. But that proposal, sponsored by Council President Anna Verna, faces the strong threat of a mayoral veto. And Councilman Darrell Clarke is pushing for the mayor to do just that.

After every U.S. Census, City Council must re-draw the boundaries of its districts so that each contains about 10 percent of Philadelphia’s population. Verna’s South and Southwest Philly district, the 2nd, lost population since 1990, and she needs to gain more constituents. Verna insists she has no choice but to draw them from the 8th Ward in the western half of Center City. But Clarke, who currently represents the area, says Verna’s plan forces him to pick up more North Philly divisions — dealing him a wild card when it comes to getting re-elected.

"I’d have approximately 30,000 new people. That’s a roll of the dice," Clarke says. "I don’t know anything about those new areas, I don’t know anything about the new people. We’re talking about 20 percent of my new district, and I don’t think that’s fair."

Clarke suporters contend that Verna’s redistricting bill is, essentially, a power grab to gain white, affluent voters in Center City. Clarke introduced and later withdrew a competing bill that would allow him to hold on to most of the 8th Ward, with Verna gaining constituents from divisions to the east, in the 39th Ward, that are currently represented by Councilman Frank DiCicco.

In a Sept. 14 letter to Verna — and CC’d to all Council members — Clarke expresses "profound dissatisfaction" with Verna’s redistricting legislation: "[F]rom the beginning of the process there has been no attempt at an honest dialogue about reshaping the Fifth District," he writes. "Nothing I recommended has been incorporated into the bill now before City Council."

In her own defense, Verna points out that she already represents six divisions in the 8th Ward, so it makes sense to add to her district by picking up the rest of the ward. She stresses there is "room for compromise."

When it became clear that Verna had enough support from her colleagues to push through her proposal during a Sept. 12 hearing, Clarke decided against calling for a vote on his legislation. Almost certainly, however, Clarke will introduce amendments to Verna’s bill on Sept. 20. Clarke’s amendments are likely to mirror the bill he introduced, then withdrew, earlier in the month.

Councilman Angel Ortiz is the only Council member who spoke out on Clarke’s behalf during the redistricting hearing. Ortiz argued that Verna’s proposal fails to spur growth of a majority-Latino Council district, the 7th District, represented by Councilman Rick Mariano.

The debate over growing the 7th could also bolster Street’s rationale to veto. The mayor did not return a call for comment.

Ortiz points out that in the 10 years since a Latino district was devised in Philadelphia, the Latino and Asian communities are the only ones that gained population — and this fact should be recognized.

According to Census figures, the city’s Latino population now stands at about 129,000 people — a nearly 45-percent increase since 1990. Today, the 7th District is about 38-percent Latino. Verna’s redistricting bill would increase it to 40 percent.

Given that most Latinos live in Kensington and the lower Northeast, Ortiz says he expects to see that reflected in any redistricting plan that is signed by the mayor.

"We’re going to be introducing amendments," he says. "Street has said he owes his election to the Latino community. And I’m going to ask John Street to veto any redistricting proposal that comes before him that fails to increase the percentage of Latinos in the 7th District."

A source close to Ortiz says the councilman is pushing a compromise plan that increases the percentage of Latinos in the 7th to 43 percent. It requires Verna, DiCicco and Clarke each to give up something, so "everyone suffers equally," the source says.

A Council source close to Verna says the president has heard rumors that Street plans to put the kibosh on her redistricting plan after it, presumably, passes the full Council Sept. 20. This source says that even if the mayor has not played a public role, Street has been "heavily involved behind the scenes since day one." He says Street proxies "streamed into the Council president’s office" and tried to influence her legislation.

The source insists that no one in Clarke’s office even understands how to use the redistricting software and that the councilman’s bill was drafted by the Street administration.

"The mayor has no business being involved in redistricting," the source says, adding that Verna isn’t making a power grab for Center City’s 5th Ward. Rather, he says, Verna can’t support Clarke’s proposal to take divisions in the 8th Ward away from Councilman Frank DiCicco.

"Clarke’s plan jeopardizes DiCicco.… This process is not about trying to get people out of office," he says.

Residents living in the disputed Center City divisions didn’t vote for Clarke — more evidence that Clarke is taking his cue from the Street administration, this source says.

Another City Council aide says it is "almost impossible to do something fair" if DiCicco’s district is untouchable. If DiCicco is asked to give up a "little bit" of the 5th Ward, he could still keep areas with major development, such as Penn’s Landing.

And this source expects the mayor to agree.

For one thing, Clarke worked as an aide on Street’s City Council staff for 17 years and the two men have a close relationship. Since Street held the seat now occupied by Clarke, it makes sense that he would like to see his former district remain intact.

Secondly, Street and Verna have recently butted heads over the Council president’s refusal to introduce a funding bill for his $250 million blight initiative, a cornerstone of the mayor’s administration. Verna has also publicly criticized how Street handled new stadium legislation back in December, contending that the administration waited until the final hour to give City Council members a massive and complicated package of bills.

Others speculate that Street doesn’t want Verna to represent Center City because developers may try to strike deals with her rather than the mayor — causing him to lose clout and political contributions.

But it remains uncertain whether Street would have the votes to sustain a veto.

"Every district councilmember except Clarke is happy with his or her district," the Verna staffer says. "Why risk anything else?"

Sharif Street, the mayor’s son and an aspiring politician, says his father is not commenting publicly because he respects the City Council "process."

"The mayor can review Council’s final product and then make a determination whether he wants to support it," Sharif Street says. "If Verna has more than enough support to override a veto, that’s when he should begin lobbying Council members — then he’s lobbying on a mayoral action, not Council business."