Fort Worth residents show support for redistricting map connecting Hispanic community
Fort Worth residents speaking at city hall Tuesday overwhelmingly supported a redistricting map that emphasized increasing Hispanic representation on the city council.
“Map X Version 4” creates two Hispanic opportunity districts, meaning two districts likely to elect a Hispanic council member. Roughly a third of residents are Hispanic, but there’s only one Hispanic member on the city council.
It does this by connecting Hispanic communities in the Southside to parts of east Fort Worth through a “horseshoe” feature.
Nearly 60 Fort Worth residents came to city hall Tuesday to weigh in for the final time on the city’s redistricting process.
Residents were presented with three maps Tuesday, all of which were variations of Map X, which the city’s redistricting task force recommended in February.
Version 2, primarily sponsored by District 4 council member Cary Moon, put an emphasis on getting adequate representation for the rapidly growing parts of Fort Worth north of Loop 820.
Moon previously expressed the need for residents north of the loop to have at least three council districts due the area housing roughly 270,000 people.
Rusty Fuller, president of the North Fort Worth Alliance, advocated for a different version of the Version 4 map that did not include the “horseshoe” feature connecting east Fort Worth to the Southside. Fuller said this was a good compromise balancing the needs of North Fort Worth with the city’s goal of creating more Hispanic representation on the council.
Version 3, which had been favored by the council at the Feb. 22 work session, got little to no mention Tuesday.
Several residents suggested tweaks to the Version 4 map to keep all of the Poly neighborhood in one district, to keep Bonnie Brae in the same district as the rest of United Riverside, and to keep Lake Arlington entirely in District 5.
A coalition of neighborhoods from across the city came together to advocate for these changes to ensure equitable representation, said Daniel Garcia, an activist with United Fort Worth.
Many also asked the council to adjust the map to make sure Panther Island stays within District 2. They said the Northside community should benefit from the economic development after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced in January it was fully funding its part of the project.
There were some skeptics to the proposed map.
Vicky Bargas with the Worth Heights neighborhood association lamented her neighborhood was being taken out of District 9.
She mentioned Worth Heights’ strong relationship with District 9 council member Elizabeth Beck, and worried its voice will get lost in the new district.
However, many including Ricardo Avitia from the group Hemphill No Se Vende, said a strong Southside Hispanic district will give those neighborhoods a stronger voice in city council particularly on contentious issues such as zoning.
The council will meet again Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. for a special work session using public feedback to draw a final map.
That map will need to be approved formally by the council at the March 29 meeting.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 10:31 PM.
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