At tonight’s meeting of the Anchorage Assembly, the Assembly leadership has placed the reapportionment public hearing at the end of the agenda, when most of the public will have left the meeting.
Reapportionment is the redrawing of the Assembly districts, a process that takes place every 10 years. A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 1, but the item is 14I on the agenda. There are eight other public hearings in front of it. Assemblyman Chris Constant, who serves as the chairman of the reapportionment committee, is also vice chair of the Assembly, and is pushing forward his maps, as he tries to take the military community away from Eagle River.
At the Feb. 25 meeting of the reapportionment committee, Constant said that the Hillside of Anchorage was full of privileged people who were bound and determined to get their way on the redistricting maps.
“We’re going to allow the people of privilege to get their way for the next 10 years,” he said, objecting to the map that many feel is appropriate, allowing Eagle River to retain its ties to the military neighborhoods of JBER.
Listen to Constant talking about the Hillside residents here.
The meeting starts at 5:15 pm on the ground floor at the Loussac Library, at the corner of 36th Ave. and Denali Street in Midtown.
The Assembly agenda can be found at this link.
