Can D.C. create new wards?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Is this possible? |
Anonymous
| not related to your question, but I hate that they call it Wards. I think of prison whenever I hear the news talking about DC wards. |
Anonymous
| I think that DC is more likely to rebalance the wards by changing boundaries rather than create new ones. |
Anonymous
|
^^^
They have done that in the past. I remember when I lived in an apartment in the early 2000's my ward changed from 1 to 2. |
Anonymous
| They do it after the census. It is coming up soon and there will have to be shifts - ward 6 and another I can’t remember, have gotten too populous. |
Anonymous
Correct. There is redistricting after each decennial census since each ward must contain about 1/8 of the city’s population. The charter also mandates the wards be “compact”, so the lines only move a few blocks, if at all. Here are population numbers from December: 
Some discussion/suggestions here: https://twitter.com/coreyholman/status/1070702337398853633?s=21 And here: https://twitter.com/bryan_in_dc/status/969049310175334402?s=21 Amd here: https://twitter.com/georgetownmet/status/1100084221853556736?s=21 |
Anonymous
|
Redrawing the wards is always a really contentious issue (often for kind of silly D.C. reasons). Here's a look at the last time it happened:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-debonis/post/dc-redistricting-what-could-happen-next/2011/05/23/AFRJ5v9G_blog.html?utm_term=.d15594f605b7 Ward 2 had too many people the last time around and now it has too few. |
Anonymous
Chicago has wards also. Its not that uncommon. I think root is the same (wards were protected by wardens, which is from the same indo european root as "guardian" ) The problem with adding wards instead of just redistricting - any new "ward 9" will confuse the hell out of a lot of Maryland people 
|
Anonymous
| So looks like a little of 6 will shift to 7 and a little more of 6 will shift to 2. |
Anonymous
| They need to create a Ward 9 and add one At Large CMB |
Anonymous
New Orleans and Houston also have wards. |
Anonymous
| No changes expected in Ward 3, fortunately. |
Anonymous
It's called PG County; their kids are immersed in our school system. |
Anonymous
I think Ward 2 (my ward) will likely get a piece of Ward 1 and Ward 6. The upper northeast corner of Ward 2 will be expanded to include streets south U Street NW to the north and 7th Street NW to the east. You can see it better here (zoom into the U St/7th Street intersection): https://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/WebsitePDF_New_24x36_WardMap2_100.pdf |