Proposed City-County Council district maps please Irvington voters
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A man living in an historic Indianapolis neighborhood on Tuesday said it will be good to have a City-County Council member who matches the neighborhood’s views.
Patrick Adair and his family moved to Irvington, a neighborhood on the city’s east side, nearly eight years ago after they discovered it while shopping for antiques. Adair says he loves the neighborhood’s close-knit feel and artsy, progressive vibe.
“Irvington is a very progressive, quirky, artistic, all-inclusive neighborhood,” Adair sad. “We’re fairly like-minded folk around here, and if you can have a louder, more singular voice in favor of your local area, it’s hard to find anything that you don’t like about that.”
Irvington currently is divided among three different council districts. This means not all of Adair’s neighbors are represented by the same person on the City-County Council.
A new map currently under consideration would place all of Irvington within the 14th district.
When the council unveiled the proposed maps on April 4, Council President Vop Osili told News 8 voters specifically asked council members to keep neighborhoods together whenever possible. The Fountain Square neighborhood, which also currently is divided among multiple seats, would be included in a single district as well.
The Marion County Republican Party has criticized the council for using an outside consultant to draw the maps, while the voting rights group Common Cause says voters should have had a much more direct role in drawing them. Adair said he’s happy with the overall result.
Council members held in-person listening sessions in each of Marion County’s nine townships in January as well as a countywide virtual session prior to the maps’ creation.
The council’s rules committee approved the maps following a hearing last week without any changes.
A spokesperson for the council says, barring unforeseen circumstances, council members will vote on whether or not to accept the maps at their May 2 meeting.