By JOHN E. SETTLE JR
Focus SB News
By the end of the year, the Caddo Commission must adopt a redistricting plan for all 12 districts based on the results of the 2020 census. The council races in 2023 will be based on the new district lines.
The Commission has hired Data Center of Kenner, La., as its demographer.
Cecil Floyd, president and founder, addressed the Commission by Zoom at it work session on Monday, Jan 3.
He also provided Caddo Parish Commission Criteria for Redistricting, which is set forth below. In his comments, he noted that criteria #6 was not applicable to Caddo.
He also provided a Caddo Parish Commission 2020 Us Census Benchmark Plan, which is set forth below.
The plan did not include 19,093 other ethnic groups, like Hispanics and Asians. Floyd said he would provide this additional data, which was not available at the noon Thursday, Jan. 6, deadline.
Floyd noted that the parish experienced a population loss of 16,847 (6.7%) between the 2010 and 2020 census.
He advised that 19,821 was the ideal size of each new commission district after re-apportionment.
Utilizing this benchmark with a 5% variance, Floyd said that District 1 (Todd Hopkins), District 4 (John-Paul Young), District 7 (Stormy Gage-Watts), District 8 (Jim Taliaferro) and District 11 (Ed Lazarus) were currently "right sized."
District 2 (Lyndon Johnson), District 3 (Steven Jackson), District 5 (Roy Burrell) and District 6 (Steffon Jones) lost more than 5% population, and, thus, these district lines must be expanded in size.
District 9 (John Atkins), District 10 (Mario Chavez) and District 12 (Ken Epperson) grew in population more than 5%, which means these district lines must be reduced in size.
Floyd advised that there is a domino effect when a district is either reduced or expanded in population and thus geographic size. The final plan must be reflective of the overall parish ethnic demographics.