Council Panel to Study Redistricting

A San Diego City Council committee has agreed to study ways to balance current population inequities among the eight council districts and to end the practice of splitting some communities between two or more districts.

Initiated by Mayor Maureen O’Connor and strongly supported by District 6 Councilman Bruce Henderson, the project is a way of accounting for population shifts since the last redistricting, in 1980.

The council’s Rules Committee on Wednesday appointed the city’s planning director, city clerk, city attorney and its own consultant to suggest ways to reapportion the districts.

Henderson passed out city Planning Department estimates that show a wide variance in the district populations. With a population of 1,022,500, San Diego could be equally divided into eight districts of about 127,800 each.

But Planning Department figures show that District 1, the La Jolla area, has about 141,900 people--11% above the average--and that District 8, which meanders through Hillcrest, downtown and South San Diego, has about 140,300--9.8% above average.

District 2, which encompasses Point Loma and nearby neighborhoods, has the fewest residents, 111,400, or 12.9% below average. Henderson’s District 6, which includes a large part of Clairemont and nearby neighborhoods, has just 113,200 residents, or 11.4% fewer than the average.