Should regular citizens redraw the Baltimore City Council map? New legislation proposed

A suite of legislation put forward by Councilmember Zeke Cohen in the Baltimore City Council aims to make the city’s redistricting process less political and give residents more say. Voters could decide whether they want a civilian commission to handle how their councilmanic districts are drawn if a proposed charter amendment is successful.

It follows months of tumultuous conflict between the city’s council and Mayor Brandon Scott over the most recent redistricting efforts.

Currently, the mayor creates a map that is then sent to the council for feedback. While the council can suggest amendments, and even create their own map, the process is in the mayor’s hands: he or she has the power to veto any proposed map or amendments. The time period is also tight. City charter requires a map to be passed within 60 days of its introduction.

Last year, Mayor Brandon Scott vetoed an amended map created by Council President Nick Mosby.

“We want to put power back into the hands of the people,” said Cohen, who is also running for council president, just before the legislation was introduced on Monday.

The new charter proposal would require a civilian commission to create the new councilmanic map. It also strips the mayor’s veto power.

“There will be a series of town halls and meetings so that the community can reflect their concerns and desires and wishes. The Commission will vote, the maps will then go to the mayor and city council, the mayor and city council cannot strike down the map,” explained Cohen.

The council or mayor can send requests for revisions back to the commission that ultimately it is not required to accept.

An accompanying ordinance, also introduced by Cohen, lays out the structure of the commission which will be composed of 14 members, each randomly selected from a pool of applicants, from each councilmanic district. Two political experts and one “at-large” member will round out the rest of the commission.

The qualified applicants will be selected at random to avoid the appearance of any type of “proxy” situation for a councilmember, said Cohen.

The proposal competes with legislation from Council President Nick Mosby introduced last month that restricts the mayor’s ability to do a “pocket veto.”

“There are inherent problems with the way redistricting is laid out in our city charter. It’s clearly an important issue for our Council and I look forward to productive discourse and discussion,” said President Mosby in a statement.

If the charter amendment proposal gets passed through the council, it would go before voters in November.