Residents of District E,
  
This past week the City of Houston Planning Department presented at the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee the City of Houston Redistricting Plan for 2022. The standards of which City of Houston Council Districts are created are based in the U.S. Constitution Equal Protection Clause and Voting Rights Act, which state districts should be equal population: one person - one vote, districts may not intentionally dilute the voting strength of racial or ethnic minority groups, and districts drawn primarily based on race or ethnicity require a compelling justification.
 
In City Council this past Wednesday, my colleagues and I supported a resolution to establish the procedures, criteria and rules for consideration and establishment of Council Member District Boundaries, following the receipt of the 2020 Decennial Census Count as required by Article V, Section 3 of the Charter of the City of Houston. This resolution calls for public hearings at which interested persons shall have an opportunity to be heard in advance of any maps being drawn or boundaries changed. The redrawn districts will aim to: maintain relatively equal population numbers, be composed of whole county voting precincts, have easily identifiable geographic boundaries, retain integrity of neighborhoods or communities of interest, be compact, avoid packing or cracking (Page 6), and preserve incumbent-constituency relations. 
 
Since the last Census, District E has grown in population by 7% and I am eager to hear from residents on how they feel District E should be redistricted, if at all. I cordially invite you to mark your calendars for the following upcoming Redistricting Town Hall Meetings that will be held in District E:
 
Southeast Houston/Clear Lake
Monday, April 11
6:00 p.m.
Space Center Houston - Special Events Building
1601 NASA Parkway
Houston, TX 77058
 
Kingwood/Lake Houston
Tuesday, April 19
6:00 p.m.
Kingwood Community Center - Main Room
4102 Rustic Woods Drive
Houston, TX 77345

The purpose of these meetings is to explain the redistricting process and hear from the public before creating a new redistricting map. These meetings will be held throughout April and May 2022 in each Council District. Upon completion of these public meetings in all City Council Districts the Planning and Development Department will present a draft plan to City Council and the public at three public hearings held in City Council Chambers this summer. (This is an additional opportunity for the public to ask questions and provide input, suggest revisions, or submit an alternative plan. Those meetings are tentatively to be held on July 13 at 9:00 a.m., July 13 at 7:00 p.m. and July 20 at 9:00 a.m.) In order for the City to properly analyze any plan, it must be submitted to the Planning Department by July 20, 2022 by 4:45 p.m. to Rupesh Koshy at Rupesh.Koshy@houstontx.gov. Additional resources can be found online at www.letstalkhouston.org/redistricting.
 
Once the plan has been finalized it will be voted on at City Council and filed for consideration on the November 2023 ballot. The boundaries of new Council districts will go into effect on January 1, 2024, after the completion of my final term as your District E Council Member. A redistricting timeline has been created to assist the public in identifying critical participation points throughout the redistricting process. I look forward to seeing you all later this month.


Sincerely,