Weigh In on Redistricting

On March 5, the that would keep the Ellicott City neighborhoods of Wheatfield and Brampton Hills in District 1.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman did not sign the map into law, however. According to law, that meant that a second map, the one recomended by the Redistricting Commission, went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, March 16.

This map which is otherwise comprised mostly of Columbia.

Patch reached out to Ellicott City residents who had been vocal throughout the redistricting process and asked what they thought about moving to District 2.

Here's what they had to say:

Via email:

Our community is disappointed in his decision. We asked County Executive Ken Ulman to do the right thing. He choose not to do it.  People in our community are frustrated with the unreachability of Mr. Ulman also. We feel our voices, while heard, were not listened to by the county executive, the County Council or the Redistricting Commission. And each of those three is blaming the other for not being able to do the right thing.

-Debbie Bures-Walker

I am saddened by the news that our county executive failed to do the right thing, but am not surprised. The elected officials in this county have once again displayed their disdain for the electorate and have put their political agendas ahead of the wishes of the people that they claim to serve. My only hope is that our new councilman will be responsive to the concerns of our community but am not counting on it going by the travesty that took place during this last process.

-Amy Francis

Our big concern was that we would be put into a district where our issues weren’t consistent with all the other citizens of that district (mainly the Rt 103 corridor). We felt that this could lead to a situation where our needs/concerns wouldn’t ever get the attention they needed because we would be such a small minority of the new district. The feedback I got from county employees was they were getting bombarded with emails from citizens on this issue. It's a shame that the county executive has some other reasons for putting us in District 2 which he hasn't bothered to explain sufficiently..... equalizing the population in the districts should not overrule good sense when it comes to dealing with neighborhoods! 

-David Cureton

And from the comments on the : 

I am completely disgusted with the county executive for ignoring the wishes of the "majority" of people in this redistricting issue. Although 28 of the 39 people (72%-clearly a majority) who submitted official testimony to the County Council were affected citizens who wanted to stay in District 1, hundreds more showed up at several public hearings or wrote letters/emails with the same request. I knew from the beginning that this was a political battle and not one of community boundaries since the Democratic Party controlled the so called "citizen" redistricting committee and testified in support of the Commission's Plan.

-Robert Callahan

Do you live in Wheatfield or Brampton Hills? How do you feel about the move do District 2? Let us know in the comments.