Jacksonville redistricting plans draw fire from Riverside Avondale Preservation backers

A leader of Riverside Avondale Preservation said Wednesday that residents of the historic neighborhood will "fight hard" against a proposed redistricting plan that would split that part of the city into three different City Council districts.

"It's outrageous, and it's being done for all the wrong reasons," said Wayne Wood, who helped found Riverside Avondale Preservation in 1974.

The historic district operates under a zoning overlay enacted by the city aimed toward preserving the historic character of Riverside and Avondale. The district now is entirely in District 14, represented by Randy DeFoor.

The City Council Redistricting Committee decided Tuesday to focus on two possible maps for submission to the judge.

The plan called the "maroon map" would split the area served by Riverside Avondale Preservation into three City Council districts. Part of it would stay with District 14, part would go to District 10 and part would be in District 8.

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The plan dubbed the "lime map" would split it into Districts 10 and 8.

The maroon map drew the most support from City Council members on the redistricting committee when they met Tuesday.

When the committee convened again Wednesday, council members asked the city's map-drawing consultant to give them alterative maps that would show how keeping Riverside and Avondale entirely in either District 8, 10 or 14 would work.

In addition, council members also sought the same alternatives for maps that would have Riverside, Avondale and the adjoining Murray Hill neighborhoods all kept together in the same council district.

Wood said having the Riverside Avondale Preservation area represented by a single council member has helped it be successful.

"It’s been a shining example of how a neighborhood could work cohesively with our councilperson to improve the neighborhood," Wood said.

He said the motivation for splitting the historic district appears to be based in partisan politics rather than what's best for the neighborhood.

"It would not only be a slap in the face for all the work we've done in the past 49 years, but it just does not make sense," Wood said. "Council districts are to serve the people, not to serve the political party. That would be absolutely the wrong reason. We have a strong community and we're going to fight hard to stop it."

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The City Council is considering a new redistricting map in order to comply with U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard's order on Oct. 12 that said the city intentionally packed Black voters into Districts 7,8, 9 and 10 in order to weaken the influence of Black voters in neighboring districts.

Shannon Blankinship, executive director of Riverside Avondale Preservation, emailed the city's designated redistricting address early Wednesday to express the organization's concerns. The Times-Union obtained the email through a public records request.

Blankinship did not wish for the neighborhoods to be divided and wrote that the group was "determined to be involved in the redistricting process."

"As you continue to deliberate Jacksonville's redistricting, we strongly request and ask that you retain Riverside and Avondale in one council district," Blankinship said in the email. "We are one neighborhood."

The city then received over 30 other emails from concerned residents arguing against the splitting of Avondale and Riverside. All emails were tbe distributed to members of the redistricting committee at Wednesday's noon meeting.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville redistricting plans face pushback from preservationists