New State House District Slices through Midtown

A new state House district would cut through Midtown and merge two Democratic seats into one, under a map that state legislators will begin debating on Tuesday.

The new, narrow district would start in Morningside, continue through Piedmont Park, snake down Peachtree Street, and end below I-20 below White Park.

That area includes the homes of both House Minority Caucus Vice Chairman Rashad Taylor from west Midtown and Morningside's Rep. Pat Gardner.  That means the two incumbents - the African American Taylor and the white Gardner - would be forced to run against each other if they want to remain in office.

of purging white Democrats from the legislature by drawing districts that pit them against fellow Democrats who are black.

House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (D-Kirkwood) has said such changes amount to “segregation.”

Taylor is also one of the few openly gay members of the state legislature.

The GOP denies any gerrymandering and points out that Republicans will lose several safe seats in south Georgia due to shrinking rural populations.

The draft maps are a product of the Georgia Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office.  Once every ten years, Georgia state lawmakers must redraw district borders based on new U.S. Census numbers and population shifts. For the first time in decades, Republicans control Georgia's government and the redrawing process.

The full Georgia General Assembly starts hearings on the House and Senate maps on Tuesday during a special legislative session.

Other proposals for Midtown's House representation include:

• English Avenue and Washington Park would join Georgia Tech, Atlantic Station and Ansley Park in a much-modified district that includes the home of Ansley's Rep. Kathy Ashe (D-Atlanta).
• Most of West Midtown would join the Ashe District. The Huff Road area would join a district that meanders south to Cascade.
• Piedmont Park would remain separated from the streets to its south. Those homes below 10^th Street would be drawn in a new district that includes Grady Hospital before extending as far south as Cascade and Fort McPherson.

Senate changes would affect Midtown very little. Below Piedmont Park, a split along Argonne Avenue would be removed uniting the area in the district now held by Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta).

West of Piedmont, the district now held by Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) would still include Georgia Tech and West Midtown, and would pick up Knight Park.

All of the new districts must eventually be approved by the federal government, to make sure they do not disenfranchise minority voters under the Voting Rights Act.

The Legislature will also redraw U.S. House districts this summer. Georgia will get a fourteenth U.S. Congress member. Census numbers put that seat somewhere in the heavily-GOP counties just north of metro Atlanta.

That draft map may appear as early as this week.

In January 2012, the Legislature will take up city, county and board of education districts, as well as the state's utility regulators, the Public Service Commission.