ROG Opposes State Redistricting Plan

Reisterstown and Owings Mills activists plan to send Gov. Martin O’Malley and other officials letters opposing the .

“They should take into consideration political boundaries and natural boundaries,” said George Harman, president of the Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council, which voted to send O’Malley a letter under its name. “The letter basically says that we prefer the boundaries follow natural economic and social situations involved.”

The state redistricting plan calls for the creation of city-county and county-county crossover districts, and would put Reisterstown in District 10 with the Randallstown area and part of Baltimore City.

“In the past, Reisterstown has been in three districts,” Harman said at Monday night’s ROG meeting. “We’ve always been divided in some manner, so there’s no perfect answer.”

The letter Harman drafted for ROG’s purposes says the proposal does not unify communities.

“Our primary concern is with the lack of focus on community interests as the primary means of establishing boundaries,” the letter says.

Del. Dan Morhaim, D-11, stood with ROG and said now is the time to give input.

“There’s a lot in this redistricting plan that we’re not happy with because of how it affects the communities we represent and live in,” he said.

Morhaim said that during previous redistricting processes that went to court, the court reviewed various community letters, which had an impact on the outcome.

“You, individually, and your community should weigh in on this situation,” Harman told ROG members.