Boundaries of Newark's West, East Wards Likely to Shift

Newark's West Ward likely will expand by several blocks, while the East Ward will contract somewhat as a result of population shifts recorded in the 2010 census, officials said.

The West Ward's 2010 census population came in at 51,454, which is 1,202 people short of what election officials are proposing should be the minimum for the size of a ward, according to the Essex County Board of Elections.

Meanwhile, the census put the East Ward's population at 58,824, which puts the ward 624 people over the maximum, the records show.

Over the coming weeks, a commission composed of four county elections officials and Newark City Clerk Robert Marasco will decide what the new boundaries should be. Officials said the West Ward likely will pick up a portion of the Central Ward, possibly along 14th Avenue.

Newark Councilman Ronald C. Rice, who represents the West Ward, said the shift should have minimal impact on people who live in areas that are changing wards, especially because the two districts share many issues and priorities.

"The Central Ward is a mirror image of the West Ward in many ways," said Rice. "Councilman (Darrin) Sharif and myself both have strong ties to our block associations and our church groups."

The council members representing the south, central and north wards did not respond to messages seeking their comments.

At the federal, state and municipal level, redistricting can become a bruising battle as political figures wrestle over election district boundaries. Sometimes redistricting can force incumbents out of favorable districts into new ones where they have far fewer supporters. Now and then, new boundaries can lump two incumbents from neighboring areas into the same district, forcing them to vie for one seat.

But Essex County officials said Newark's pending ward restricting does not seem likely to produce such political theater, especially since the numbers will only require shifts of perhaps five city blocks from one ward to another.

"You have to watch out," said New Jersey Sen. Ronald L. Rice (D-Essex), who used to be the city's West Ward councilman, a position now held by his son. "The power brokers try to push the lines so they can get rid of the people they don't want in a particular ward. If a councilman goes to sleep on this, they can get hurt."

Sen. Rice said he doubted the accuracy of census numbers for the West Ward. He attributed the gap to a growing immigrant population in the ward. The senator said immigrants are less likely to respond to census counts.

"I don't think it's a case of the West Ward losing population as much as it is the other wards gaining more than we did," said Councilman Rice. "The East, North and Central wards have had a lot of redevelopment in the last 10 years."

The councilman also said the West Ward lost residents because it was "disproportionately affected" by the foreclosure crisis that hit the country.

Before election officials begin redrawing ward boundaries, there's a legal speed bump they must get past. The original 2010 ward population numbers provided by the U.S. Census Bureau used outdated boundaries that had been in place before the ward lines were redrawn after the 2000 census, according to Linda von Nessi, clerk of the Essex County Board of Elections.

In response, Essex County took the census numbers and applied them to the current ward maps, said von Nessi. Those proposed changes, however, are still not officials. The clerk said the election commission has retained two attorneys — Frank Giantomasi and Thomas Scerbo — to go to court to get approval of the revised ward population figures. That hearing is scheduled to take place within the next week, said von Nessi.

If election officials are not successful in getting the adjustments approved, the redistricting process could become much more cumbersome. For example, East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador said his ward would have to lose as many as 4,000 people to the South and Central Wards if the original numbers were kept in place.

"I would have to fight that," Amador said. "It would have a major impact on us."

Ten years ago, after thousands of new homes were built in the 1990s, the East Ward lost 15,000 residents to the South Ward, Amador said.

"We had chaos," Amador said. The neighborhoods that shifted included many African-Americans along Frelinghuysen Avenue and near Clinton Avenue and left the East Ward with less diversity, Amador said. The councilman said he had been concerned that another loss of as many as 4,000 East Ward residents would take away even more of its demographic balance.

"If it ends up being 600, that won't be too much of a problem," he said.

Under the proposed numbers, each Newark ward is supposed to have between 52,656 and 58,200 people. Three wards fall within those limits. The proposed numbers put the South Ward's population at 56,153, the Central Ward at 55,057 and the North Ward at 55,652.

The numbers put the city's total population at 277,140.

The ward boundaries are based on population. But election districts are based on the number of registered voters in an area. As a result, even though the East Ward has the largest population, it has far fewer election districts than the other wards. In the East Ward, there are 30 election districts, compared to 49 in the North and South wards, 47 in the West and 46 in the Central.

"We may be the smallest ward population-wise, but we're not the smallest in terms of voters," said Councilman Rice.

The distinction between population and registered voters sometimes comes into play in the private tug-of-war over ward boundaries, officials said, as political leaders try to build their power bases by having as many registered voters from their camps within their wards.

The election commission overseeing Newark's ward redistricting is scheduled to meet Sept. 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Essex County Hall of Records in Room 413. The meeting is open to the public. In addition to Marasco, the panel includes two Democrats, Frances Adubato and Lee Fisher, and two Republicans, Michael Carson and Beth O'Toole.

[Editor's note: This story originally published at 9:33 a.m. Wednesday. It has since been updated.]