JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville City Council appears to be on schedule to come up with a new council district map by Friday, as ordered by a federal judge.
Last month, the judge agreed with groups including the NAACP who sued over the city's original map, claiming it created 'unnecessary racial segregation' and was unconstitutional.
In her ruling, the judge sent them back to the drawing board, saying the council ignored public outcry over the racial makeup of the maps.
At the first of four redistricting meetings this week, several members of the public spoke out, saying they still feel like they're being ignored.
"What kind of public comment did you expect when we hadn't even seen the maps until just now," said Mike Ludwick, a Northside Coalition member, during public comment at Tuesday's council meeting.
Council members spent an hour and fifteen minutes discussing four district maps. One map was presented by the plaintiffs in the racial gerrymandering case.
The other three (orange, lime, and maroon) are from map expert, Douglas Johnson.
Jacksonville City Council deciding between four maps
City council decided to move forward with two of the four maps, both drawn up by Johnson. This happened before the public was able to weigh in on any of the four maps.
"It's very similar to previous meetings when they should not have chosen maps without hearing the public's input first, I mean that's one of the reasons we're here today," said Jacksonville resident Kim Pryor.
Pryor has been to every public meeting regarding redistricting and was there Tuesday as the city council saw the proposed maps for the first time.
City council quickly shifted its focus to two maps created by Johnson and cast off the plaintiff's and Johnson's other map.
Several council members expressed concerns over neighborhoods being split.
The consensus of the council members who spoke were in favor of the Lime and Maroon maps.
- Joyce Morgan (District 1) - Not present.
- Al Ferraro (District 2) - Did not give preference.
- Aaron Bowman (District 3) - No. 1 Lime, No. 2 Maroon
- Kevin Carrico (District 4) - Did not give preference.
- LeAnna Cumber (District 5) - Not present.
- Michael Boylan (District 6) - Did not give preference.
- Reggie Gaffney (District 7) - No. 1 Maroon, No. 2 Lime.
- Ju'Coby Pittman (District 8) - Was not ready to give her preference.
- Tyrona Clark-Murray (District 9) - Orange and Lime in no order.
- Brenda Priestly Jackson (District 10) - Not present.
- Danny Becton (District 11) - Not present.
- Randy White (District 12) - No. 1 Maroon, No. 2 Lime.
- Rory Diamond (District 13) - No. 1 Maroon.
- Randy DeFoor (District 14) - No. 1 Maroon, No. 2 Lime.
- Terrance Freeman (At-Large Group 1) - Did not give preference.
- Ronald Salem (At-Large Group 2) - Did not give preference.
- Nick Howland (At-Large Group 3) - No. 1 Maroon, No. 2 Lime.
- Matt Carlucci (At-Large Group 4) - Not present.
- Samuel Newby (At-Large Group 5) - No. 1 Maroon, No. 2 Lime.
When a federal judge shot down the council's original map, she sent them back to begin again with public input. The council created an email account for feedback and received 12 emails.
However, council did not accept public comment or read emails until after shifting focus to the maroon and lime maps on Tuesday.
"There's a chance that their considerations and their thoughts their comments are ones that my colleagues or myself we agree with, and we make that change to the map," said Council President Terrance Freeman.
"The people that are here are elected to represent us and they need to listen to us, and they need to do the right thing." Pryor said.
City council has two more meeting before the special redistricting committee votes on a final map on Friday.
Tuesday afternoon the federal judge rejected the city's request to halt her recent order.