Cantonment Area Growth Will Lead To Redraw Of Escambia Districts

March 29, 2011

Following recent release of 2010 Census numbers that show a population shift into the Cantonment area of the county, both the Escambia County Commission and the School District will sit down in May to redraw district boundaries.

Escambia County is divided into five different voting districts, each represented by a county commissioner and school board member.

According to County Administrator Randy Oliver, the districts must be redrawn in such a manner that the population difference between the smallest district and the largest district is no more than five-percent.

“We will sit down with the school board in an effort to make sure everyone is in the same commission and school district,” Oliver said.

Data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau showed a  population shift into the area between Barrineau Park and 9 Mile roads. That area, called the Cantonment Census County Division, saw a population increase of 15.8% (6,901 people)  while the other three division in the county saw a population decrease of 1.4 to 3 percent. Overall, the county experienced a very slight 1 percent increase during the decade as the population increased from 294,410  in 2000 to 297,619 in 2010.

Below: This graphic shows the 10-year population change in four Census County Divisions in Escambia County.

Comments

8 Responses to “Cantonment Area Growth Will Lead To Redraw Of Escambia Districts”

  1. David Huie Green on April 2nd, 2011 6:02 pm

    REGARDING:
    “I think we as citizens shouldn’t worry about districts but be allowed to vote county wide for any district.”

    I disagree. If we don’t have representation by district, we don’t have representation.

    Before a federal judge changed the system, county-wide voting resulted in us having a commissioner who NEVER received the majority vote of the people he was supposed to represent: US. As a result–or possibly in conjunction, he never worried about what was good for us or what we thought, because he was in office without our support and didn’t need our support.

    A common result was that commissioners voted as if everybody lived in Pensacola and all legislation was crafted to make them happy. Most of us don’t want to live in Pensacola or under their rule. It’s fine for them, but not for us.

    It did the same thing to black people–they could vote but those elected ignored them–and that is the reason the federal judge threw it out. We benefited from his ruling.

    David for having representatives
    who represent us

  2. Northend on March 30th, 2011 2:44 pm

    District 3 is below 9m.rd., too. Also up for election since Mrs. Young is retiring from the BCC.
    Interesting to see how that district is re-drawn….

  3. Dishearted on March 30th, 2011 5:28 am

    I agree with YELLARHAMMER.we the people of the County sould be able to make any changes to any of our leaders when it comes time to VOTE. they have set it up so the people cant affect anyone not in their District,this goes for ECUA leaders too

  4. Byrneville Resident on March 29th, 2011 2:15 pm

    I agree with Robert Hudson! Amen!

  5. Robert Hudson on March 29th, 2011 12:47 pm

    I do not care, as long as we all agree not to consolidate with Pensacola.

  6. YELLARHAMMER on March 29th, 2011 11:04 am

    I think we as citizens souldn’t worry about districts but be allowed to vote county wide for any district. This will wake up the people running for these offices and they might understand that the whole county can control who is handling our affairs.

  7. William on March 29th, 2011 8:20 am

    >> So people in Cantonment possibly may be redrawn into another district?

    Not likely for Cantonment prooer. District 5 (the largest one on the map at the top) will likely get smaller since it has a population increase. It currently dips below 9 Mile Road in a few places — the people south of 9 Mile would probably be shifted into one of the other districts to lower the population in District 5.

    It is, by the way, possible for the Commission and the School Board to draw different districts. One would hope that they are in the same in the future as they are now to avoid confusion.

  8. escambiamom on March 29th, 2011 8:17 am

    So people in Cantonment possibly may be redrawn into another district? That should make it interesting also as the District 5 elections are next year.