Carrollton-Riverbend Neighborhood Association (CRNA)

Friends and Neighbors:

If you pay attention to the news at all, you know that the Legislature is in session and is drawing new district boundaries for state representatives, senators and congresspersons. 

For the past ten years, those of us in the four precincts closest to the river have been represented by Rep. Cameron Henry, whose district is primarily in Jefferson Parish.  Nothing against Mr. Henry personally, but many of us have been seeking to have the district boundaries changed so that we would be represented by a person with an Orleans parish base—and that our Carrollton/Riverbend neighborhood and Carrollton generally would be not be divided up in such a way that no one has our part of Orleans as a base (and, therefore, no one feels responsible to “speak for Carrollton.”)

In a bill that now seems to have considerable impetus, the situation could be even worse.  Marshall Hevron, an attorney and former CRNA board member, has been following this process fairly closely.

He sent me the following a little earlier and suggested that I might send it to our CRNA membership:

Dear Neighbors,

            As you may know, the State Legislature is in the middle of its once a decade re-districting session. During this session, lawmakers use census data to draw new districts for the State House, State Senate, and Congress.

            The Jefferson Parish legislative delegation is pushing a plan that would place Carrollton and parts of Uptown in the legislative districts of Jefferson Parish representatives John Labruzzo and Cameron Henry (see the attached map). Under this plan, known as Amendment 248 to House Bill 1, residents of Bucktown and Uptown would be in the same district. Additionally, the Carrollton neighborhood would be carved up and represented by two different Jefferson Parish politicians. The result is less representation for the Carrollton, University, and Uptown neighborhoods. The plan may come up for a vote as early as Tuesday afternoon (March 29) and appears to have Governor Jindal’s support.

            Please call or e-mail Speaker Jim Tucker at: larep086@legis.state.la.us  or (504)393-5646. Let him know that you want our neighborhoods united in the legislature and that you oppose Amendment 248 to House Bill 1.

This is Jerry again:  If you look at the attached map, you will see that TWO Jefferson-based districts would now divide up Carrollton (and parts of Uptown) and another that is heavily Lakefront-based would also take in several of our precincts.

If you care, the information for taking action appears above.  Re-districting of the state senate and of Congress, where similar issues affect us, remain more up in the air at the moment.  We’ll try to keep you informed.

General Meeting

We are also planning a General Meeting of the neighborhood association for Thursday evening, April 14 at 6:30, at St. Andrew’s, Carrollton and Zimpel.  More info on speakers and guests (city agencies, etc) — and food — to follow.  Please mark your calendars and plan to join us.  

Best, Jerry

Jerry Speir, President

Carrollton/Riverbend N’hood Assn.

jerryspeir@gmail.com

 Amdt 248 Map

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