City Council redistricting and Baltimore's culture of clout

I was the first person to write about city council redistricting back in October.  It appears I got a few things right. Check out the Baltimore Sun redistricting article that came out today. 

There were a few changes that surprised me. Before I talk about the proposed changes I want to point out this overlooked quote from the Sun article:
"Rawlings-Blake's proposal reflects the population shifts of the last decade. The city is estimated to have lost 20,000 residents in that time; all but two of the 14 council districts are believed to have lost population."

I am one of the voices who have said for years that the population decline has not stopped. It appears I was right. So how can we stop this decline? For years I have also said that lowering property taxes must be done ASAP. If we use the Walters/Miserendino solution  and drastically cut property taxes, then the population of the city will TRULY increase.

OK back to redistricting...

I have no idea why they want to put part of Butcher's Hill into the 13th district. This could be a nightmare type scenario for some Butcher's Hill residents if this is really true. I do not wish Warren Branch on to any good-hearted citizen of Baltimore.

All of the Mayor's other major moves can be explained with demographic logic although a few of them probably were done to help political supporters. It makes demographic sense to put Greektown in the 1st District, to remove Poppleton, part of Sandtown, and Harlem from the 11th District, and to unite Pigtown in the 10th District.

The two moves that shocked me the most, but that can also be explained demographically are the removal of Reservoir Hill from the 11th and the addition of the entire Federal Hill/Locust Point peninsula to the 11th. Both moves are related. Ed Reisinger is clearly being rewarded by the Mayor by getting rid of his past competition who live on the Federal Hill/Locust Point peninsula. That area was Reisinger's weak spot and under the right set of circumstances he could have lost the 10th district election if those areas stayed in his district. A major neighborhood would have to be kicked out of the 11th to accommodate the Federal Hill/Locust Point peninsula. Reservoir Hill was the northern most point in the district and it has a lot in common with other West Baltimore neighborhoods in the 7th. I live in Reservoir Hill so I am not looking forward to having another Conaway represent us. I hope a legitimate candidate can step up to challenge Conaway. It will be hard to beat her name.

Everyone should check out this article about political clout in Chicago. The same clout based political culture exists in Baltimore. Ed Reisinger is a perfect example of clout in Baltimore politics. Reisinger supported who he was supposed to, followed the status quo perfectly, was loyal to his political bosses, and now he is rewarded with an easier campaign than he would have had if he had not been a mindless cog in the political machine.  Ed played the clout game and won. Every game has a winner and a loser and in this case the citizens of Baltimore lose.