The stage is set for a new configuration of Pittsburgh City Council districts. Council members preliminarily approved a map this week and are expected to formally pass the proposal next week.
Council’s nine-district map, by law, must be redrawn after each U.S. Census. A Reapportionment Advisory Committee has been working since last fall to create a map that puts a roughly equal number of residents in each district. After months of effort and multiple public hearings on the matter, Council reviewed a final draft Wednesday and advanced the new boundaries out of committee. That puts the matter up for a final vote Tuesday before members recess for about a month.
The new map doesn’t propose many dramatic changes, though population density among the districts did require some to shrink — including East End Districts 7 and 8 — in order for others — including Districts 1 and 9 — to grow. Pittsburgh’s districts must fall between 31,980 and 35,436 residents to keep them contiguous and equal in size.
Pittsburgh is a city of neighborhoods with longstanding ties to each other, so earlier maps that threatened to put part of Polish Hill into a different district were met with strong condemnation during public hearings. The final map keeps the neighborhood together where it was — in District 7, represented by Councilor Deb Gross — in favor of adding the entire Strip District into District 1, represented by Councilor Bobby Wilson.
“We had to get creative,” Gross said Wednesday, noting that the map splits some voting precincts into different City Council districts. “I’m happy with the compromise.”
District 1, which currently includes North Side neighborhoods and uses the Allegheny and Ohio River as its borders, needed to grow due to population decline.
Another sticking point was an attempt to move Bon Air from District 4, represented by Councilor Anthony Coghill, into District 3, represented by Councilor Bruce Kraus. More than five dozen residents submitted a petition against the change, arguing that the area should stay part of the district that includes Carrick, Overbrook, Beechview and Brookline. The final draft grants that request.
“Ultimately … I believe that we got it right.” Coghill said. “We tried to follow what the people were telling us.”
In exchange for keeping Bon Air in District 4, District 3 got McKinley Park, which sits between Bon Air and Beltzhoover. Moving the park into District 3 is something for which Kraus said he has long advocated.
“From the day I got into office, there has been a steadfast request by constituency in Beltzhoover to see that McKinley Park actually becomes connected in with the Beltzhoover neighborhood,” Kraus said. “McKinley Park is essential to the history and the integrity of this … neighborhood.”
District 9, a district centered in Homewood and other East End communities where Black residents make up the majority, saw a considerable drop in population, according to the census. The city’s overall Black population dropped by roughly 10,500 people, a rate much higher than the number of white residents leaving the city.
As a result of the decline in District 9, its border now will grow to include Point Breeze. An earlier version of the new map saw Regent Square moving into District 9, but the version approved by council Wednesday keeps that neighborhood in District 5.
Districts 2 and 6 also had to grow to offset population decline.
District 2, which currently includes neighborhoods west and south of the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers, will cross the water to include Brunot Island and a portion of the North Side along the Ohio River that includes Marshall-Shadeland.
District 6, which currently has a foot in Downtown and another in the Central North Side, also needed to grow. The new map stretches the district to include the North Shore, putting all three of the city's major sports stadiums into one district.
Like District 7, District 8's geography had to shrink due to growth in population. That district currently includes Squirrel Hill, Oakland, Shadyside and Point Breeze. The new map shifts Point Breeze and multiple precincts into District 9. Councilor Erika Strassburger, who represents District 8, said she has heard opposition from her constituents about the changes, and as a result, she would vote against the proposed map.
“There have been, maybe not as vocally publicly, but a lot of people in the district that I represent who are unhappy with this map,” Strassburger said. “It’s not a critique of the map as a whole, but I do really have to listen to my constituents.”
Strassburger also said she recognized the necessity for her district to shrink to fit the criteria. She was the lone “no” vote on the map during the committee meeting Wednesday.
How long will this map last?
Though council typically is compelled to redraw the districts only every 10 years after the census, members might be back at the table next year to draw another map. If the city annexes the Borough of Wilkinsburg, districts will be redrawn again to include thousands of new constituents. District 9, represented by Councilor Ricky Burgess, would most likely absorb all or most Wilkinsburg residents.
“There’s a good chance that this [map] may not last beyond a year and a half,” Burgess said last week. He was not present for the vote Wednesday.
Burgess has made several comments recently about how District 9 could dramatically change if Wilkinsburg residents become Pittsburgh residents. If Wilkinsburg residents join the city, “we will immediately have to redraw the districts, and we will shift west,” he said.
Council tabled discussion of the annexation earlier this year in favor of gathering more research about how the two municipalities would combine. Council must vote in favor of a court-ordered petition before the final choice would be put to Wilkinsburg voters.
The city is required to finalize its new map by August, and with a final vote slated for next Tuesday, they’re expected to meet that deadline. Once approved, the new districts would take effect in January 2023.
