Fort Worth Growing, But Will The City Council?

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The growth in North Texas has spurred a lot of changes. Now, Fort Worth may drastically change the how its city council does business to reflect that growth.

There are eight maps hanging in a conference room across the hall from city council member offices in Fort Worth's City Hall. Each of the maps is a voting district for city council. The lines are drawn based on population.

The maps are a snapshot in time of how the city looked after the 2000 Census. The problem is that the snapshot is now ten years old.  New numbers from the 2010 Census are expected to show the city has grown from a population of 500,000 to over 700,000.

Now, the question for Fort Worth is does the city need more council members to represent the new people?  "Thats an important question thats going to require a difficult balancing act," said Assistant City Manager Fernando Costa. "We don't want the council to become so large its unmanageable. But on the other hand we don't want each council member to have so many people the citizens lose touch with their representative."

Some areas are predominately minority and feel they need more representation. An example is the Near South area next to downtown. The area is recovering economically, yet trying to retain its history.  "I think that we should have all the minorities present to get their viewpoints so that we can get the best representation possible," said voter Mary Reed.

"I think it would work out best if we had more all over city council, minority and all," Eva Scott, an Near South resident.

But some argue the needs of neighborhoods would be lost with too many people sitting at the council table.  "And I think you do dilute the voice of the councilmember in representing their district and representing the needs of the people of that district if you get too many members," said Councilman Jungus Jordan, who represents the 6th district in Southwest Fort Worth.

More members or not, voting districts must be redrawn. And it promises to be a contentious battle over how voters are represented.