Recently, the CBRM underwent its obligation to review electoral districts. Several options were considered, including a significant reduction of districts to six. In the end, our council decided to maintain the status quo, but with an important adjustment: district boundaries were redrawn to reflect changes in population sizes. This is a positive step, ensuring that each representative is elected on a comparable basis to their peers, promoting fairness and balanced representation.
However, this change has introduced some confusion among residents. While the municipality offers an excellent tool for identifying your current councillor, this tool only reflects the existing districts and not the newly adjusted ones. To find your new district, residents are required to navigate through various sub-menus to access the updated maps. This can be a tedious and frustrating process, as it involves locating your specific home within the new boundaries.
This situation is far from ideal. Clear and straightforward access to information about district changes is essential for transparency and effective representation. It is unacceptable that residents have to go through such a cumbersome process to find their new district information. We need to ensure that the tools provided by the municipality are updated promptly and made user-friendly, so everyone can easily find their updated district and know who their representative is, especially during an election.
Residents can access the 2024 district maps and information and scroll to the bottom to view district maps. For those still confused you can email [email protected] or myself [email protected].