As someone who cares about local government and believes democracy works best when people feel invited into the process, I want to thank Bowling Green City Council for the way it has approached the city’s redistricting process.
Redistricting may not be something most of us think about very often. It’s not flashy, and it doesn’t make for exciting conversation. However, the lines we draw around our neighborhoods determine who represents us on city council, making this process incredibly important.
Bowling Green’s previous ward boundaries were drawn in 2002. Since then, our community has changed, creating significant differences in the number of people living in each ward. Redrawing those boundaries was necessary to ensure more equal representation.
What I appreciate most is that council could have treated this as a technical exercise and simply drawn the new boundaries themselves. Instead, they opened the process to the community when they didn’t have to.
Residents had opportunities to learn about redistricting, share what makes their neighborhoods and communities unique, and even created and submitted their own maps. In fact, 24 maps were submitted by BG residents. Council then publicly reviewed those maps and narrowed them to three finalists, giving residents yet another opportunity to provide feedback.
That’s transparency. Transparency is more than simply putting information on a website. It means inviting people into a process before decisions are made. It means explaining why change is necessary, giving residents meaningful ways to participate, listening to different perspectives, and showing people that their input is being considered.
There were undoubtedly residents who preferred one map over another. I am also sure there were disagreements about where particular lines should be drawn. That’s democracy. What matters is that BG residents were given a seat at the table.
When residents can understand the process, participate in it, and know their voices are being heard, our local democracy is stronger. That is definitely something worth recognizing and thanking our city council for doing.
So, thank you to Bowling Green City Council for making transparency and public participation part of this process.
Sharlyn Katzner
President, League of Women Voters of Bowling Green
