Evacuees may mean new City Council districts

The flood of new residents after Hurricane Katrina may have a new impact on Houston: The city may have to create new City Council districts and re-draw existing district boundaries.

In 1979, as a result of a lawsuit to improve minority representation on City Council, the City Charter was amended to call for the creation of two new council districts when the city population hit 2.1 million. The estimated population in 2004 was 2,012,626; between routine growth and the estimated 150,000 evacuees living here, it's very likely Houston is over the 2.1 million mark now.

The question, though, is how to find out — the next census isn't until 2010, and it'll be difficult to find out exactly how many new residents there are in the meantime. Another difficulty will be the redistricting process itself, which could take away some of the minority voting power in majority-minority districts. Just one thing: We don't suggest Tom DeLay as a redistricting consultant.