Override of mayor's veto and North-South split

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - For the second week in a row, the City Council has overridden the mayor’s veto.

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This time, the issue is redistricting. The vote almost clears the way before a city-wide vote on changing the charter.

A judge must approve putting it on the ballot, since the city missed the November ballot deadline.

Mayor Funkhouser lives in Brookside, but has sided with the four Northland council members on the issue.

They've been outnumbered by the eight council members from south of the river.

An attorney has been hired by Forward Kansas City, a Northland PAC, to file a lawsuit in federal court.

Chris Byrd says federal law only allows for a ten percent disparity in representation between city council districts.

Right now there is a 29% disparity between the First and Third Districts.

That's why Northlanders want council district lines redrawn now, before the spring city council elections.

But south of the river council members want to wait until after the spring elections, when new census data is available to make sure minority communities south of the river get proper representation.

Thursday alone, as council members debated the redistricting issue, they described the process with words like "turmoil, mess, chaos, and confusion."

Recent votes have split the council between north and south.

The Missouri River is not the exact dividing line, but rapid growth north of the river has thrown city council districts out of balance.

The Northland growth is mostly white, while the Southland is concerned about ethnic minorities losing representation.

"It's a political fight right now. Certain groups are underrepresented, north of the river. Certain groups are overrepresented, south of the river. And they intend to try to hang onto that if they can," said Funkhouser.

"What I hope is that this doesn't denigrate into a north-south racial divide issue," said Sharon Sanders Brooks, a Third District council rep from the urban core, south of the river.

Groups south of the river want to wait to redistrict until next year to get better census data.

The city may end up redrawing the boundaries twice... now, and next year.