As an assiduous citizen of West Lafayette, the place where we call home, I write this with a curious mind.<\/p>\n
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The biggest question to go before the Council in decades, forever changing the political makeup of West Lafayette, should not be made\u00a0haste\u00a0and must be given its due consideration.<\/p>\n
On June 2nd<\/a>, the West Lafayette City Council publicly asked itself if it should move from a Third Class to a Second Class City with Ordinance 17-14<\/a>.<\/p>\n It passed its first reading by a vote of 6 -1. \u00a0Councilor Vicki Burch (District 3) voted against the ordinance.<\/p>\n When it goes before the Council again, possibly as soon as July or August, it will be for its second and final reading.<\/p>\n Indiana Code 36-4-1<\/a> covers the classification of cities in the State.<\/p>\n STATUS AND POPULATION CLASS<\/strong><\/p>\n Cities of 600,000 or more First class cities<\/p>\n Cities of 35,000 to 599,999 Second class cities<\/em><\/p>\n Cities of less than 35,000 Third class cities<\/p>\n Prior to annexation, the population of West Lafayette was around 29,596 according to the 2010 US Census information<\/a>. \u00a0With the recent\u00a0Annexation of land around West Lafayette<\/a>, including the Purdue University campus the population grew to include the residence halls located within the new boundaries. The majority of the population growth attributed to the City is now made up of non-residents who attend Purdue. \u00a0I have been trying to locate a new population estimate from the City, but have been unable to do so. You can, however, use the information provided by City-Data.com and compare it to the Annexation map<\/a> to get an idea based on their density maps<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governance changes to the City have been well documented in this memorandum<\/a>\u00a0(quick 5-page read)\u00a0provided by City Attorney, Eric Burns. A quick overview of the memorandum:<\/p>\n In going through all of this data, it appears we are moving incredibly quickly towards radically changing the governance model of our City. \u00a0We recently redistricted<\/a> (December 2012, original map<\/a>). \u00a0We recently passed a large Annexation with a public university<\/a>. \u00a0Now we want to change classification of our City. \u00a0All within the span of less than 2 years. When I have asked the City Council and Mayor about the rush towards reclassification, I hear that we want to put up the new districts prior to the next election. \u00a0My initial concern with this redistricting is that it may have to be heavily skewed towards creating another student district.<\/p>\n I have\u00a0asked this and similar questions, voicing my concerns, when the City was first discussing Annexation of Purdue and the surrounding neighborhoods to the South and West. Journal and Courier article (portion online, behind paywall): \u00a0West Lafayette annexation concern: the student voting bloc<\/a> WLFI (thanks for being online and accessible): How do we qualify?<\/h2>\n
Ch…Ch…Changes!<\/h2>\n
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Precincts, Districts, and the Student Voting Bloc<\/h2>\n