Austin is on the verge of creating a district with almost one-third Asian residents, following the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission's approval of new district maps from the city council, according to a report by KUT.
The commission will present these maps at five public hearings over the next month before submitting a final plan to the city council for approval by Nov 1.
“The Asian population has actually grown considerably,” Christina Puentes, chair of the Redistricting Commission, told KUT. “And a lot of that is concentrated in District 6.”
Austin City Council District 6, which encompasses areas spanning from Lake Travis to some Round Rock neighborhoods, currently contains the city's largest Asian population.
When the maps were originally created in 2013, roughly 13% of the district's population identified as Asian. If the new maps are approved, that percentage will rise to 28%.
“It will continue to grow,” Amy Wong Mok, founder of the Asian American Cultural Center, told KUT. “I have no doubt about that.”
Since 2014, Austin residents have elected members to the city council from 10 geographic districts, the boundaries of which are changed every decade to reflect new data.
Commissioners reviewed several demographic changes in the most recent edition of this data, including the fact that Asians now account for almost one-tenth of the city's population.
Over the past decade, Austin's Asian population has grown from 6.3% to 8.9%.
"It would be really nice to be able to see that representation," Saatvik Ahluwalia, a digital strategist for the Austin Asian Community Civic Coalition told KUT. "One way to do that is definitely to have an [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders]-majority city council district.”
Unlike state political boundaries, which are established by politicians, Austin's City Council districts are established through an application process by a commission of citizens. The commission responsible for the current maps includes a graduate student, an attorney and a pastor.