ATLANTA – State Representative Viola Davis (D-Stone Mountain) today announced that she has initiated the “T.H.E. Equity Assessment” in response to a proposed map for the Atlanta Regional Commission’s (ARC) districts for citizen board members at-large to examine the impact that transportation, health and education have on DeKalb County residents. Rep. Davis seeks to perform an analysis of the map and its effect on representation, service and funding in DeKalb County.
“Before the voting on the new districts for the ARC citizen board members at-large, it is in the best interest of DeKalb County residents if we perform an analysis of the map and its potential effects, especially on transportation, health and education issues,” said Rep. Davis. “In both the current and proposed maps, DeKalb County is divided into five districts like a pie, possibly producing disparities in representation, service and funding. Until an equity assessment is done, we may have a county divided into a five district pie that could produce an adverse effect in which Central and South DeKalb residents are denied the ability to eat at the table. Since the map is the start of the process, we must perform and complete an assessment to evaluate if this map is fair and equitable.”
Because Rep. Davis’ House district touches member county jurisdictions of the Atlanta Regional Commission, she is part of a legislative caucus which determines the ARC board member at-large districts. She plans to oppose any district maps that could dilute and/or remove representation from the Central and South DeKalb County areas. She seeks to examine the proposed map with her colleagues in the DeKalb County Legislative Delegation, who also serve on the caucus. The ARC legislative caucus held a meeting to discuss the proposed map today, Oct. 12.
Rep. Davis has identified several concerns with the map’s potential impact and its constitutionality, such as one of the citizen board members who represent the only district that is solely in DeKalb County and a residential address in Atlanta. She is also concerned that none of the current DeKalb citizen board members are personally represented by Black or minority state legislators; 15 out of the 23 legislators in the delegation are Black or minorities. Rep. Davis is also concerned that the two African American citizen board members’ districts do not encompass large portions of DeKalb County, especially the Central and South DeKalb areas which have a population of more than 300,000 residents.
Additionally, Rep. Davis seeks to gather a list of dates that ARC citizen board members met with residents in Central and South DeKalb. Rep. Davis believes this data would assist her analysis of representation and input that the people in these areas have received under the current ARC map.
Representative Viola Davis represents the citizens of District 87, c includes portions of DeKalb County. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and currently serves on the Natural Resources & Environment, Insurance, Interstate Cooperation and Science and Technology committees.
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