By Joseph Abraham, Editor-in-Chief

Published in print on Feb.25, 2015

State Sen. Trudy Wade, who represents District 27-Guilford, has landed in some hot water lately.

She proposed Senate Bill 36, which would decrease the number of city council members to seven. The News & Record reports that, if passed, at least four current city council members would be forced out of office.

Many believe this is a power play by state Republicans.

The majority of current districts lean more Democratic, as only 19 percent of the city’s registered voters are Republican.

While city council members run bipartisan— meaning they are unaffiliated with a party when they run— the proposed new districts would be split a little less than 50-50. Of the seven proposed districts, three would have a strong chance of a Republican-minded candidate being elected. Four would still lean Democratic.

The Greensboro City Council was not pleased with this bill to say the least. The only part they supported anonymously was increasing the terms of city council members from two to four years.

So redistricting, that sounds like a good idea right? Historically, I think not.

I have a problem with a few aspects of this bill.

The main problem is the decision to redistrict Greensboro would be made by the General Assembly and not by the city itself. I find it funny that a member of the party that prefers the federal government to stay out of state matters supports a bill where the state government is flexing its muscles and getting involved in the business of one city.

I do not know state Sen. Wade, but my guess is this bill was created with the hope of increasing Republican influence in Greensboro. However, if Greensboro’s city council leans more Democratic that should be accepted because 81 percent of the city’s registered voters do not classify themselves as Republican.

Changing the districts would misrepresent the beliefs of Greensboro’s majority. This area is always going to be liberal, and so are Raleigh, Charlotte, Wilmington, as well as the Northeast part of the state.

Everywhere else is going to lean conservative. This is the very makeup that makes political races in this state so interesting.

I would be fine with the discussion to redistrict Greensboro if two things had happened: (1) This issue was put on a referendum for members of the community, not the state government to decide, and (2) If a sizeable number of Greensboro residents had a problem with the way their beliefs are represented.

Currently the second item I listed is not the case.

A more minor issue I have with this bill is increasing the terms of city council members to four years. While I am sure the Greensboro city council members work very hard, most state and city representatives are elected every two years and I believe that should not change.

What I find most annoying is that the General Assembly is actually spending time discussing the redistricting of Greensboro.

I can name a number of more important issues for the state to focus on, such as: increasing jobs, lowering unemployment, fixing public education, and most importantly, finding a way to do away with the enormous pile of debt that has accumulated.

Right now their plan for doing that is cutting the budgets of the state’s public colleges and universities.

Oh yeah, that’s definitely working.

While the meddling of the state government in one city’s affairs is alarming, there is very little the General Assembly can do to surprise me.

My message is clear, though: Stay out of Greensboro’s affairs.

This city can handle itself, until proven otherwise.