State Redistricting Brings Changes to North Baltimore

The state's proposed redistricting map is likely to bring significant changes to Baltimore City’s representation in the Maryland General Assembly, including shifts in the districts representing North Baltimore.

District 40, which currently includes parts of Charles Village, Remington, Hampden and Roland Park, would be the most affected by the proposed redistricting.

The district would lose Remington, Charles Village, southern Roland Park and parts of Hampden that it currently represents. Under the proposed plan, those neighborhoods would be split between the 41st and the 43rd legislative districts.

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The shift in District 40 has to be made to accommodate the creation of a single delegate subdistrict 44a. Because of the city’s continued population decline, District 44 will be split between western Baltimore County and parts of Baltimore City. The county portion of the district will have two delegates and the subdistirct in Baltimore City will have one delegate.

Del. Shawn Z. Tarrant, D-District 40, said he wasn’t thrilled with losing neighborhoods from North Baltimore that he’s been representing for years. Tarrant said that he has built strong relationships in those communities and their loss could hurt the “diversity” of District 40.

Tarrant said he thought a better option was to expand District 41 into Baltimore County. That move was unpopular with some members of that district. But he said he was satisfied with the amount of representation the city would maintain.

“I was really happy that at least we kept at least one single delegate district,” Tarrant said.    

Del. Mary Washington, D-District 43, said her initial reaction to the map is that it adds more continuity to neighborhoods that were previously split between districts. District 43, which previously stretched from Northeast Baltimore to the York Road corridor, would now extend into Charles Village and Remington.

Washington said those neighborhoods have a lot of “commonality” with the neighborhoods already in the district. She said she feels comfortable representing those areas because she lived in the area, and served as the Abell Improvement Association’s president.

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