Alderperson Denise Fenton was kind enough to go into more detail about the citizen push that prompted the Common Council to put the nonpartisan redistricting referendum question on the April 6 ballot.
Former State Assembly Representative Penny Bernard Schaber and an additional person proactively reached out to the Common Council about this, then in response to a couple Facebook posts and emails by Alderpersons Fenton and Meltzer, 16 people sent emails about the matter to “all alderpersons” and 19 sent emails directly to Alderperson Fenton.
[So it appears to me that if other groups are seeking referendums on something they’re going to need to get around 35 people to demonstrate their support to the Common Council for their desired referendum.]
Here’s the full message from Alderperson Fenton: “[F]ormer representative Penny Bernard Schaber, who has been very active in the campaign for fair maps for some time, was the first person to contact us about the referendum. Another individual active with that group also contacted us at that time. I subsequently sent an email to my district newsletter subscriber list and posted on my alder Facebook page, as did Alderperson Meltzer. I counted 16 emails to “all alderpersons” and I got 19 direct emails from my district. One email I got expressed concern about the potential low turnout election in the spring, while still supporting the referendum, and one stated that they were OK with following the normal committee process. In the interest of transparency, I am a member of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, which has long supported nonpartisan redistricting.”
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