Vote no for this one reason: One person, one vote. 2-159 removes the guidance that when the city council changes the wards, they must, "b) The Council must, by ordinance, revise the description of any wards or ward in order to conform to the one person, one vote principle. Ward boundaries shall conform to the principles of neighborhood groupings, compactness of area, and regularity of boundaries insofar as can reasonably be attained."
OK, so what? "The one person, one vote principle mandates that legislative districts, including city wards, must contain substantially equal populations to ensure every citizen's vote carries roughly the same weight." Basically, the wards need to have the same number of people in them and be grouped together.
In theory, they supreme court case Reynolds v Sims back in the 60's states that not to do so violates the constitution's "Equal Protection Clause"...and yet, when the city charter was created, and through many revisions they kept that piece in there. I mean, if it's in the city charter, I suspect you could go to court locally if the wards are re-drawn in an imbalanced or gerrymandered fashion...but if it is not explicitly in there, you're talking a much bigger challenge. Legally and financially. You have to prove that the city violated the state and / or US Constitution. By the time the case actually gets decided the damage is done.
It's not a redundant clause. It's VITAL.
