Foster City finalizes its district map

“[The map] utilized public input, HOA boundaries ... the school attendance areas, a logical balance of the streets and water way boundaries. That is what was used to create this plan,” said Paul Mitchell, owner of Redistricting Partners, the consultant hired by the city to develop the maps. “We can see that the districts follow the shape of the city with its waterways being a central piece, and then also major streets.”

District elections are meant to provide representation in communities that are often less resourced and, by extension, often find it hard to compete with deeper-pocketed candidates and groups in more affluent parts of a municipality.

The city faced from a complaint filed in June by resident and former mayor Jim Lawrence, who threatened legal action if the city did not take steps to adopt district elections, saying his Plum Island neighborhood, as well as others throughout the city, do not reap the same benefits of robust development and growth compared to other areas.

Many cities in San Mateo County, including Burlingame, San Mateo, Menlo Park and Belmont, have made the change in recent years, many prompted by letters like Lawrence’s. A city’s chances of winning a California Voting Rights Act lawsuit if it doesn’t immediately comply are grim. In fact, California hasn’t seen any cases in which a jurisdiction won the battle, prompting the Foster City Council to forgo the risk of a costly legal challenge.

Most councilmembers who voted yes expressed reluctance to do so. Most of the council has been vocally opposed to the change, claiming it is unnecessary, as households of various socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities and races are dispersed throughout the small city.

Other smaller-sized cities, such as Millbrae, have also pushed back against district elections. During a meeting Nov. 26, some Millbrae councilmembers pushed for legislators to modify the California Voting Rights Act so that such jurisdictions would have more latitude on whether to maintain or revert back to at-large elections.

Foster City districts 1 and 2, the two southernmost districts, will be up for reelection in 2026, which will be represented by Art Kiesel and Stacy Jimenez, respectively. The remaining districts will be up for reelection in 2028. Newly elected councilmembers Phoebe Shin Venkat and Suzy Niederhofer live in District 1 and District 4, respectively. Current Councilmember Patrick Sullivan will be termed out in the next election.