Move to district elections advances

Only map 21 would have each councilmember in a separate district, said NDC demographer Chalise Tilton, and the other maps have at least one pairing of councilmembers in a district, meaning they may have to run against each other.

Councilwomen Diana Reddy and Janet Borgens said they want to see Redwood Shores in its own district.

“The residents are asking for that and as much as possible I would like to comply with what residents ask us to do,” Reddy said.

Mayor Ian Bain doesn’t think all the districts need to touch downtown because “we all have a stake in the downtown” and he’d rather them all touch Jefferson Avenue because that road divides the city down the middle. To that end, he mentioned map 7 and also chose it because it aligns with neighborhood association boundaries.

“I’d like us to continue to consider that map and its pros and cons,” he said.

Councilwoman Shelly Masur also wanted to keep the neighborhood associations intact as much as possible.

Whatever district map is selected will have to be redrawn after the 2020 census, which some councilmembers described as a positive, even though it means more work. 

“This is like a learning curve for us and that gives us two years to try something and in two years time if it doesn’t work out we have an opportunity after 2020 to refine and tweak and it gives us more time for citizen input and see how this is all working,” said Vice Mayor Diane Howard. “I look at that as a benefit to see if we got it right or not and make whatever changes are needed.”

The council reluctantly agreed to make the transition after receiving a letter from Malibu-based attorney Kevin Shenkman, who threatened litigation if the city did not voluntarily adopt a by-district system, meaning councilmembers are voted on by a specific district or ward in which they live.

Shenkman claimed Redwood City’s current at-large election system violates the California Voting Rights Act because it “dilutes the ability of Latinos (a ‘protected class’) to elect candidates of their choice or otherwise influence the outcome of the city’s council elections.”

Bain reiterated his reluctance in switching to district elections.

“I personally hate that we’re dividing our city after doing so much work to bring people together,” he said. “I really hope this doesn’t result in parochialism and territorialism and I think we’ve got some work to do as a council to make it clear once you’re elected you represent the whole city and not just your district and I think we need to codify that somehow to remind new councilmembers to maintain that citywide focus.” 

Go to https://www.redwoodcity.org/home/showdocument?id=17676 to see the maps.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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