Redwood City OKs its new district map

Councilmembers voted 5-2 to back a new map, labeled Map C3, with Vice Mayor Diana Reddy and Councilmember Diane Howard voting in opposition.

Map C3 is a slightly modified version of another map, Map C2, which was supported by the city’s Advisory Redistricting Committee. It keeps the Redwood Shores neighborhood in one district while grouping the Farm Hill and Canyon neighborhoods in another, keeping mobile home parks in a single district with the Friendly Acres neighborhood and creating two minority-majority districts with Latinos accounting for more than 50% of voters, referred to as Citizen Voting Age Population.

Councilmember Jeff Gee with support from Hale advocated for Map C2 because the map had even higher Latino CVAPs in its two minority-majority districts. But to do so, it had to separate mobile homes from Friendly Acres and place them in District 2 with Bair Island, a concern for councilmembers who argued mobile home residents had more in common with Friendly Acres residents.

While Gee said the move was acceptable given that both areas share similar concerns for flooding and sea level rise, Councilmember Lissette Espinoza-Garnica noted sea level rise and flooding are a concern in many parts of the city. They also strongly advocated for Map C3 because they said that the map gave renters and those living in mobile homes a better opportunity to win seats on the board by keeping mobile parks in District 3, a minority-majority district.

“I think CVAP is important. It’s also just a piece and I think the majority-minority district would be more effective at providing that solution to allowing folks who are under-represented to run for city council and rep those issues,” Espinoza-Garnica said.

But in adopting the map, some voters who cast ballots in the 2020 election will not have the opportunity to select another councilmember due to shifts in district lines. And others who haven’t voted for a direct representative, last voting in the city’s final at-large election in 2018, will have to wait until 2024 to cast their ballots for a councilmember.

Howard and Reddy attempted to avoid some of the voter deferrals by backing Draft Map 107465, submitted by a member of the public in late January. The map largely kept Districts 1, 5, 6 and 7 as they are today while preserving the two minority-majority districts and keeping mobile parks in District 3.

“In my view, making hundreds of people wait six years to vote for city council elections is causing harm that I would like to avoid,” Reddy said, noting Map C3 and Map 107465 shared similar statistical makeups.

Paul Mitchell with Redistricting Partners, a consulting firm hired to assist in the city’s process, noted that some voters will be accelerated and others deferred regardless of which map was selected. Deferred voting is also not among the ranked criteria included in the Fair Maps Act, which governs how districts should be drafted, said Mitchell and City Attorney Veronica Ramirez.

Despite Howard and Reddy’s advocacy and similar concerns raised by Councilmember Michael Smith, Map C3 still won out after councilmembers agreed the map gave Latino greater voting power within the minority-majority districts.

“I understand we truly love our councilmembers for the way they represent us but it would not be fair to say that it would be more democratic if there were less deferments. It would be more democratic to allow a greater population of marginal people vote in this election so they’re more accurately represented in these elections,” Espinoza-Garnica said.

Eligible residents living in Districts 2, 5 and 6 will have the opportunity to vote for their representative come this November with Hale residing in District 2 and Howard in District 6, a seat she intends to run for again in 2022. Hale is currently running for state Assembly.

No incumbent resides in the newly drafted District 5 after Reddy was redistricted into District 7, an area won by Aguirre in 2020, meaning Reddy will be unable to run for the seat until Aguirre terms out in 2024, effectively removing Reddy from the council. During the 2020 election, Gee was selected to represent District 1, Espinoza-Garnica to District 3 and Smith to District 4.

The map will come back to the council for a second reading on Feb. 28 and, if approved, will go into effect 30 days after, on March 30. During that time staff and the demographer will finalize the maps and additional files to submit to the San Mateo County Elections Office ahead of the April 17 deadline and in time for the Nov. 2022 elections.

Note to readers: This story has been update to correct information around councilmember seats and upcoming races. Councilmember Diane Howard is in her second term on the council and is slated to run for re-election in 2022. 

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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