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8.A. - Page 3 of 40 <br />the transition process to let them know the City Council had extended the process for transitioning to <br />district elections and would be considering revised and new maps, should they wish to provide maps or <br />comment on maps submitted. <br />Analysis <br />Over the last six months, the City Council oversaw an extensive community engagement process and <br />received substantial community comments related to district maps. Many residents expressed <br />preferences for keeping Redwood Shores as a separate and distinct district, retaining the Centennial <br />neighborhood together as part of an overall district, maintaining the Downtown neighborhood as part of <br />an overall district, connecting the East Bayshore neighborhood with the Friendly Acres neighborhood, and <br />connecting the Bair Island neighborhood with the Downtown neighborhood. Feedback also included using <br />Jefferson Avenue and Neighborhood Association boundaries as reference, aligning major roadways <br />together where possible, establishing two majority Latino districts, and choosing a map that allows the <br />Farm Hill neighborhood to vote in 2020. <br />Following the Council's decision to re -open the drafting process, the City's demographer has developed <br />four revised maps to address community concerns (13g, 13h, 21e, 21f.) The revised maps continue to <br />reflect the extensive community input received since September when the City began the district elections <br />transition process, as well as direction provided by the City Council. <br />On March 26, 2019, the City posted the four revised maps including maps 13g, 13h, 21e, and 21f on the <br />City's district elections web page. <br />Community members were encouraged to submit comments on the revised maps, or provide new maps <br />by Saturday, March 30, 2019 by 12:00 p.m. This deadline allowed the City's demographer to review the <br />maps to ensure they are population -balanced and meet other required criteria. The City received two <br />additional community submitted maps (13i and 13j) by the deadline; along with other comments received <br />from community members (Attachment C). <br />On Monday, April 1, 2019, the two new community maps and four new demographer submitted maps <br />were posted on the City's web page. (All other previously submitted maps are also on the city's web page.) <br />This meets the seven-day posting requirement under State law. The City additionally publicized the <br />posting of the revised maps via its weekly e -newsletter on March 29 and April 5, 2019 and through the <br />City's social media platforms. On Thursday, April 4, 2019, this staff report on district elections was <br />published as part of the Agenda packet for the April 8, 2019 City Council meeting on the City's website. <br />The Demographer Revised Focus Maps (13g, 13h, 21e, 21f) provide for district -based elections of seven <br />Councilmembers, and they have at least two districts with a Latino Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) <br />of 50%+ that are compact and adhere to other districting criteria as discussed below. Map 13g has no <br />pairings of Councilmembers in single districts; the other maps have one or two pairings of <br />Councilmembers in a district. In public comment received on the maps, some individuals expressed <br />interest in establishing three districts that were majority -minority (also called coalition districts). <br />According to the City's demographer, it is not possible to create a third majority -minority coalition district <br />while still meeting other traditional criteria, including compactness and preserving communities of <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.ore <br />237 <br />