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8.A. - Page 24 of 40 Attachment C From: Dan Ponti <pontifamily&mail.com> Subject: District election comment Date: March 30, 2019 at 11:41:16 AM PDT To: GRP -City Council <council(kredwoodcity.or > Dear Mayor Bain and members of the City Council - I have been following the district elections discussion closely and was generally satisfied with the Council's decision to adopt map 13f on March 15. However, I listened to the comments at the March 25 council meeting and agree with critics from the Hispanic community who feel under- represented. The Council has done the right thing to reopen the process and only consider maps that provide for more than one majority -minority district based on voting age population. After reviewing the four new maps, I believe that there is only one acceptable option - map 13g - no other option comes close to providing the advantages of this map and I strongly recommend that the Council adopt this map until we need to re -district following the 2020 election. My reasons for recommending that the Council adopt map 13g are as follows: • Only map 13g leaves one vacant district for the 2020 election and does not treat any incumbent candidate unfairly. If maps 13h or 21f are adopted, Ms. Masur, whose term is up in 2020, would not be allowed to run for re-election because her new district (which would also include Giselle Hale), would not have an election until 2022. • The one vacant district for 2020 (district 4) in map 13g is a majority -minority district, which means that this district will elect a new council member without an incumbent currently in the district. This will ensure that one new council member from a majority - minority district will be elected to the council in 2020. This is a good thing for the Council makeup without necessarily turning over more of the Council in 2020 solely for structural reasons. • Map 2 1 e is a particularly bad map. It produces two vacant districts for 2020 and also pits two incumbents (Masur and Aguirre) against each other in 2020. The result of this construct is that the 2020 election will have at least two new council members (out of four seats up for re-election), and is unfair to both Masur and Aguirre, as incumbents, as the other incumbent, Janet Borgens, will not have to face an incumbent in 2020. • Whatever map is adopted now, it is constructed with obsolete demographic data (based on the 2010 census) and districts will need to be modified after the 2020 election. Therefore, it is important not to upset the apple cart too much with changes to the districts that guarantees, for structural reasons only (not based on will of the people), that there is significant turnover on the Council in 2020 - based on this obsolete information. Map 13g has only one vacant district for the 2020 election, and each of the incumbent council members who are up for re-election in 2020 have equal opportunity to earn back their seats within their respective districts. All other maps produce two vacant districts in 2020, and map 13h and 21 e produce a district where incumbents will need to face each other in 2020, or where an incumbent will be prevented from running for reelection in 2020. • Map 13g combines the Centennial neighborhood with the lower part of the Edgewood Park neighborhood (where I live). While I would prefer a map that includes my home with the rest of Edgewood Park as well, the lower part of Edgewood Park shares the same 258