City Council Settles On A Map
In Which: Councilmember Syrop modifies a map. Members of the public complain about the process. And Mayor Salinas comments on Asian participation.
The Districting Marathon Continues
The City Council held their 4th public hearing on the districting process and looked at the three draft maps that were released last week. During the consultants’ presentation, they said they attempted to make a “majority minority” district to satisfy the terms of the lawsuit. But they couldn’t make one that was still compact—they’d have had to gerrymander all over the place.
They were quick to point out that drawing districts isn’t a perfect science. “Not every map can incorporate everything that you hear,” she said. “Districting is a process of constraints… there is no perfect map.” However, there is such a thing as not enough data. Thankfully some very industrious members of the public provided some that the consultants hadn’t.
One Hayward resident provided data on where renters lived for the various maps. Renters and Homeowners are each close to half the population of Hayward—the percentages vary in different reports. Currently Councilmember Syrop is the only renter on the City Council—the only one experiencing the realities of the rental market and landlords himself.
That could change as many districts on the maps are majority-renter—some as high as 60%. This changes the current power imbalance and would mean there will be two or more Councilmembers who would need to please a lot of renters to win and keep a seat. This could drastically change Council priorities in the future.
The Public Weighs In
During Public Comment period, two of the in-person commenters shared their opinions about the maps—mostly favorable, with minor gripes about things like squiggly lines—and pushed for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Despite RCV drastically improving election outcomes, they recognized that this would be a big lift. “I think the City Attorneys are kind of grumpy about the idea,” one commenter noted.
Other commenters complained about the perceived lack of participation in the process, citing low turnout for the public hearing. However, an audience in the single-digits is very common for City Council meetings—especially after any proclamations or awards are done.
And Council Responds
The City Council did not like the accusation that there wasn’t enough public engagement. “I want to stress,” Councilmember Syrop said, “that I think that the City has done its part… to get input from the community.” Councilmember Julie Roche agreed, “This has been a city-wide blitz from the City side.” Although other agency’s districting efforts may have resulted in more maps, both the City and local community organizations have done a lot to promote the process.
The issue, some on Council argue, is that people don’t care. “When I receive emails and phone calls,” Councilmember Zermeño said, “they’re concerned about public safety, homelessness, feral cats, potholes… they really are not concerned about districting.” Councilmember Roche said it was comparable to the County-wide redistricting process in 2020. “Unfortunately, it’s not one where you’re gonna have multiple people show up in the chamber,” she said.
Gathering Around Map 1
Councilmember Syrop opened the discussion by zeroing in on Map 1. “Map 1 felt the most accurate to the feedback that I have heard and collected from the community,” he said. “[It] accurately reflects the Southgate community… [and] keeps the Jackson Triangle in tact.” He also said some community members from the Jackson Triangle requested for it to be associated with Downtown.
One initial sticking point was dividing Downtown between two districts, but Councilmember Syrop viewed saw a silver lining. “I also think it benefits the City to have two Councilmembers that feel connected to or are representing the Downtown as a larger City project,” he said. But he also pushed for a change to the map. “Some of the neighborhoods along the foothills—especially South of Carlos Bee here—don’t necessarily feel a connection to the hills.”
From there, the City Council rallied around Map 1 as their favorite. They liked that West Hayward is kept in one piece, and that the Southgate Neighborhood and Jackson Triangle are kept whole within their districts.
Councilmember Roche mostly supported Map 1 with the modifications, but had some concerns about District E, which includes Fairway Park. “I think Fairway Park gets a little weird in [Map] 1,” she said. “I think E does go too far North along Mission Boulevard. I would bring it back down to Tennyson—if not Industrial. I would do anything North of Tennyson as District D.”
Councilmember Roche seemed to consider all of District E to be Fairway Park, despite the map showing the official neighborhood boundaries. District E on Map 1 includes Fairway Park, most of Tennyson-Alquire, and the Mission/Garin neighborhood. “It still takes a little bit more north of what I would consider Fairway Park,” Councilmember Roche said. However, she conceded that she liked Councilmember Syrop’s changes to Map 1. “I can live with that,” she said.
Councilmember Bonilla liked Map 1 and 2 because of the racial proportions. “I do like Map 1 and 2 because it also protects the Latino voting demographics,” he said, “I think Map 1 had 4 of the 6 districts plurality Latino.” According to the draft plan document, Districts B, C, and D have a plurality of Latino Citizen Voting Age Population—though in District C they only have a plurality by 2 percentage points.
Making Unsuccessful Changes
Councilmember Goldstein tried to move a portion of the Mission/Garin area into District F with the Hills. “The folks in the Mission/Garin area, up in the hills anyway, really more closely identify with those of the Hayward Highland,” he said. He cited wildfire concerns and similar crime patterns. Unfortunately for him, to move over everything needed to connect it meant District F was almost 10% over the population deviation—the state limit is 5%.
Councilmember Andrews tried to move a specific block from District D to District B, citing a strong division along Gading Road—the Mayor also agreed, citing his childhood in the area. But the number of residents on the block plunged the population of District D to almost 8% under deviation, and the idea was abandoned.
And Now, Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas
In response to a member of the public with the last name of Wong saying that they hadn’t heard about the districting process, Mayor Salinas took issue with an Asian resident being uninformed. “This is quite interesting,” he said, “primarily I’m just looking at the last name, because this suit was brought to us from an Asian plaintiff who claimed to be speaking on behalf of the Asian community. And to have [an Asian] caller call in and tell us that they had no idea that this was going on…”
Mayor Salinas seemed to imply that the plaintiff, Jack Wu, should have ensured that every Asian member of the community was informed about the process. “I find it ironic that the people who have submitted maps have primarily been non-Asian,” he said.
The Mayor then moved to the process itself and the impact it could have on neighborhoods. “Unfortunately, we are gonna have to carve into some of these neighborhood identities,” he said. “I certainly don’t like it. They realign the integrity, not only of our neighborhoods, but also diminish the very uniqueness of our neighborhood identities.” No one commented that having a dedicated Councilmember may actually increase neighborhood cohesion, not diminish it.
But then he saw what he believed to be a silver lining in the process. “Unfortunately, [the southern Mission Corridor area] maybe get carved out, but then I was thinking that might be a good thing,” he said. “It will force whoever represents that area to come down from the hills.”
The Mayor seemed to believe that someone from the Hayward Hills would address every minority section of their district. However, experience shows it is more likely that their needs could be ignored by candidates in favor of the majority of the district that does share similar interests. Unfortunately, that area needed to be aligned that way to satisfy the law. The districts get revisited every 10 years after the Census.
Modified Map 1 Is The Finalist
After consultation with the City Attorney, the City Council voted to choose Map 1 as their finalist map—Mayor Salinas was the lone vote against it. Councilmembers Andrews and Roche made it clear that modifications are still on the table until September 10th. “You can still submit a map,” Councilmember Andrews said.
The next meeting will address the sequence of elections—which districts will go up for election in 2026. This may have big implications for Councilmembers Syrop and Roche whose terms end in 2026. It is unclear whether or not the City would entertain moving the Mayoral election to Presidential years.