After Debate, Supervisors Ready for Redistricting Vote

For all that hollering, the Alameda County Supervisorial Districts look all but set to remain virtually unchanged — except for Dublin and Pleasanton.

After weeks of back and forth with citizens and county staff, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors appears to have settled on new boundaries for the county's five districts.

The board voted Tuesday afternoon to move forward with Map E, a county staff-drafted newcomer in a field crowded by alternatives, nearly all of which were drafted by a Tri-Valley group called the Alameda County Citizens Redistricting Task Force.

The group, closely affiliated with the Tea Party Patriots, had strenuously opposed efforts to move parts of Dublin and Pleasanton from Scott Haggerty's District 1 — which includes Pleasanton, Livermore, Fremont and Sunol — into Nate Miley's District 4, which comprises Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland, Fairview and part of Dublin and Oakland.

In the county map, more of Dublin and a large swath of Pleasanton will move into District 4. In the task force map, both cities are entirely within District 1. 

The task force argued that mapping should preserve "groups of interest" — one of several categories the supervisors are asked to consider when redrawing district boundaries to more closely align the population of each.

In order to keep the Tri-Valley whole, the group's proposed maps would have split Hayward, a move the Hayward City Council and District 2 Supervisor Nadia Lockyer opposed. 

"My district changed the least of any of the districts—it's unnecessary to redraw it," Lockyer said, adding that carving up Hayward would "inevitably divide minority communities" that comprise the city. That, she said, could put the county in conflict with the 1965 Voting Rights Act, another factor the supervisors are asked to consider in any redistricting decision.

Haggerty told Pleasanton residents wary of the plan that he would continue to fight for their interests. He said he understood constituents' desire to isolate the Tri-Valley into its own district, but that the demographics wouldn't support it.

"I don't think the Tri-Valley currently supports enough population to have its own district," he said, adding that the county will likely look quite different when redistricting is mulled again in a decade. 

The board will vote to approve the map on July 12.