SAN BRUNO CA – In September 2021, the City of San Bruno started the process to move to by-district elections. Cities across California are undergoing the district formation process to change how their voters elect their City Council Members.
Currently, San Bruno voters vote for all Council Members. By adopting a by-districts election map, San Bruno residents will vote for one City Council member who lives within their newly formed district beginning in November 2022. While the districting process will change how city Council Members get elected, it will not affect how voters elect their Mayor; San Bruno voters will still elect a Mayor at large.
“Moving to by-district elections is a big change for the San Bruno community,” said City Manager Jovan Grogan. “The City is going above and beyond to make sure that our community is heard and feels empowered to participate in this historical process.”
In making community outreach one of the utmost top priorities, the City began by launching a dedicated district formation website, DistrictingSanBruno.org, to keep districting resources, meeting information, and mapping tools more easily accessible.
The district formation process requires the City to hold four public City Council Hearings, and the City has already held two. To supplement the City Council Public Hearings, the City voluntarily hosted two additional community workshops. The workshops created a space for community members to learn about districting and mapping resources and share their feedback. The first workshop was held virtually on Zoom with live interpretation in Spanish and Cantonese, and the second community workshop was held in person at City hall.
“An essential part of the districting process is having San Bruno community members draw district maps. San Bruno is a unique and diverse city, and the selected by-district map should reflect that,” concluded City Manager Jovan Grogan.
The City gave the public a few months to draw draft maps before the first districting deadline. So far, the City has received 20 individual community-drawn maps, and the San Bruno Community can still draw maps until the final draft maps deadline on February 8.
The next step is for the City Council to review the community draw district maps. At the upcoming third Public Hearing on January 25, at 7;10 p.m. on Zoom, the City Council will review the first publication of draft maps and provide feedback. Anyone is welcome to join; for more information, visit DistrictingSanBruno.org/Schedule or reach out to districting@sanbruno.ca.gov.