Oakland’s independent Redistricting Commission holds first meeting

Oakland’s inaugural Redistricting Commission will meet for the first time Wednesday evening to start the process for changing the City Council and school board districts, city officials said.

Redistricting will affect who votes for which City Council candidates and school board members and could affect the outcome of an election.

Redistricting is required every 10 years and is based on U.S. Census data. The latest maps were adopted by the City Council in 2013. Input from community members will be sought as part of the process, as it did last time as well.

Richard Luna, assistant to the city administrator, said:

“There was a lot of input.”

Twenty-eight maps were submitted for consideration.

Commissioners will consider among other things, demographic data in its approval of the new maps. Luna said keeping groups of similar demographics together will be considered to avoid diminishing the power of racial or ethnic groups, for example.

No outreach meetings have been scheduled yet, but outreach is expected to start in early 2021, Luna said. The commission is expected to approve the new boundaries by Dec. 31, 2021.

Wednesday’s meeting starts at 5 p.m. and people can participate on Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86358720017.

The meeting can be watched on KTOP, Comcast Channel 10, AT&T U-verse channel 99-government, and through a live-stream at https://www.oaklandca.gov/services/ktop-tv10-program-schedule.

Wednesday’s agenda includes a public comment period, training for commissioners, possible selection of a chairperson and vice chair, possible selection of a regular meeting schedule and possible selection of commissioners for ad hoc committees, such as an outreach committee.

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