Los Altos, we have a final map.
The city council Tuesday night approved a map titled F2a (shown above) as the selected map for dividing the city into five separate voting districts.
Council members, struggling through numerous iterations of maps and clashing perspectives from the public (and among themselves), found a three-vote majority to approve a map. The final version showed division of districts along main thoroughfares like Foothill Expressway and El Monte Avenue. It also consolidated shared-interest neighborhoods – all the while meeting the requirements of contiguous, similarly-sized districts with populations each in the 6,000-plus range.
Mayor Jonathan Weinberg, and councilmembers Sally Meadows and Lynette Lee Eng voted in favor of the final map. Councilmember Neysa Fligor and Vice Mayor Pete Dailey voted against it. The council had until Oct. 31 to approve a map.
The council also approved a first reading of an ordinance relative to the map decision, with a second reading due at the Nov. 12 council meeting. The ordinance would become effective 30 days after that.
As part of the decision, the council approved a numbering sequence of the districts to go from south to north with the Highlands area numbered district 1, Grant Park, area 2, the Covington and Almond neighborhoods numbered district 3, the Los Altos High School and downtown areas labeled area 4 and northmost Los Altos, including Santa Rita and Egan Junior High schools, numbered 5. Residents in areas 2 and 4 would vote first in 2026, with areas 1, 3 and 5 voting in 2028.
Finally, council approved a condition that candidate must live in a district at least 30 days to be able to run for council.
The city undertook the arduous exercise in the first place because of a legal challenge that the city’s current at-large election format is in violation of the state’s Voting Rights Act. The change to by-district voting cures the legal challenge.
“It was tough because everyone has a different vision for what a map of Los Altos would look like,” said Mayor Jonathan Weinberg after the meeting. “I’m really proud of the way my colleagues handled this.”
Watch for updates to this story.
