Fontana City Council selects map for redistricting purposes | News

The Fontana City Council on March 22 selected a map for redistricting purposes for upcoming elections.

Councilmembers decided on map 104b and rejected draft maps 103 and 402. The vote was 4-1, with Jesse Sandoval voting no.

The decision was controversial because several members of the public who spoke at the meeting wanted another map (101) to be chosen. The speakers were opposed to map 104b because it divides the southern area of Fontana into two parts, which is a change from the current setup.

Every 10 years, district boundaries must be redrawn so that each district is about equal in population. This process is designed to ensure that each of the four City Council members represents about the same number of constituents. The vote for the fifth member, the mayor, is city-wide.

District 1 will continue to contain the northwestern area of Fontana, while District 2 will include the northeastern portion, District 3 will have the southwestern area, and District 4 will include southeastern Fontana.

During the discussion period, City Councilmember Phillip Cothran said that after speaking with members of the African-American community in northern Fontana, he did not want draft map 103 to be considered.

Councilmembers John Roberts and Peter Garcia and Mayor Acquanetta Warren agreed with Cothran and said the best choice would be 104b.

Sandoval said he would have preferred draft map 101, which had been submitted by the public previously but was discarded by the City Council during the March 8 meeting.

Members of two groups, South Fontana Concerned Citizens Coalitions (SFCC) and the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), said that map 101 would have been the best choice because it followed the principle of keeping “communities of interest” together.

Faraz Rizvi of the CCAEJ said the adoption of map 104b would mean the south’s representation on the City Council will change and “not for the better.” He said 104b will give someone living near Arrow Boulevard in central Fontana the ability to “represent” the south while actually being far away from that area.

“Makes no sense, unless you’re trying to gain a political advantage — for the purposes of pushing an agenda that goes against the community and residents,” Rizvi said in an email.

Roberts pointed out that the Southridge community will not be divided for redistricting purposes and will all be contained within District 3.

Map 104b can be viewed at:

https://www.fontana.org/DocumentCenter/View/37818/Map-104b?bidId=