King City residents make pitch for “district based elections”

Leadership is changing in King City and residents are calling for a change in how city council members are elected.

Some feel they aren’t being represented fairly and made their pitch for district based elections instead of the current “at large” process. Several Latino organizations said “district based elections” would open the door for more diversity on the City Council and offer better representation for King City’s poorer areas.

“We’re not here in the spirit of confrontation, we’re here in the spirit of cooperation,” Monterey Peninsula College professor David Serena said.

Serena grew up in King City, picking tomatoes with his parents. He said it’s time for some changes within the city’s local government and district based voting would help change what he calls a history of unfair representation.

“It’s important that everybody’s dollar goes toward having equal representation and making sure that resources that are distributed throughout the city are distributed throughout all sections of the city,” Serena said.

He was backed by several Latino groups, including the League of United Latin American Citizens.

“There is nothing to fear in district elections, unless there is a fear in an open, democratic process,” said a resident at the podium at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

The effort was backed by Assembly member Luis Alejo, who introduced Tuesday night’s presentation on the topic.

“King City is 90 percent Latino and yet only one out of five of the current city council members are Latino. So for me, it’s a very glaring picture,” Alejo said.

The presentation focused on three attributes of district based voting, bringing government closer to home, increasing access to the city council members and a more cost-effective election. But not everyone was convinced.

“One of the problems I can foresee is how the divisions are going to be formed. Will it be based solely on population? If so, again, because we have a large segment of the population here that is not documented citizens. How are they going to deal with that?” said resident Bob Gauer.

Gauer hopes the City Council studies other cities who have made the change, including Salinas, Watsonville and Hollister.

Serena argues the move is long past due in King City. He teaches American government and said it’s only fair.

“Everybody has got to be represented. Me, being a political science professor, I’ve learned that and I teach that,” Serena said.

On Tuesday, City Council members listened to those ideas and decided to put the topic on an agenda in August. For now, supporters of the effort hope the city voluntarily moves toward district based voting. Otherwise, they did mention the city could face a costly lawsuit.