Sorry for the phrasing, but there’s really no other way to put it. We got hosed.
On Friday, the state Redistricting Commission issued its final maps, which are now subject to a two-week review period before being approved. But before doing so, they made a last-minute change that affects Sunnyvale in a bad way. As part of the changes, they created a district currently called CA-17, which can best be described as half of Pete Stark’s district, half of Mike Honda’s. Prior to Friday, they had placed Milpitas and San Jose down to Alum Rock in that district, leaving us in Anna Eshoo’s district.
But at the last minute, they took San Jose out of that district and replaced it with Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and Cupertino. So now we’re in a district that’s half by Alameda County (Fremont and Newark), half Santa Clara County, and we won’t be represented by Anna Eshoo.
There’s no way that being removed from the bulk of Silicon Valley cities is a good thing for Sunnyvale, much less being lumped in with Fremont and Newark. There’s no way that being separated from Mountain View, with our common interest in Moffett Field (a federal concern), is a good thing. But apparently the Redistricting Commission gave no thought to any of that, and they threw this change in with little consideration for it. In doing so, they basically tossed the notion of “communities of interest” right out the window.
They made no last-minute changes to our state assembly or state senate representation.
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