211222 1109 Re_ Draft Staff ReportFrom:Paulo Morales
To:Jon Peat
Cc:Peter Grant; Arianna Barrios
Subject:Re: Draft Staff Report
Date:Wednesday, December 22, 2021 11:09:06 AM
Yes, most terrific!
Paulo
Sent from my iPad
On Dec 22, 2021, at 9:29 AM, Jon Peat <jpeat@cypressca.org> wrote:
Pete,
This is what I was looking for. I think it properly characterizes the issue so that
residents will be able to understand what is being considered and why.
Thank you,
Jon
From: Peter Grant
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2021 8:55 AM
To: Jon Peat
Cc: Paulo Morales; Arianna Barrios
Subject: RE: Draft Staff Report
Thank you all for taking a look at the draft.
Here is the section that was modified/added. Arianna and Paulo, I tried to use the intro
to address some of the concerns we chatted about in our Zoom.
On September 20, 2021, the city received a letter from attorney Kevin Shenkman of
Shenkman & Hughes, PC on behalf of the Southwest Voter Registration Education
Project and its members residing within the City of Cypress alleging voting within
Cypress is racially polarized, resulting in minority vote dilution, and therefore, that the
city’s at-large system for electing Council Members violates the California Voting Rights
Act (CVRA). Shenkman threatens to sue the city to force a change to its election system
if the City Council does not voluntarily transition from at-large elections prior to the
November 2022 City Council election.
In at-large election systems like Cypress', voters of an entire city elect all members of
the City Council. Nearly every city that has received a CVRA violation challenge has
transitioned to by-district elections which divide a city into districts. Voters in each
district elect their Council Member, who must also live in that district.
Since receiving Shenkman's threat of litigation, the City Council met several times in
closed session to discuss the alleged CVRA violation and the city's options for a
response. To date, the City Council has engaged a demographer to assess the merits of
the claim and negotiated an extension to the deadline Shenkman set for the city to
respond to his demand that Cypress change its system for electing Council Members at-
large.
At its November 22 meeting, the City Council created an ad hoc subcommittee to
recommend a series of public forums and an outreach plan to inform the community
about the CVRA, at-large and by-district election formats, and collect input from
residents about this important issue. The information gathered from the community
forums and public outreach will play an important role in the City Council's assessment
and deliberation of the CVRA violation claim and the manner by-which Cypress elects its
leaders.
Working with the City Manager and community outreach specialists from
Communications LAB, Mayor Morales and Council Member Peat recommend a schedule
and format for the community forums along with an informational presentation and
outreach plan.
From: Jon Peat <jpeat@cypressca.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2021 11:20
To: Peter Grant <pgrant@cypressca.org>
Cc: Paulo Morales <pmorales@cypressca.org>; Arianna Barrios
<arianna@communicationslab.com>
Subject: Re: Draft Staff Report
Hi Pete,
I think it would be helpful to add a sentence to the beginning of the discussion section
that says a little more about why we are having the community forums. Everything else
looks good.
Jon
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 21, 2021, at 10:40 AM, Peter Grant <pgrant@cypressca.org>
wrote:
Paulo, Jon and Arianna,
Here is the draft of the staff report.
I need to put it into our routing system tomorrow AM and would
appreciate any input by 0900 Wednesday.
Don’t worry about typos or grammar – those will get cleaned-up.
Thanks,
Pete