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To the extent practicable, boundaries should respect the geographic integrity of any local neighborhood or local community of interest. A "community of interest" is a population that shares common social or economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation. Communities of interest do not include relationships with political parties, incumbents, or political candidates. • Council district boundaries should be easily identifiable and understandable by residents. • To the extent practicable, Council districts shall be bounded by natural and artificial barriers, by streets, or by the boundaries of the city. • To the extent practicable, and where it does not conflict with the preceding criteria, Council districts shall be drawn to encourage geographical compactness in a manner that nearby areas of population are not bypassed in favor of more distant populations. • Finally, state law provides that the Council shall not adopt Council district boundaries for the purpose of favoring or discriminating against a political party. The public is encouraged to provide input on some or all of these criteria, but especially on helping the Council understand and define local communities of interest. While the public is free to make any comments they feel are relevant to the City's districting process, staff recommends the following questions to help facilitate the discussion and that will be useful for Council's ultimate decision: 1. What "communities of interest" or "neighborhoods" do you feel should remain intact? 2. Should districts be drawn that have a broad range of different land uses? 3. Are there any locations of growth that Council should consider that you feel are important in how the boundaries are drawn? 4. Are there any natural or man-made geographical boundaries that are important for consideration? Additionally, the public is encouraged to visit the project website: cityofpleasantonca.gov/districtelections and provide input via e-mails to: districtelectionsa-citvofpleasantonca.gov. Next Steps The tentative schedule for future hearing dates regarding the City's potential transition from at -large elections to district -based is as follows: Page 3 of 4