Since
several north Orange County cities already have adopted – or are in
the process of developing – districts for the election of City
Council members, the issue is almost certain to be raised in
Yorba Linda.
However,
unlike many of the other communities, this city has a history
regarding the creation of a district balloting procedure, and
residents, in an election 38 years ago, favored choosing council
members from districts by a 52.4 percent majority vote.
The
issue was on the ballot in the June 1978 primary election as a local
measure, and of the 7,999 Yorba Linda voters who expressed an opinion
on the matter, 4,192 favored developing districts for council
elections, while 3,807 were opposed.
But the
vote – along with another measure seeking residents' opinions on
scheduling a bond election to purchase property for a Nixon Park –
was only advisory, and the affirmative tally meant nothing, as
council members voted to “receive and file” the results without
comment two weeks after balloting.
The
prospect of a bond ballot also came to naught, but that was because
voters advised against it, 4,927 to 3,216 (144 more people voted on
this item than on the district matter).
The
proposed park property is now occupied by Mimi's restaurant, an
adjacent grass area and the southern section of the Station shopping
center along Imperial Highway, just north of Yorba Linda
Boulevard.
Although
the idea of councilmanic districts lay fallow for more than a decade,
it didn't die out entirely, and the issue received serious
consideration again in 1991, when raised by John Gullixson during the
first of his three turbulent terms on the council, 1990-2002.
Gullixson's
proposal to draft a ballot measure that would create council
districts earned three votes of support (Gullixson, Mark Schwing and
Gene Wisner) and one opposed (Irwin Fried), with one absence (Hank
Wedaa).
The
proposal was supposed to appear on the June 1992 primary ballot and,
if passed, be in place for the November election, but the issue again
died, and no measure ever came up for a vote.
Gullixson's
idea was different from most proposed today in that it would have
created three geographic districts – west, central and east – for
three members, with two to be elected on a city-wide basis.
While
several of the cities and school districts currently creating
electoral districts have faced the threat of legal action to ensure
more diverse demographic representation on their elected governing
bodies, some, such as Newport Beach and Seal Beach, created districts
to assure representation from distinct geographic areas.
According
to the 2010 census, Yorba Linda's non-Hispanic white population is
65.7 percent, while Asian-American, Hispanic and African-American
percentages are 15.6, 14.4 and 1.3, respectively, more similar to
Seal Beach than to Anaheim, Buena Park and Fullerton, cities using
demographic data to create districts.