Now is the time to participate in the City of Goleta’s historic district mapping process! You have until January 6, 2022, to turn in a map showing your recommended boundaries. With district elections, the City will be divided into four districts, and voters in each district will elect a City Council member who lives in their own district. The Mayor will continue to be elected by voters across Goleta.

Public participation is a very important part of this process. On November 4, 2021, we held our fourth community workshop that was also the public’s first chance to work with the final Census data. Don’t worry if you missed it, a video recording of the meeting, and the presentation, are available here.

Everyone is encouraged to draw and submit their own map. Get started by going to https://drawgoleta.org/draw-a-map/. If you prefer to submit your ideas using a paper map, you can pick one up from Goleta City Hall or the Goleta Valley Library during hours of operation.

Thank you to those community members who have already submitted a map. We recently learned that any maps submitted before the mapping tools were updated with the official population data need to be resubmitted. We apologize for this inconvenience, as people were supposed to be able to edit their maps, but unfortunately that is not the case.

Below are tips for people who have already submitted an online map and need to create a new one. The tips are also useful for anyone creating a map online.

• To guarantee that your DistrictR map is balanced, you must start a new drawing by clicking the purple button “built out of 2020 blocks”; if you click on your original version that you made with the estimated data and try to edit that, it will not adjust for the new official data, but continue to use the estimated data
• If you would like to use your original version as a template, you can have that open in another tab and try to do your best to replicate it as you make a new drawing
• Once you are done, make sure to select “Share Now” to save it to the Public Gallery; drafts are not shared with the Council
• When you are using DistrictR, please be mindful of what the percentage value displayed at the bottom right side of the page is showing you
• It is showing the maximum population deviation, or the most a single district deviates from the ideal
• We are looking for plans that have a total population deviation that is less than 10%
• Having a maximum population deviation that is less than 10% does not necessarily mean that the total population deviation is less than 10%
• So, to be safe, aim for a maximum population deviation that is under 5%

For more information go to www.DrawGoleta.org. For additional questions, contact cityclerkgroup@cityofgoleta.org or call 805-961-7505. Thank you for your interest and participation in shaping the future of Goleta.