How will Austin go to 10 City Council seats?

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Tuesday's election delivered a historic shift at Austin's City Hall.

The passage of single-member City Council districts will reshape how the city is represented, but the question now is:  When will the new system be put into place?

The group who got the issue on the ballot, Austinites for Geographic Representation , say the geographic lines will be drawn sometime in 2013.

"You're finally going to have a Council member that actually lives in your area and experiences your same traffic jams, day-to-day life, trips to the grocery store," said Austin City Council member MIke Martinez.

Martinez, a big supporter of the change, says the faces at City Hall will stay the same for two more years and continue to serve until the November 2014 General Election.

Those who supported the measure on the ballot are looking forward to the shift in power.

"In our little area we've had more gang activity which we really haven't seen before, so we have issues like that that are new to us that we would like help with," said Amanda Barta, who lives in Southwest Austin.

Currently, there are no Austin City Council members who live south of the river.

The issues facing East Austin are completely different. Cornell Hill, owner of Ideal Barber Shop near 12th and Chicon streets, is looking forward to having his own Council representative.

"Living across town on the outside looking in you'll think it's a real, real bad area. It's bad, but it's not as bad as people think it is," said Hill.

University of Texas student Estephan Wooten grew up in East Austin and also voted for 10 single members districts.

"Representing the minorities in a whole new perspective -- I think that's something they need to shed the light on. We don't need to be degraded or belittled just because of demographic disposition," said Wooten.

According to Martinez, Kathie Tovo will be the only member of council who can run for another term under the new system because she was just elected to office last year.

Council members will be able to run for mayor.

Voters also approved new term limits. New council members will only be allowed to serve two four-year terms.

Thursday, the city attorney will meet with current Council members behind closed doors to discuss how the new rules will affect them.