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Pol Position: District Shuffle

webadmin on April 27, 2022

Political district lines are redrawn every 10 years as a result of new figures provided by the U.S. Census.

However, this year, while the newly drawn district maps were expected to pass the approval of a bipartisan commission, the Democratic-led state legislature took control of the process after the efforts to redraw district lines broke down.

The end result was a series of new district maps that were released in February, reshaping the boundaries of several electoral districts. However, members of the Republican Party were displeased with the new maps and responded by filing a lawsuit, disputing that the process was gerrymandered by the Dems.

The State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the GOP’s lawsuit, in March, determining that they were able to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt the map was enacted with political bias.” As a result of this decision, Justice Patrick McAllister ordered that the legislature draw up new maps by April 11.

Democratic lawmakers immediately appealed the case, and on April 21, a panel of judges with the Appellate Division ruled in favor of the court regarding U.S. Congressional districts, while reversing its decision regarding the State Senate and Assembly.

The court decision requires district lines to be redrawn by April 30, in order to resolve the conflict before the primary in June.

Meanwhile, the Dems have continued to appeal the case to a higher court, which plans to hear the case on April 26, after press time. Its decision will ultimately set a precedent over the decision of the two lower courts.

What is Gerrymandering?

Simply put, it is an unconstitutional practice in which district lines are redrawn with the purpose of influencing the outcome of who will get elected.

The word tends to get thrown around a lot by politicians and the media, but it’s important to understand the impact such decisions have during any given election year.

What does this mean for my district?

Based on the proposed redistricting maps, Brooklyn voters in the Sunset Park and Park Slope communities could potentially be included in the newly reshaped 11th Congressional District.

Presently the district includes all of Staten Island as well as southern Brooklyn communities including Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, Sheepshead Bay, and parts of Bensonhurst.

In a previous Pol Position editorial, back in February, we took a look at the possible reshaping of this district, which voted predominantly Republican in the 2020 general election.

The district has been strongly Republican since 2013 when redistricting allowed former Congressman and convicted felon Michael Grimm to lay claim to the seat. After being sentenced to eight months in prison, the seat was left vacant until Dan Donovan was elected in a 2015 special election.

Dems briefly regained control of the district in 2018, when former Congressman Max Rose defeated incumbent Donovan, but this victory was short-lived. Rose was later defeated by Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in the 2020 general election, who staked claim to the district seat by a small six percent margin.

Should the courts approve the redistricting maps, the 11th District would be reshaped to incorporate more left-wing allied communities including Sunset Park and Park Slope. This could certainly provide Rose with a leg-up against his successor, pending a possible Democratic primary, as he campaigns to try and reclaim his seat in Congress.

While experts say it is rather unlikely, should the decision be made in favor of the lower courts, it would require the legislature to return to the drawing board. This could also potentially cause primary dates to be pushed back.

**UPDATE**

The courts have ruled that the redistricting maps were unconstitutionally drawn to favor the Dems. As a result, the state has until April 30th to submit new maps.

Redistricting Commission holds hearings in Queens, Brooklyn

webadmin on August 11, 2021

senate, and assembly districts with the help of residents.
To coordinate such a huge task, the New York Independent Redistricting Commission is holding a series of hearings throughout the state to gather input.
The redistricting process traditionally happens every ten years after the Census count, and has long been subject to the whims of partisan policymakers. This has resulted in oddly shaped districts that divide communities, gerrymandered to favor the candidates of a political party.
However, a referendum was passed by New York State voters in 2014 that created a new Independent Redistricting Commission to replace the partisan process. Composed of five Democrats and five Republicans, the commission will take into account the information gathered from hearings and propose new districts that, in theory, will be less politically motivated.
The commission is expected to propose new district maps before the end of the month.
The commission recently held hearings in Queens and Brooklyn. Lasting multiple hours, the hearings were attended by a large number of New Yorkers who highlighted gerrymandered, problematic, and ineffective districting throughout the boroughs.

QUEENS
The Queens hearing received input from residents from Astoria to the Rockaways, however a few areas were mentioned multiple times because of their clearly poor district maps.
The districts that include Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens, and other nearby neighborhoods received the most attention for the way the district lines divide communities.
Speakers discussed the ways that Asian, Black, Indian, and Latinx communities are particularly disenfranchised by the current district maps.
“The area from the Van Wyck Expressway all the way down to Nassau County is not just a road, it is the spine of a community,” explained John P. Albert, who testified at the hearing on behalf of the nonprofit organization Taking Our Seat. “It is home to a significant Indian American population that is split among three assembly districts.”
Maria Calfer, a Taiwanese immigrant and mother from Forest Hills, echoed a similar sentiment.
“There is a very active and vibrant civic community in Central Queens, but my neighbors and I have found it hard and at times disenfranchising to engage in politics,” she said. “We are represented by four different state senators, but only one of them has an office in central Queens.”
After the hearing, some Muslim residents expressed anger that the hearing was held during Eid al-Adha, a major holiday that lasts multiple days. The commission will continue to accept testimony from residents online through the middle of August.

BROOKLYN
Like Queens, the Brooklyn hearing featured testimony from residents throughout the borough but clearly highlighted a few key areas.
Primarily, residents spoke of the need to change districts in the southern half of Brooklyn, an area that at points even shares representation with Staten Island across the Narrows.
For example, the neighborhood of Sunset Park is currently divided among four different state senate districts, dividing the area’s growing Asian population and preventing them from having a cohesive voice in government.
L. Joy Williams, a representative from the Brooklyn branch of the NAACP, explained how similarly poor districting affects Black communities throughout the borough, particularly in and around Flatbush.
“The communities of African descent are diverse in Brooklyn, but well connected,” she said. “Our districts should reflect that.”
Residents testifying during the Brooklyn hearing directly called out partisan gerrymandering as the root of the problem, pointing to obtuse maps that were intended to favor Republican candidates.
“There is a pro-Republican bias in the New York Senate map, especially in Brooklyn,” said Martin Asher, an attorney testifying during the hearing. “This is clear partisan gerrymandering that does not benefit residents.”
State Senator Andrew Gounardes, who represents an oddly drawn southern Brooklyn district that includes parts of Bay Ridge, Gravesend, Gerritsen Beach and Flatbush, offered his own comments separate from the hearing.
“With the population density of Brooklyn being what it is, there’s no reason why my district would extend from the Narrows waterfront all the way to Flatbush Avenue, but cut out about half the population that lives in between that span,” he said.

Redistricting Commission holds hearings in Queens, Brooklyn

webadmin on August 10, 2021

sidents.
To coordinate such a huge task, the New York Independent Redistricting Commission is holding a series of hearings throughout the state to gather input.
The redistricting process traditionally happens every ten years after the Census count, and has long been subject to the whims of partisan policymakers. This has resulted in oddly shaped districts that divide communities, gerrymandered to favor the candidates of a political party.
However, a referendum was passed by New York State voters in 2014 that created a new Independent Redistricting Commission to replace the partisan process. Composed of five Democrats and five Republicans, the commission will take into account the information gathered from hearings and propose new districts that, in theory, will be less politically motivated.
The commission is expected to propose new district maps before the end of the month.
The commission recently held hearings in Queens and Brooklyn. Lasting multiple hours, the hearings were attended by a large number of New Yorkers who highlighted gerrymandered, problematic, and ineffective districting throughout the boroughs.

QUEENS
The Queens hearing received input from residents from Astoria to the Rockaways, however a few areas were mentioned multiple times because of their clearly poor district maps.
The districts that include Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens, and other nearby neighborhoods received the most attention for the way the district lines divide communities.
Speakers discussed the ways that Asian, Black, Indian, and Latinx communities are particularly disenfranchised by the current district maps.
“The area from the Van Wyck Expressway all the way down to Nassau County is not just a road, it is the spine of a community,” explained John P. Albert, who testified at the hearing on behalf of the nonprofit organization Taking Our Seat. “It is home to a significant Indian American population that is split among three assembly districts.”
Maria Calfer, a Taiwanese immigrant and mother from Forest Hills, echoed a similar sentiment.
“There is a very active and vibrant civic community in Central Queens, but my neighbors and I have found it hard and at times disenfranchising to engage in politics,” she said. “We are represented by four different state senators, but only one of them has an office in central Queens.”
After the hearing, some Muslim residents expressed anger that the hearing was held during Eid al-Adha, a major holiday that lasts multiple days. The commission will continue to accept testimony from residents online through the middle of August.

BROOKLYN
Like Queens, the Brooklyn hearing featured testimony from residents throughout the borough but clearly highlighted a few key areas.
Primarily, residents spoke of the need to change districts in the southern half of Brooklyn, an area that at points even shares representation with Staten Island across the Narrows.
For example, the neighborhood of Sunset Park is currently divided among four different state senate districts, dividing the area’s growing Asian population and preventing them from having a cohesive voice in government.
L. Joy Williams, a representative from the Brooklyn branch of the NAACP, explained how similarly poor districting affects Black communities throughout the borough, particularly in and around Flatbush.
“The communities of African descent are diverse in Brooklyn, but well connected,” she said. “Our districts should reflect that.”
Residents testifying during the Brooklyn hearing directly called out partisan gerrymandering as the root of the problem, pointing to obtuse maps that were intended to favor Republican candidates.
“There is a pro-Republican bias in the New York Senate map, especially in Brooklyn,” said Martin Asher, an attorney testifying during the hearing. “This is clear partisan gerrymandering that does not benefit residents.”
State Senator Andrew Gounardes, who represents an oddly drawn southern Brooklyn district that includes parts of Bay Ridge, Gravesend, Gerritsen Beach and Flatbush, offered his own comments separate from the hearing.
“With the population density of Brooklyn being what it is, there’s no reason why my district would extend from the Narrows waterfront all the way to Flatbush Avenue, but cut out about half the population that lives in between that span,” he said.

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