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• Steve
  December 7, 2021
  Steven Smollens, a resident of the former 14th and current 12th Congressional District and 74th Assembly District at Waterside Plaza since 1984. This little piece of NYC is my home and my children's. I am a former Democratic Party District Leader and Waterside Tenant Association President. The preservation of the integrity of the so-called Town & Village, Waterside, East Midtown Plaza, Kips Bay, Hospital Corridor Community is vital to the quality of life in our community, comprehensive infrastructure (where would the Second Avenue Subway be if subdivided into 2 or 3 CD's?), the integrity of a sense of place (I am from the Waterside, Stuyvesant Town, PCV community) the creation of a unified coastal resiliency barrier, parks, river access. This makes sense for all residents, community planning boards, school districts, and other community advisory boards. It is not simply the representative we have a chance to elect, it is the notion of neighbor and neighborhood too that is worth preserving. Preserve the District of Representative Maloney.
  
• Linda
  December 7, 2021
  My name is Linda Royster I resigned at 720 Lenox Avenue # 25i New York, NY 10039 Esplanade Gardens is my home and in redistricting I ask that the 71AD continue to include 144th street River to River and go north to 207th street. I am also in the 30th Senate District and want to remain. I strongly request the above change to be made. Thank you.
  
• JoAnne
  December 7, 2021
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• Wai
  December 7, 2021
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• JoAnne
  December 6, 2021
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• Raymond
  December 6, 2021
  As a NY-11 native, my community and I want max rose back! Please bring him back and consider him when making maps!
  
• Mark
  December 6, 2021
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  This is a tabular description of my updated Upstate Assembly redistricting map that I submitted earlier today, for which I am now providing more complete annotation, as follows: Here is the Districtr link for my Assembly map: https://districtr.org/plan/87313/89905 There were also a number of changes in my Assembly districting, relative to what I sent in November. They mostly resulted from incomplete information that I had available to me for census counts of certain political subdivisions that were not adequately described in the lookup table published Aug. 13 on the Syracuse.com website. As I had mentioned earlier in my annotation for my Congressional and Senate tables, this included the fact that Mt. Kisco is a town as well as a village. The same is true for East Rochester, the population for which I had earlier assumed was included in the town populations for Pittsford and Perinton. Also, the populations of the Seneca and Tuscarora reservations in Erie County were not available on the Syracuse.com website, leading me incorrectly to assume that they were included in town populations. Now, the availability in Districtr of these census figures, as well as complete geographic distributions of populations within Upstate cities larger than 135,000 (Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers), has allowed me to draw specific lines within those cities, and to distribute the "excess" population of these cities to some of the surrounding Assembly districts, bringing them more equal in size. Specific comments: Erie, Cattaragus, and Wyoming Counties: In order to better balance populations between districts, N. Collins was taken out of "142" and Colden was taken out of "147" and both were added to "143". Then Lackawanna was taken out of "143" and added to one of the Buffalo Districts, allowing some of the University Heights section of Buffalo to be added to the Amherst District "148". This meant that the total population of the City of Buffalo, 278,349, which is enough for 2 unshared Assembly districts, is instead distributed among only 1 unshared district including the city's core, plus 3 other districts shared with other municipalities in Erie County. Monroe, Livingston, Genesee County: With the population of East Rochester now being properly included in District 134, and the population of Rochester outside its "core" (135) being distributed among "134," "136," and "137" to make these districts all nearly equal, it was appropriate to shift a second Monroe County town, Sweden, from "137" into "138", better balancing district populations in this region. Saratoga, Albany Counties: I realized only recently that the County Seat of Saratoga is the Village of Ballston Spa, not Saratoga Springs as I had thought. My earlier (November) map had divided Ballston Spa village between its 2 towns of Milton and Ballston. This violated the principle that I tried to follow, of keeping the "core" of larger counties, including their county seat and nearby areas, intact in a single Assembly district. In order to correct this fault, I redistributed the towns of Saratoga County between "111" and "112", and in order to keep all of the districts in this area similar in size, I shifted the town of Green Island out of "111" and into "108." This makes Cohoes the only town in Albany County in "111", just as Niskayuna is the only town from Schenectady County in this 3-county district. Westchester County: While scrutinizing Districtr and other maps very carefully, I realized that Scarsdale is actually contiguous with the City of Yonkers, albeit only over a 100-yard segment of the Bronx River that flows between them. Additionally, however, the entire (unpopulated) Bronx River Parkway Reservation connects the jurisdictions of Scarsdale and Yonkers over a much greater distance, making it even more acceptable to shift some of the population in Yonkers into "91", as well as "88" and "89". This allows a much better balance of the populations within the 8 Assembly districts including portions of Westchester, 7 of which are contained entirely within it. The biggest remaining "size defect" in my Assembly districting scheme is "120", Jefferson County by itself which is 13% smaller than ideal. The challenge here is that all 3 counties that Jefferson touches are also smaller than a single Assembly district. Combining Jefferson with any of these 3 gives a 2-county Assembly district that is more than 13% larger than ideal. So, the goal of not dividing any counties smaller than an ideal Assembly District is mathematically impossible to achieve, without producing at least a 13% deviation in district size. If one of the 3 surrounding counties is to be split, the easiest in my map would be Oswego County,. Its northernmost towns of Richland, Sandy Creek, Boylston, Orwell, Redfield, and Williamstown could be shifted into "120" to give it a population of nearly 129,000. This would bring the population of Oswego County's district, "127", a bit below this value, but this imbalance could be evened out even more by shifting the remainder of Baldwinsville Village (currently split) from "126" into "127." Whether this is desirable overall depends on which principle is more important, having very-closely-matched populations, or trying to keep small counties intact within Assembly Districts. I personally think that the latter goal is more important than trying to match the populations to within these last few percentage points.
  
• Mark
  December 6, 2021
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  This is again a tabular and graphical representation of the State Senate redistricting plan that I submitted in table-form only earlier today, and via email to Sid Parker on November 30. I wish to include here for the record some of the annotated comments I provided to Sid in that email. This map is again slightly different from the one that I submitted in a .pdf file to NYIRC.gov in September, with the differences entirely confined to 11 Senate districts within or overlapping the 4 Upstate counties larger than 320,000 (Erie, Monroe, Onondaga, and Westchester). These differences were enabled/forced by corrections/amplifications in Districtr to the limited Town/City census data that I had used earlier (a lookup table published on Aug. 13 on the Syracuse.com website). All other districts that are limited to complete counties remain unchanged in their description and computed population. Here is a quick statement of the changes, and what forced them 1) In Erie County, the lookup table that I had used did not list the Seneca Reservation. I was a bit unsure of how to count it. The Districtr tool added it into the population for my district labeled "62". In order to keep my 3 Senate districts contained entirely within Erie County as nearly equal as possible, I shifted a few towns on the border between "61" and "62" 2) In Monroe County, the options within Districtr encouraged me to find a better balancing of 2 neighboring town populations with Rochester (Greece and Parma instead of Irondequoit and Webster) to create a standard-sized district for "56". The surrounding towns were kept individually undivided, but also shuffled a bit between "57" and "58" to create Senate districts of more-equal size. There is a 184-person "defect" in the resulting map. The populations of "56" and "57", as I have drawn them in Districtr, do not match perfectly the sums of published census data for the towns/city contained within them, despite my intention in Districtr to keep every town and city intact within its district. I ascertained that this defect is entirely due to a 184-person shift of population from Rochester to Irondequoit in my Districtr map. This seemed likely to be due to an accidental shift of one census tract across their border. But I have checked published maps of Rochester and Irondequoit carefully, and the border between them matches pretty perfectly what I have in my Districtr map. Districtr does not have any provision for painting districts by town/city, only by county, so I cannot figure out where the discrepancy lies. The only potential explanation I can think of is that there is some Rochester population along the Culver Road connection to Durand-Eastman park, that Districtr does not define as a separate census tract, thereby forcing it to be included in Irondequoit census numbers. I grew up within 5 miles of this section of Culver Road, and yet I am still confused as to how it is defined as part of the City of Rochester, and whether people living in homes along it are included in Rochester's population. My intention is to include the entire population of Rochester in "56", but I do not think that I have been able to do so, with an error of 184 persons. I hope the IRC would fix this up properly, if Rochester and Irondequoit are divided cleanly between 2 separate districts, whether based on my plan or others. 3) In Onondaga County, I shifted the towns of Fabius and Pompey in the southeast corner from "53" into district 51, which previously contained only Madison and Oneida Counties. This brought the district populations in this area closer to equal, although it ended up splitting Onondaga County even further, into 4 districts instead of 3. Its population could in theory be shared among just 2 districts. But the core of Onondaga County, including all of the City of Syracuse and most of the immediately neighboring towns, is kept in "53", following my principle of giving each larger county at least one intact Senate district containing the county seat and nearby political components. 4) In Westchester County, my definition of the boundaries of "40" changed because I had not earlier counted the population of Mt. Kisco in this district. This error was because Mt. Kisco was listed on a lookup table published on Aug. 13 on the Syracuse.com website only as a village, and not as a town. I therefore assumed its population was already included in the towns of Bedford and New Castle. I also completed a potential drawing of the Bronx portion for district "37," just to show how easily it could be done to give an appropriate-sized population total. I know very little about the Northeastern portion of the Bronx, however. I really have no good input to provide on the exact Bronx neighborhoods that could appropriately be grouped with southeastern Westchester.
  
• Mark
  December 6, 2021
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  This is the tabular description of my final Congressional Redistricting Plan, which was produced and is also available in graphical format at the Districtr website tool, https://districtr.org/plan/86731 I also sent this plan via email November 30 to Sid Parker, along with the following textual annotation, which I would like to have entered in the official record: After looking carefully again at the Congressional district map I sent you in my email of November 26, I realized that one more refinement made sense, based on a swapping of Herkimer and Hamilton Counties with Washington County, between my districts numbered "20" and "21" The annotations that I provided on November 26 still apply: This map is slightly different from the one that I submitted in a .pdf file to NYIRC.gov in August/September. The main differences: 1) I swapped Allegany and Wyoming Counties between the districts that I have labeled "23" and "24". This evened out the population difference between these two districts. 2) I swapped Herkimer and Hamilton County from district "20" into "21", in exchange for the similar-sized population of Washington County moving from "21" into "20". This evens out the population difference between these two districts, and also improves their compactness. 3) I shifted the town of Bedford in Westchester County from district "18" into "16". This was necessary because I had not earlier counted the population of Mt. Kisco as part of "18" even though I drew it as part of "18". This error was because I had originally obtained populations from a lookup table published on Aug. 13 on the Syracuse.com website. Mt. Kisco was listed on that table only as a village, and not as a town. I therefore assumed its population was already included in the towns of Bedford and New Castle. Both Syracuse.com and I were a bit tripped up by the unusual situation of Mt. Kisco.
  
• Charles
  December 6, 2021
  NYS Independent  Redistricting Commission250 BroadwayNYC 10007  Re:Present and Future NY CD-12 My name is Charles Sturcken and I have lived in New York City for most of my life.  I am a resident of Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village, the second largest private residential development in  the City housing 30,000 residents. I believe very strongly that it makes perfect sense to keep the East Side of Manhattan in a district that is separate from the West Side.Manhattan, in most of its present alignment, was created by planners who developed the Great Grid in 1811 and is considered one of the most important plans ever conceived by urban planners.  The commission that designed it  described it  as combining "beauty, order and convenience".  From that plan the east and west sides of Manhattan grew as neighboring communities, much of it separated when Central Park was created in the 1850s. Each of those communities has characteristics which give its residents a unique sense of community and camaraderie.  The eastside hospital corridor from Beekman and Gouvenor downtown to Harlem Hospital is an example of how the  community has grown and become reliant on health providers who also embrace the eastside culture.  To sever the west and eastside congressional districts would upset many of those communities within and unnecessarily upset decades of history and culture and dilute the peoples' respective true representation.  Respectfully submitted,Charles G. Sturcken 15 Stuyvesant Oval New York, New York 10009
  
• Mary
  December 6, 2021
  Mrs. Mary J. Sweeting 2569 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. Apt. 19C New York , NY 10039 (212) 283 -6767 My name is Mary J. Sweeting, I am a life long resident of Harlem’s 71 Assembly and 30 Senate Districts respectively. I raise my voice to say I want my community to remain as presently draw and represented. Therefore allowing continuation of stability where my House of Worship, Educational, Recreational, Medical, Housing , and Social engagements are . This will allow for positive stability of representation from a community’s representatives . Respectfully submitted, Mary J. Sweeting
  
• Yiatin
  December 6, 2021
  Dear IRC: I am an Asian American New Yorker and immigrant. I became active in education advocacy in the past 3 years and have a greater appreciation and urgency in making sure my voice and my community's voice is heard in the political process. I would like to support the Unity map so that Asian American NYers can have districts where our votes will not be diluted and our priorities are seriously addressed by those who consider running and are elected into public office. I support the Unity Map for congressional redistricting. Yiatin Chu Queens and Manhattan resident Asian American community leader Former CEC1 member Co-founder and Co-President of PLACE NYC
  
• Empire
  December 6, 2021
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  Please find attached to this submission, three maps (Congressional, Senate, Assembly) for districts that were drafted without any partisan consideration, but rather focused on; 1) meeting all of the constitutional and legal requirements for redistricting, including those new provisions being tested for the first time this year; and 2) producing districts that preserve municipal borders to the most practicable extent.
  
• Dolores
  December 6, 2021
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• David
  December 6, 2021
  Hello. My family and I are residents of the Mohawk Valley, currently living in the Whitesboro/Whitestown area of upstate New York. After looking through the various maps for redistricting options put forth, I would like to make known my preference of these choices: Congressional - Letters Plan Senate - Letters Plan Assembly - Letters Plan While I think all congressional districts around the country should be tailored to county lines and not divide/cut-into other areas to tailor a district together, when that is not an option, I see the Letters Plan that has been put forth as the best option for residents like myself and fully support it. Please keep this in mind and support the Letters Plan of all 3 of these redistricting map (Congressional, Senate, and Assembly) when redrawing lines. Thank you very much for your time. -Dave Dellecese