Public Comments Return to Archived Submissions Page
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Rubina
March 1, 2023
Irfan I am requesting that you include Abu Huraira Masjid, located on 80 Street, between 30 and 31 Ave, in NYS Assembly District 30. The masjid community has deep connections with Jackson Heights, which is the heart of Assembly District 30. My family and I live near the masjid and take trains from Jackson Heights to commute to work and school. We purchase groceries, clothes, and jewelry from Jackson Heights, a hub site for South Asians. Therefore, we need to be in Assembly District 30. Unfortunately, the existing map removed the Masjid from the Jackson Heights area and placed it with Astoria despite having two highways and a big graveward between the masjid and Astoria. We have no tangible connection with Astoria. Hence, we don't want to be part of Astoria. Once again, I am requesting that you include Abu Huraira masjid in Assembly District 30.
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Leigh-Ann
March 1, 2023
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This proposed district is consistent with the Senate lines that the Special Master drew and will ensure that communities of common interests are compact, consistent, and appropriate.
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Matthew
March 1, 2023
My name is Matthew Silverstein. I am the President of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance. The Bay Terrace Community Alliance is the official civic association for the Bay Terrace neighborhood in Northeast Queens. For as long as I can remember Bay Terrace has been part of the 26th Assembly District. Under these new proposed Assembly lines we would be moved out of the 26th Assembly District and put into the 27th Assembly district. I am 100% opposed to this plan. The Bay Terrace community has nothing in common with the 27th Assembly district. We have more in common with the 26th Assembly district. We would request that we be moved back into the 26th Assembly District. As a Bay Terrace resident, when you compose a letter its listed as Bayside, NY 11360. The Bayside community is currently being proposed as part of the 26th AD but Bay Terrace is being drawn into the 27th AD. Bay Terrace is technically part of the larger Bayside community. It is not fair that we are being separated off from the rest of Bayside.
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Josh
March 1, 2023
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Logan
March 1, 2023
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This proposed district is consistent with the Senate lines that the Special Master drew and will ensure that communities of common interests are compact, consistent, and appropriate. At the end of the day, communities along the water (south of the LIRR) have more in common with communities within AD7 and thus should be moved to that district. While I am thankful for the significant improvements that have been made to AD9 compared to the current multi-county lines, more can and should be done. I believe that the community map attached here addresses those concerns.
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Joel
March 1, 2023
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Sarah Jean
March 1, 2023
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Timothy
March 1, 2023
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Don
March 1, 2023
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We support the 65th Assembly District map in the NYIRC Assembly Plan 120122 keeping Battery Park City together with other communities of interest in lower Manhattan.
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Kelsey
February 28, 2023
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This map is consistent with existing Senate Districts 4 & 8 which will ensure that the districts will protect communities of common interest and be easy for the community to understand as they are based on physical and historical landmarks
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Marc
February 28, 2023
To: The NY Independent Restricting Commission From: Marc A. Landis, Member, Democratic State Committee, 67th Assembly District I have resided at 337 West 85th Street for 34 years; my wife is a lifelong resident of the Upper West Side, having grown up in Lincoln Towers, and our children have resided on West 85th Street for their entire lives. I am proud to serve the current 67th Assembly District as an elected member of the New York State Democratic Committee. My formal responsibilities involve representing the views of Democratic Party members, and the community at large, residing in the 67th AD. I write to you today to recommend that the NYIRC plan dated 12/1/2022 be revised to restore the historic district lines that unite the Upper West Side from the West 90s all the way to the western portion of Hell’s Kitchen. Our current district is united by the common ground found among diverse communities. As currently constituted, the 67th Assembly District includes residents of affordable housing, public housing, cooperatives and condominiums; residents of historic and landmarked structures live side by side with residents of newly-constructed buildings. I also serve as a leader of the Reform Jewish movement. While the current 67th Assembly District contains people of many diverse faith communities, it is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in New York State and the entire United States. The NYIRC plan would unnecessarily divide historic Jewish communities into separate districts, something which would be avoided by maintaining the current boundaries. Thank you for your consideration.
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Timothy
February 28, 2023
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This proposed district is consistent with the Senate lines that the Special Master drew and will ensure that the community interests are compact, consistent, and appropriate.
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Rebecca
February 28, 2023
Please please do not go forward with the redistricting, yet again, which would divide Greenpoint in half and sever part of East Williamsburg with the rest of the neighborhood and render it part of a district shared with Queens. We should not be at odds with our own neighbors for funding for education, environmental concerns, and much needed infrastructure repairs. As a mother of a young child, a public school teacher who hopes to send her daughter to a local public school, and a dedicated member of the community, I ask you not to go forward with this split. Keep our communities together.
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Barrington
February 28, 2023
Re: Redistricting of the 104 th Assembly District Dear Commissioners: I am a County Legislator representing the City of Poughkeepsie. As you are aware, the 104 th Assembly District contains three cities: Poughkeepsie and Beacon in Dutchess County and Newburgh which is in Orange County. There is a significant minority population in all three cities. The cities have a common history. They also share a common history and similar challenges. I am urging that the 104 th District continue to have all three cities. Should the three cities be separated, the voices of minority populations will be diminished, and influence of the cities will be diluted. By keeping the three cities in the same district, our representative in the Assembly must pay attention and advocate for the cities and the minority populations. Thank you for this opportunity to express my views. Barrington Atkins
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Mark
February 28, 2023
Independent Redistricting Commission Presentation 2-28-2023 by Dr Mark Glogowski Concerning the slogan “One Man – One Vote” Good Evening Commissioners: I was unable to find any legislation that uses the phrase “one man, One Vote. It is not even in the 14th Amendment, which is often identified as being the foundation for the slogan. The slogan has no legislative standing, and it is anti-“regional representation”, anti-Republic, and Anti-Democratic-Republic. The slogan has no independent existence except in the records of the US Supreme Court cases and discussions concerning those cases.. The concept of One man One vote is clearly tied to two US Supreme Court cases: Baker v. Carr (1962), and Reynolds v. Sims (1964) Baker v. Carr appears to be the source of the slogan One-man, One vote, where Justice Warren made the statement “legislators represent people, not acres or trees.” His comment was made in reference to the redistribution of the representatives of the people, specifically those in the House of Representatives and in the state respective legislative bodies, usually referred to as the State Senates. 49 states had two legislative bodies with one to represent the population, the other to represent recognized regions in the state. Over the years, population shifts occurred. Some population shifts were enormous. 40 states failed to make any changes in the distribution of the representatives of the people. Seven states, one being New York state, had consistently made changes in both houses as the populations shifted. New York State’s Constitution and its legislative structure was clearly in compliance with the intent and the spirit of the Warren decisions - both Baker v Carr, and Reynolds v Sims, - and even all the succeeding decisions too. The Rynolds v. Sims (1964) U.S. Supreme Court ruling justifiably forced the Tennessee legislature to reapportion its Congressional Representation and its State Senate legislative representation. But, with blinders on, the US Supreme Court, ignoring the US Constitution and all the state constitutions, and even ignoring one Justice’s comment that the 14th amendment equal protection clause does not apply to voting rights, boldly and erroneously applied their concept of “the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th amendment” to the seats in both houses of every bicameral state legislature. This decision is clearly an overreach of the authority given to the US Supreme Court by the US Constitution and the ruling was itself a blatant violation of the US Constitution. As Dr Mark Braiman pointed out, in Syracuse, the US Supreme Court decision of Brown V. Thomson, 1983, effectively ruled that the assignment of Assembly seats based on state constitutional requirements does not constitute a violation of the US Constitution or any amendments thereof, and clearly not a violation of the equal-protection clause of the 14th amendment. Effectively, that decision reaffirmed the right for states to have a Republican form of government. If you apply the NYS Constitution to the assignment of assembly seats, and allow counties to have overlapping Assembly Districts, and you will erase almost every complaint that was brought before you. You will erase almost every complaint about school districts being divided. You will erase almost every complaint of racial groups being divided. You will eliminate almost every complaint of villages being divided and eliminate every complaint of towns being divided. If the Assembly Districts are allowed to overlap, county wide, those counties with two or more Assembly seats assigned will actually have an increased ability for smaller politically oriented associations and groups to be able to elect a representative that will serve their community. New York State had always apportioned the Assembly seats based on a population basis. In doing so, NYS was consistent with the spirit and intent of maintaining a Democratic-Republican structure for its legislature. Reynolds v. Sims Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Holding State senate districts must have roughly equal populations (based on the principle of "one person, one vote").