New York State Independent Redistricting Commission

Sally
November 16, 2021
To NYSIRC Dear Commission Members: We are writing to you on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Tompkins County and following up on the two live testimonials League Member Connie Stirling-Engman presented on our behalf in September and October. When Stirling-Engman finished her testimony on October 25 one of your members asked what comments she had to make on the Letters and Names Assembly Maps you have presented to us. As she was speaking on behalf of a group of people, she was unable to respond to you at that time, but promised to get back to you. The primary reason for not including comments on the Assembly Maps was lack of time, and the fact that the same comments made regarding the Congressional Maps and the Senate Maps also apply to the Assembly Maps. We now wish to restate some of our key concerns about the maps and make specific comments about the lines drawn for the Assembly district maps. In writing the following comments we have not looked at the voting patterns included in the different maps and the way Democrats and Republicans are divided up. We are not looking for a district that will vote one way or another. We are looking for a district that makes sense culturally, economically, and geographically. • Why have you presented us with two sets of maps for each district without any rationale except that the commission members from the two major political parties could not agree? • Why have you not followed clearly established guidelines for compactness and maintenance of municipal boundaries? • When we look at the Assembly Names Map for IthacaBroome, we find that Tompkins County is not maintained as a single unit. Trumansburg, Jacksonville and Newfield, at least one quarter of the County, are cut off and included in Sncaschlr Names Map. • IthacaBroome containing part of Tompkins County stretches into Broome County, another University Community, but does not include Binghamton University. Why extend into Broome County if the University is not included? • Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) remains in IthacaBroome map which makes sense for Tompkins County. However, although Cortland County is made whole in Ondgacrtland Names map, TC3 is separated from the City of Cortland. • When we turn to the Letters Map for District DW, Tompkins County remains whole. However, the district line goes north up Cayuga Lake only as far as Aurora, which is neatly cut in half, although Wells College does remain in DW district. • What is the rationale for including Otisco and Skaneateles Lakes in this district but excluding Owasco Lake and the northern part of Cayuga Lake? Your rationale may be good but we do not know what it is. • On the face of it and from the point of view of Tompkins County only, the letters map makes more sense. However why is Aurora cut in half? There is something wrong here which makes one query everything else. We appreciate that drawing district lines is an extremely difficult job, but as Commission Members you are not expected to do this job on your own. You have people who are experts in data analysis and others expert at mapping to work with you. In addition to drawing maps, these experts should be able to provide their reasons for the proposed lines instead of just asking communities to submit their own maps. If we were to draw a map, from a geographical point of view only, it makes more sense to start with the DW Letters Map but to draw the lines of the proposed district north to include the whole of Cayuga Lake and then eastwards north of Auburn to Skaneateles and from there south on the west side of Skaneateles Lake. But this only looks at the geography, keeping municipalities such as Aurora whole, and does not look at population figures or any other data points. As you draw the lines for the final maps you will be presenting to the Legislature, we very much hope that you will pay close attention to all the testimony you have received since you presented you first maps. We also urge you strongly to take advantage of the quantitative methods that are now available to identify any gerrymandered Congressional, Senate or Assembly districts. We understand that you must take many different factors into account when drawing the lines and want to thank you for the very difficult task you have undertaken. Sincerely, Members of Redistricting Committee of LWV Tompkins County.

Sally
November 16, 2021
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This written testimony is in response to a question LWVTC was asked following our spoken testimony on October 25.

Retired Senator Betty
November 16, 2021
To the Members of the Redistricting Committee; While I believe that the independent redistricting commission, achieved via passage of a constitutional amendment, was a very positive step toward good government I would like to comment on the initial district maps. The 45th Senate District, which I had the honor of representing in the Senate for 18 years (2003-2020) is a model of what a rural Senate district should look like. The region is very rural therefore it has to be very large geographically to be inhabited by the 300,000 + or - 5% residents required for each district. Therefore the district is made up of all of Warren, Essex, Clinton, and Franklin counties and all but 2 southern towns in Washington County with the addition of 6 Eastern towns in St. Lawrence County. In square miles it is about 6800 sq. Miles making it larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. The international Adirondack Northway runs from Glens Falls to the Canadian border about 150 miles right through the District. Notable features are the Beginning of the Hudson River in Essex County, Lake Champlain and Lake George In Warren, Essex, and Clinton Counties, Lake Placid, site of the 1932 and 1980 winter olympics, and the largest section of the 6 million acre New York State Adirondack Park. More importantly the towns and two cities (Glens Falls and Plattsburgh) in the current district are very similar, being rural, economically alike, tourist and second home oriented. Much of the district is in the Adirondack Park where environmental issues take precedence and development needs Agency approval. Agriculture and forestry are major industries as well. Finch Paper, International Paper, and Georgia Pacific paper mills are in the 45th SD. Make no mistake, this is a wonderful Senate district which is compact and similar in so many ways, bordered on the east by Vermont and the north by Canada. Senator Stafford, my predecessor represented all 5 of the current counties and all of Hamilton County most of his 37 years in the Senate. I also represented all six counties for 10 of the years I was in the Senate. In closing I would ask that you keep these counties in their entirety. Your example of dividing Warren County by putting Glens Falls and Queensbury (the largest town in the county) in another Senate district would be very disruptive and divisive. The county municipal center is in the town of Queensbury, but has a Lake George address, as do several businesses in that same area of town and both are considered as the Adirondacks. Being a rural district is a fact, but being put into a district that you have little or no connection to, as is proposed is a needless disruption. Please reconsider that in developing your final redistricting maps. I sincerely thank you for your work on these important issues. Former Senator Betty Little 11 Pioneer Pt. Queensbury, NY 518-796-0312 To the Members of the Redistricting Committee; While I believe that the independent redistricting commission, achieved via passage of a constitutional amendment, was a very positive step toward good government I would like to comment on the initial district maps. The 45th Senate District, which I had the honor of representing in the Senate for 18 years (2003-2020) is a model of what a rural Senate district should look like. The region is very rural therefore it has to be very large geographically to be inhabited by the 300,000 + or - 5% residents required for each district. Therefore the district is made up of all of Warren, Essex, Clinton, and Franklin counties and all but 2 southern towns in Washington County with the addition of 6 Eastern towns in St. Lawrence County. In square miles it is about 6800 sq. Miles making it larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. The international Adirondack Northway runs from Glens Falls to the Canadian border about 150 miles right through the District. Notable features are the Beginning of the Hudson River in Essex County, Lake Champlain and Lake George In Warren, Essex, and Clinton Counties, Lake Placid, site of the 1932 and 1980 winter olympics, and the largest section of the 6 million acre New York State Adirondack Park. More importantly the towns and two cities (Glens Falls and Plattsburgh) in the current district are very similar, being rural, economically alike, tourist and second home oriented. Much of the district is in the Adirondack Park where environmental issues take precedence and development needs Agency approval. Agriculture and forestry are major industries as well. Finch Paper, International Paper, and Georgia Pacific paper mills are in the 45th SD. Make no mistake, this is a wonderful Senate district which is compact and similar in so many ways, bordered on the east by Vermont and the north by Canada. Senator Stafford, my predecessor represented all 5 of the current counties and all of Hamilton County most of his 37 years in the Senate. I also represented all six counties for 10 of the years I was in the Senate. In closing I would ask that you keep these counties in their entirety. Your example of dividing Warren County by putting Glens Falls and Queensbury (the largest town in the county) in another Senate district would be very disruptive and divisive. The county municipal center is in the town of Queensbury, but has a Lake George address, as do several businesses in that same area of town and both are considered as the Adirondacks. Being a rural district is a fact, but being put into a district that you have little or no connection to, as is proposed is a needless disruption. Please reconsider that in developing your final redistricting maps. I sincerely thank you for your work on these important issues. Former Senator Betty Little 11 Pioneer Pt. Queensbury, NY 518-796-0312

Phariha
November 16, 2021
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Minna
November 16, 2021
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Susan
November 16, 2021
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Annie
November 16, 2021
After reviewing the IRC draft lines for Bensonhurst Brooklyn, I was stunned to see what you did with the cut-off lines. I am urging the area located between McDonald Area and West 6th Street, roughly between Avenue O and Avenue U, which your preliminary plan has removed from the 47th Assembly district and moved into the proposed district you have designated as the proposed Gravesend District. I believe it should be moved back under your proposed into your proposed district designated as the Bensonhurst District. The area west of McDonald Avenue between roughly Avenue U and Avenue O has a longstanding relationship with the Bensonhurst neighborhood. This area is within Community Planning Board #11, the NYPD 62nd Precinct, and NYC Department of Education Council District 21, all of which are also included in the proposed Bensonhurst District, while the so-called Gravesend labelled district to which this area is proposed to be moved into is mostly covered by Community Planning Board #15, and NYPD 61st Precinct. The area west of McDonald Avenue has always been considered a relevant part of the rest of Bensonhurst, both in terms of common issues and concerns, while the area east of McDonald Avenue traditionally has no such a common interest. This proposed change will greatly change our neighborhood. I urge you to keep the area west of McDonald Avenue in the labelled Bensonhurst District in your final map to be proposed. November 16, 2021 Sincerely, Annie M.

Bob
November 16, 2021
I agree with the commission in regards to the redistricting. Either solutions/maps is acceptable.

Hon. Walter T.
November 16, 2021
From The Desk of Walter T. Mosley Thank you for providing me with the time to offer my perspective on the decennial redistricting process. My name is Walter T. Mosley and I served as the Assemblyman for the 57th District of New York. My district consisted of the Brooklyn communities of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and parts of Prospect Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant. The goal of the redistricting process is to ensure that we have political maps that amplify the voice of every community and authentically reflect the needs of our people. To accomplish this, communities must be bound together in accordance with their shared interests. Today, I would like to talk about the communities of the New York 8th (NY-08) congressional district that I had the privilege of representing in several different capacities over the course of my career. For decades, the predominantly African-American neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill have been linked together as one “community of interest” within what is currently the 8th congressional district. They are served by the same community board, the same police precincts, the same school district, the same bus and subway lines, the same firehouses and the same central commercial corridors on Fulton Street and Myrtle Avenue. The civic, professional, spiritual and commercial life in these communities revolves around these shared institutions, transportation hubs and commercial centers. This “community of interest” is also deeply connected with the historically African-American community of Bedford-Stuyvesant. These three neighborhoods are all linked by Fulton Street, the center for commerce in the community. The people in these communities’ access downtown Brooklyn, the transportation hub of the Barclays Center and Manhattan through the A and C subway lines. School District 13 includes the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant. It is evident that these communities are inextricably tied together. The district also encompasses Ocean-Hill Brownsville, East New York and Canarsie in south east Brooklyn. These are also predominantly working-class Black neighborhoods, traditionally protected by the Voting Rights Act. They continue to have shared needs such as access to the same bus and subway lines and other public services such as fire departments and hospitals. In addition, all of these neighborhoods share two of the primary issues that currently face working class families across Brooklyn: access to well maintained and affordable housing and public safety concerns related to policing and rising gun violence. As “communities of interest,” these six neighborhoods have benefited from existing within the same congressional district for approximately five decades. Falling in the same congressional district enhances their efficacy and allows their shared priorities to be communicated to elected officials and for those officials to effectively advocate to meet those common needs at the local, state and federal level. Preserving this connectivity would not only fulfill the legal objective of preserving “communities of interest” and continuity of representation, but also provide these neighborhoods with the leverage they need to continue to address historic inequities, close the wealth gap and grow their economic base. The 8th district also includes the southern coast of Brooklyn, including Mill Basin, Brighton Beach and Coney Island. These neighborhoods contain significant concentrations of public housing in Brooklyn and will continue to benefit from remaining within the current lines of the 8th district along with other communities of interest where the issue of underfunded public housing is such a critical need. The 8th district contains one of the largest concentrations of public housing in the country, and NYCHA developments have a long and unfortunate history of being underfunded and neglected by officials that do not represent these families in their communities. The residents of these developments should remain within the current 8th congressional district as one unified community of interest in order to have efficacy and a seat at the table. There is currently legislation pending in the Congress that could potentially provide significant funding to NYCHA to address the backlog of maintenance in public housing developments. It is now more critical than ever that this community remains together and the voices of these constituents are heard in the most effective way possible. Maintaining the current lines of the NY-08 from Fort Greene to Coney Island is the best way to achieve this result. Finally, as you go through the process of making a final recommendation, I exhort this commission to make sure you are listening to the voices of the community, including local organizations and faith leaders as well as educators and activists. These are the people doing the work, day-in and day-out to nurture and grow our communities. Their judgment is sound, their intentions are righteous, their motivations are true. If you listen to these voices, they will tell you what should already be readily apparent: the neighborhoods of the NY-08 must remain intact and in a similar configuration to the current lines.

VITO
November 16, 2021
I would like to urge the Legislature to pick one of the two maps that the Independent Redistricting Commission, working in a nonpartisan way, developed. The results of the last election, where a majority of the voters rejected a referendum to dissolve this commission should say it all. The voters are sick of partisan politics. Please work together and come up with a fair, even handed result. The people of the State of New York demand it. Thank you. Sincerely. Vito LaBella 646-372-2891

Sarah
November 16, 2021
Test

Albert
November 15, 2021
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Proposed Assembly District “AL” complies with the law, the census data and other criteria, but State Senate District “P” is unacceptable and the NYS Independent Redistricting Commission must also unite Richmond Hill, Ozone Park and South Ozone Park as a community of interest in the State Senate, while uniting Howard Beach within its Congressional District (CD 8), in the Queens-Brooklyn area. We are a non-partisan group of community leaders, advocates and activists, interested in fighting for what is best for our community. Map “AL,” unites us in Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park and Ozone Park as a community of interest in the proposed State Assembly legislative district “AL,” (Exhibit “A”), and we are grateful for this. However, we cannot accept the proposed State Senate district, “P.” It horribly divides and marginalizes us. Exhibit “B.” The State Senate District has injudiciously excluded South Ozone Park, and included Howard Beach, which is an aberration. You should keep all of these communities of interest whole, similar to the State Assembly and Congressional districts. Here’s why: Howard Beach belongs more naturally in the adjoining Congressional district, because it has NO compactness, community of interests, commonality, characteristics, nor contiguity with Richmond Hill and/or Ozone Park and/or South Ozone Park, whatsoever. Indeed, Howard Beach’s Congressional District is wholly included, 100%, in the Queens-Brooklyn Congressional District, CD 8, presently occupied by Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. Exhibit “C.” There is every reason, therefore, for Howard Beach to be kept together, in a subset of CD 8 in its State Senate District, and be similarly configured within Queens and Brooklyn. In fact, it is the logical and right thing to do, so that the Howard Beach community can also speak with a common voice. Howard Beach deserves representation also.

Alan
November 15, 2021
The Jewish community needs better representation in the redistricting plans. Currently, the Jewish Community in Central Queens is split between 4 state senate districts. It does not allow for any conformity to representation in the State Senate. Your drafts have created a central Queens and Eastern Queens plan that incorporates parts of Kew Gardens Hills being split up again in three districts. We need to be in one State Senate district. We are asking when you redraw your drafts that Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest be drawn into a Central Queens district with the neighborhoods of Northern Forest Hills, Middle Village, Glendale, Maspeth, and Ridgewood. Also, please consider the Eastern Queens map as well, where the neighborhoods I mentioned as a block will be included with Fresh Meadows, Oakland Gardens, Little Neck, Douglaston, Bayside, and Bay Terrace. Consider your guide eastward between the Long Island Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway to the County Line, before heading strictly north. Please make every effort to keep Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest together in both an Assembly District as well as one State Senate district.

Peggy
November 15, 2021
I want to thank the commission for giving me the time to testify: My name is Peggy Saphirstein. I am a member of the Jewish community of Central Queens. Currently, under the current maps, our community is divided between the 27th Assembly District and the 25th Assembly District. The neighborhoods of Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest are divided. I am asking this commission to take into account the unification of Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest so that Jewish representation is not diluted in this redistricting process. When this commission redraws the Assembly district lines, please incorporate all neighborhoods mentioned into one assembly district. The aforementioned neighborhoods in the south should be connected with College Point, Northern Whitestone, and Le Havre Cooperative in the north. Currently, the Jewish Community in Central Queens is split between 4 state senate districts. It does not allow for any conformity to representation in the State Senate. Your drafts have created a central Queens and Eastern Queens plan that incorporates parts of Kew Gardens Hills being split up again in three districts. Again, we need to be in one State Senate district. We are asking when you redraw your drafts that Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest be drawn into a Central Queens district with the neighborhoods of Northern Forest Hills, Middle Village, Glendale, Maspeth, and Ridgewood. Also, Please consider the Eastern Queens map as well, where the neighborhoods I mentioned as a block be included with Fresh Meadows, Oakland Gardens, Little Neck Douglaston, Bayside, and Bay Terrace. Consider your guide eastward between the Long Island Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway to the County Line, before heading strictly north. Please make every effort to keep Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest together in both an Assembly District as well as one State Senate district.

Stuart
November 15, 2021
I want to thank the commission for giving me the time to testify: My name is Stuart Saphirstein. I am a member of the Jewish community of Central Queens. Currently, under the current maps, our community is divided between the 27th Assembly District and the 25th Assembly District. The neighborhoods of Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest are divided. I am asking this commission to take into account the unification of Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest so that Jewish representation is not diluted in this redistricting process. When this commission redraws the Assembly district lines, please incorporate all neighborhoods mentioned into one assembly district. The aforementioned neighborhoods in the south should be connected with College Point, Northern Whitestone, and Le Havre Cooperative in the north. Currently, the Jewish Community in Central Queens is split between 4 state senate districts. It does not allow for any conformity to representation in the State Senate. Your drafts have created a central Queens and Eastern Queens plan that incorporates parts of Kew Gardens Hills being split up again in three districts. Again, we need to be in one State Senate district. We are asking when you redraw your drafts that Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest be drawn into a Central Queens district with the neighborhoods of Northern Forest Hills, Middle Village, Glendale, Maspeth, and Ridgewood. Also, Please consider the Eastern Queens map as well, where the neighborhoods I mentioned as a block be included with Fresh Meadows, Oakland Gardens, Little Neck Douglaston, Bayside, and Bay Terrace. Consider your guide eastward between the Long Island Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway to the County Line, before heading strictly north. Please make every effort to keep Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and Hillcrest together in both an Assembly District as well as one State Senate district

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