New York State Independent Redistricting Commission

Tony
November 6, 2021
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Please see my attached letter expressing my concerns about redistricting.

Benja
November 5, 2021
I am writing in reference to Rep. Adriano Espaillat wanting to redistrict Harlem. I live in zip code 10031 and I am African American. I have lived in Harlem for 50 years plus and I find it insulting that Mr. Espaillat wants to virtually erase my heritage! I am contesting this move by Espaillat! Angry Harlemite Benja K. Thomas

Branwen
November 5, 2021
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Greetings Commissioners - I am a resident of the city of Peekskill, currently in the 17th Congressional District. I am also a member of the school board and advocate for our schools and community. Currently we are in a congressional district with other small cities and river towns in Westchester county: Ossining, Tarrytown, and White Plains. In the proposed redistrict map, we would be separated from White Plains and part of Tarrytown. We would be grouped with mostly rural areas that don't share our community's needs and advocacy efforts. Like many other small Westchester city districts and river towns, recent immigrants from Central and South America make up a large portion of our population. Within the school district, 60-70% of our students are Hispanic, and many of those are new arrivals and English Language Learners. This is also generally the case for Ossining and White Plains. Many of our students experience food insecurity and qualify for free and reduced price lunch. As a result of our advocacy efforts along with other small city school districts in Westchester, we have been able to secure federal grants so that none of our students experiences hunger in school or is shamed for receiving free lunch. Meals are even provided to students and families over the summer or when they were home due to Covid restrictions. Small cities and river towns in Westchester share a love of our vibrant and diverse communities. We need to be able to advocate for aid and funding that takes into account the high costs of employment, construction and materials in the New York City suburbs. Costs in more rural areas North of us aren't as high and the density in their schools is not as high. It benefits us to be represented in Congress along with other small cities and river towns in Westchester county by those who will understand and have time to address our needs. I fear we would be lost among the more rural communities in the current proposal. Thanks so much for your time and consideration. Respectfully, Branwen MacDonald Peekskill, NY

Carol
November 5, 2021
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Iris
November 5, 2021
I live in Hastings-on-Hudson and am a proud resident of the current New York Congressional District 16. What I appreciate about my district is that it looks like America, boasting a diverse, heterogeneous population. Our district’s current demographic breakdown is 30% Black, 26% Latino, 5% Asian, 37% White/other. Being in such a diverse district means to me that we have to learn to work in coalition and build bridges across divides rather than increase the polarization that plagues our nation today. I’m extremely concerned that the proposed map for redistricting reduces the Black proportion to 23%, Latino to 19%, keeps Asian at 5% and increases the white/other to 53%. Reducing minority representation in CD16 would almost certainly reinforce the historic tendency to favor wealthy, white areas and neglect others. I live in one of those wealthy, white areas and I do not support this way to redistrict. I believe that it’s important to keep communities of interest together so that their political influence is not diluted and their representatives must pay attention to their needs. Southern Westchester and the Northern Bronx have many issues in common--from environmental issues to social-economic needs. For example, Mount Vernon has sewage infrastructure problems. These lead to pollution in the Bronx. The many highways that connect the southern part of Westchester and the north Bronx also impact the health of our neighbors in the Bronx through increased asthma rates. Communities of interest can also be defined by ethnicity. Caribbean immigrants who live in New Rochelle shop in the north central Bronx at local markets for foods from home. Jewish communities in northwest Bronx whose families have expanded north have strong connections to places like Yonkers and the Rivertowns. The area that comprises the current CD16 should be kept as a unit and covered by one representative who will have sufficiently broad knowledge to address the connected problems.

Tomara
November 5, 2021
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Luis
November 5, 2021
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yitzchak
November 5, 2021
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I want to thank the commission for giving me the time to testify: My name is Yitzchak Katz 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 Harve 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 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.

Susan
November 4, 2021
Thank you, NYIRC, for this opportunity to voice my opinion on the redistricting proposal for CD16. I have lived in the district, first in Hastings on Hudson 27 years and now in Yonkers for the past 4 years, and I am opposed to the presented draft of the redrawn map, which takes northern Bronx and Riverdale out of CD16. I am very aware of how wonderful living in a diverse setting is and how much Hastings and Yonkers benefits from this racial diversity. As a whole the world is in need of healing the wounds of division amongst people, and the redrawn district boundaries do the opposite of bringing this now diverse community of interest together. I truly value the current districts multi racial character & the welcoming of immigrants to the district. I want to preserve and enhance these qualities of kindhearted neighbors, working together for the common good of all, to make this a better place for our children & grandchildren to be educated and live a good and decent life. To eliminate the northern Bronx would adversely effect the balance of black and brown community members and create a more white and middle class district, therefore changing its beautiful nature and diverse character and diminish the advancements we have been making here in CD16. Please do not do that. We need more diversity, not less, in what is now CD16. Thank you, again, for this chance to have my voice heard at this important stage of the redistricting process in NY.

alayne
November 4, 2021
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Jessica
November 4, 2021
I am submitting this written testimony to be considered in the redistricting process. I have been a resident of Lewisboro since 2011, which is part of Assembly District 93. This district includes the neighboring communities of Pound Ridge, Bedford, and North Salem, as well as Mount Kisco, New Castle, North Castle, Harrison, and part of White Plains. As of right now, Lewisboro is in an Assembly District entirely in Westchester County. Splitting Lewisboro from this Assembly District and putting us in with Putnam County does not make sense. I looked at some older maps and we have been in a Westchester County Assembly District as far back as I can see. In fact, I found an article from 1906 that listed our Assembly district and even back then, it was all in Westchester and included Bedford, Harrison, Lewisboro, New Castle, North Castle, North Salem, Pound Ridge, Rye, Scarsdale, Somers, White Plains, and Yorktown. Obviously, the population has grown over time so the area included in this district has shrunk but this district has looked very similar for over 100 years. Furthermore, the area of Northern Westchester east of Route 100 has a lot of shared characteristics – very rural with a small-town feel. This is very specific to this particular section (Lewisboro, Bedford, Pound Ridge) so these communities share a lot of the same needs and interests. In my research, I cannot find a time when Lewisboro, Bedford, and Pound Ridge were in separate Assembly districts. We also share a school district with a portion of Bedford since the Katonah-Lewisboro School District includes the Hamlet of Katonah, which is mostly in Bedford. There is a shared sense of community within the school district even though it spans the two towns. In short, I feel strongly that Lewisboro should remain in a Westchester County Assembly district along with Bedford and Pound Ridge. We have been a part of some iteration of this Assembly district for as far back as I can see and I hope that this will continue going forward. Thank you for your time. -Jessica Gallagher

Richard
November 4, 2021
I would like to go on record as being opposed to the CD 16 redistricting proposal. I have been a resident of Hastings on Hudson for 25 years and relish the highly integrated, ethnically heterogeneous nature of our congressional district. The proposed moving of the district further north creates a less heterogeneous, ethnically diverse community. Richard Schlosberg

Richard
November 4, 2021
I would like to go on record as opposing the new redistricting map for CD 16. The current district, which combines Northern Bronx communities with some in Southern Westchester, has been an ethnically diverse community. Moving the borders further north runs counter to this ethnically diverse community which has been established. I am opposed to this. Richard Schlosberg, Hasting-On-Hudson, NY

Richard
November 4, 2021
I would like to go on record as being opposed to the redistricting plan for CD 16. In the past CD 16 has represented an ethnically heterogeneous community with shared values between Northern Bronx minorities and Southern Westchester suburban. Using the proposed new redistricting will break up this ethnically diverse community.

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