Submissions

Public Comments Return to Archived Submissions Page

  • Howard
    October 25, 2021
    I want to thank the commission for giving me the time to testify: My name is Howard Schoenfeld 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 Nothern 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 strickly 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
  • Chris
    October 25, 2021
    Dear Commission Members, Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments and community input to the redistricting process. I am writing today as the Ontario County Administrator. Ontario County has concerns about the newly proposed State Senate District for the Finger Lakes Region. Currently, Wayne, Seneca and Ontario Counties are contained within the same district. The Commission's proposal to split these three counties and have them represented in different districts is concerning. Unlike our more urban neighbor, Monroe County, Ontario County shares many similarities with Wayne and Seneca counties. We collaborate on many issues and efforts and our communities interact with, and depend, upon one another. Providing these three counties with unified representation in the State Senate serves the best interest of our residents and the state as a whole. I appreciate your consideration of these concerns and would be more than happy to discuss them further. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Sincerely, Chris DeBolt Ontario County Administrator Christopher.DeBolt@OntarioCountyNY.gov 585-396-4400
  • Chris
    October 24, 2021
    Hello, I’m currently a self-employed entrepreneur and taxpayer in Broome County and was informed by our Senator that the IRC is considering splitting up the 52nd district and I’d like to share my concerns with this consideration. Upstate New Yorkers have always had to compete with other more populated districts in the state to get much needed attention to our community. I believe our district needs to be able to attract more businesses by offering lower taxes and more than one airline in the Binghamton regional airport. We need representatives that can focus on our community to keep the businesses we have in our community and attract new businesses that can work with SUNY Binghamton to grow our community. I believe that splitting up the 52nd district will only serve as a distraction from this effort, and I would like to ask that you reconsider making any changes to the 52nd district for this reason. Respectfully, Christopher Clapper Binghamton, NY 13904
  • Peter
    October 24, 2021
    The western 3 towns of Wayne County (Ontario, Walworth & Macedon) have more in common with eastern Monroe County as to population density, commercial and educational characteristics and needs than the balance of Wayne County. It has made no sense how this area has been included with Syracuse in the past.
  • Laurel
    October 24, 2021
    As a citizen of Chautauqua County, it is important to me and my family that our representation in both Washington DC and Albany accurately represent us, both in terms of our values and our specific situations. Due to our proximity to the border of PA, many people from my town, Westfield, and those surrounding me actually work, shop and go to medical facilities over the border due to it being closer or more opportune than other places. We share a unique economic situation with the other southern tier states, one which is not shared with those in the Buffalo greater metropolitan area. Therefore, consolidating our district with that of Buffalo would result in my friends and family lacking representation. Additionally, we are largely agricultural, with a strong dependence on tourism in the summers and farming year round. We only have 3 significant urban areas, all small compared to even suburbs of Buffalo, and two of which are essentially halves of the same city in terms of geography, although demographically and economically different. Grouping us with Erie County would make it more likely that solutions for our district would be approached with an urban mindset, and that area has different problems than we do. Crime in Erie County is significantly higher, as is population density, pollution, unemployment and the like. Our county needs different solutions than they do because our situations are very different. We also tend to lean a different political direction from Erie County and other urban areas, so joining us with them would lead to many people feeling as though we are undergoing "taxation without representation," as the old colonial adage goes. We already see this in many areas of our lives given the supermajority in NYS, and this would only perpetuate that problem and further decrease our representation. Please consider the true needs of the citizens of each area, and listen to our representatives Andy Goodell, George Borello and Tom Reed, as well as the testimony of those living in these districts, when considering the redistricting lines. Thank you for your time.
  • Lester
    October 23, 2021
    I want to thank the commission for giving me the time to testify: My name is Lester Kaufman. 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 Thank You Lester Kaufman
  • Robert
    October 23, 2021
    Please do not separate the town of Victor from its rural neighbors of Farmington, Bloomfield, and Canandaigua. We are all closely integrated and have the same needs. Victor is not part of the big city of Rochester or Monroe County, it is part of Ontario County. Victor will loose it's voice in congress if moved.
  • Rick
    October 23, 2021
    These district maps that determine who represents us in Congress, State Senate and Assembly for the next 10 years should not change for the southern Tier. From what I can see the changes are calculated to gain power. Redistricting is not for the people of the area but more for political parties. They must accurately reflect our community, not create an advantage for different parts of the state or weaken our voice in Albany. Therefore I respectfully request the maps do not change for the southern tier. Thank you.
  • Maureen
    October 22, 2021
    You have to change your deadlines. You withheld information from us and now expect us to make a decision that will effect us for the next 10 years. The district with the highest population upswing was Brooklyn. Yet, the first meeting is going to be in Buffalo, the home of our governor. Not a good visual needless to say. I suggest you extend the deadline to July 1, 2022.
  • Anne
    October 22, 2021
    I attended the League of Women Voters Zoom meeting on redistricting. I support the draft Congressional names plan, the Senate letters plan, and the Assembly names plan as more equitable than the current districts.
  • Marie
    October 22, 2021
    Whatever redistricting lines are drawn, NYS must come as close to the "one person one vote" principle as set out in our constitution. The will of the voters in cities and towns can no longer continue to play a subordinate role in many of our elections.
  • Jesse
    October 22, 2021
    View File
    Respectfully submitted by Manhattan Community Board 4.
  • Nicholas
    October 22, 2021
    View File
    Please find my comments regarding redistricting attached.
  • Cynthia
    October 22, 2021
    View File

  • Dereck
    October 22, 2021
    I am a resident of the Northeast Bronx and here is my testimony. I am not just concerned, but alarmed at what is taking place in regards to this gerrymandering of my community from NY-16. There is a connection between my community, Westchester, and other areas not just geographically, but in terms of our mutual interests. There is currently a push to teach and implement equity and inclusion all over the New York area from schools to businesses, however this gerrymandering is the total opposite of that. We are the prime example of inclusion, diversity, and socio economic status. The optics of this seems very suspicious and one cannot help that this gerrymandering is intentional to make it harder for communities with common interests to come together. Remember every hidden motive eventually shows itself. This is indeed gerrymandering and I am against it.