New York State Independent Redistricting Commission

Jacob
February 7, 2023
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There are a number of issues with the map, but the biggest for the 44th Assembly District is that the commission cuts Windsor Terrace into two Assembly Districts, by making the Prospect Expressway the dividing line, rather than the natural boundary of Green-Wood Cemetery. Additionally, the commission draws a dividing line at Dahill Road instead of Fort Hamilton Parkway, cutting out several blocks in Kensington which have been in the 44th AD for decades. I ask the commission to restore Green-Wood Cemetery along 20th Street to be the western border of the 44th AD, not the Prospect Expressway as in the draft plan, and Green-Wood Cemetery along McDonald Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway out to 39th Street as the Northern boundary between the 44th and 51st ADs. This is a shift of only a few blocks but it makes complete sense geographically. Without this change, the portions of Kensington and Windsor Terrace cut out of the 44th AD will be a small afterthought in the 51st AD, divided from that district by the hundreds of acres of Green-Wood Cemetery. In addition, this would divide the Schools zones of PS 130, PS154 among others. Keeping consistency in the school zones representation is an important factor to consider. The 51st AD contains most of the thriving neighborhoods of Sunset Park and Red Hook, and those neighborhoods historically dominate that district. The inevitable result of the draft plan is that the few blocks of Windsor Terrace and Kensington attached to the vast bulk of Sunset Park and Red Hook will be underserved. Beyond that, there are some blocks in Prospect Park South that they cut out, particularly Westminster Road to Rugby Road between Church Avenue and Albemarle Road, which could be restored by simply drawing the dividing line on Church Avenue rather than Albemarle Road. In addition, there are a number of blocks in Kensington and West Midwood that have been cut out, even though they have also been in the district for 30 years. I've highlighted the impacted area on the attached map. This neighborhood should remain as part of the 44th Assembly District.

Albert
February 7, 2023
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Please keep this bipartisan consensus map "AL" which keeps Richmond Hill, Ozone Park & South Ozone Park, TOGETHER IN UNITY, and defeats previous gerrymandering cycles by rogue interests.

Lisa
February 7, 2023
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MAP 1 On my first map, the area just south of Brooklyn Heights, labelled "South Brooklyn," is known to residents as the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. These function together as a single community. MAP 2 The community is functionally isolated from nearby neighborhoods: - Atlantic Avenue to the north (red) - the Gowanus Canal to the east (blue) - the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the south (red) - NY Harbour to the west (blue) MAP 3 The backbone of the community is the two commercial streets colored gold on the right in this map: These are Court and Smith Streets. They are busy, but not enough to be able to establish a Business Improvement District. To the left in the map you can see additional commercial streets. These are low-foot-traffic streets and the stores mostly serve people who live right there. MAP 4 The proposed redistricting would have the south-east corner of Carroll Gardens disconnected from the Assembly Member who already represents the unique concerns of the Carroll Gardens/ Cobble Hill community. This includes the southern 1/3 of the Court and Smith Street commercial corridors. Chopping-up Carroll Gardens as proposed would undermine the representation of our very cohesive community. It would be like running a district line down the center of a small town. Isolated, well-defined and cohesive communities should be represented by a single Assembly Member. As a resident of Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill for 32 years, I ask you to please reconsider the proposal. Thank you Lisa Bowstead

Joshua
February 5, 2023
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This map is a reupload of the most recent map I submitted of the 98th, 99th, and 101st Assembly Districts. The previous version submitted 1/29/2023 was a .geojson file, this is a PDF image and more easily accessible.

Daniel
February 4, 2023
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https://davesredistricting.org/join/c0e10e9e-04b9-4cdb-99d6-39a0a3a29636 This map is a supplement to my testimony made at the Albany Public Hearing on January 25th. This proposal keeps Capital Region districts within 2% deviation of the ideal district population, minimizes county splits, and only splits one municipality, the Town of Colonie. I have attached a PDF of the plan and the interactive map can be found at the above link.

Joshua
January 29, 2023
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This proposed to the Commission's draft Assembly map reflects the following changes: -All of the town of Chester is located within the 101st Assembly District. -All of the town of Hamptonburgh is located within the 99th Assembly District. -All of the town of Monroe is located within the 98th Assembly District. -The following Election Districts in the town of Blooming Grove are located within the 99th Assembly District: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16. -The following Election Districts in the town of Blooming Grove are located within the 98th Assembly District: 4, 6, 7, 9, 15. Note: The numbers of the Election Districts in the town of Blooming Grove are based off of the Orange County Legislative District maps published June 2013 and may not accurately reflect the actual boundaries depicted in the map. In instances where there is a conflict between what is written here and what is depicted in the map, please default to what is depicted in the map. Population of each district (Commission's proposal, deviation from target mean population/this map, deviation from target mean population): 98th District- 131687, -2.18%/ 135157, 0.39% 99th District- 134553, -0.07%/ 132942, -1.25% 101st District- 134634, -0.19%/ 132485, -1.59% This map would see the town of Chester no longer split between the 101st and 98th Districts and wholly within the 101st District. It would also see the town of Monroe no longer split between the 98th and 99th Districts and wholly within the 98th District. It does not split any towns that were not already split in the Commission's draft.

Colin
January 27, 2023
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The map contained in the attached link is my proposal for the 113th Assembly District that would combine two small cities (Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls), as well as suburbs and exurbs with common interests along the I-87 corridor with commonalities and similar interests. According to 2020 Census Bureau numbers, 105,068 (78%) residents reside in the current 113th District (Carrie Woerner), while 30,151 (22%) reside in the current 114th District (Matt Simpson), maintaining compliance with current New York State election laws which mandate that districts must maintain at least some level of resemblance to the previous lines. There have been some proposals, such as one submitted by The Empire Center, a politically conservative think tank, to pair Saratoga Springs with suburbs and exurbs mainly to the south, such as Clifton Park. I mainly oppose these plans, because Saratoga Springs with a current estimated population of 28,167 residents, may struggle to retain its influence against Clifton Park, which is substantially larger with a current estimated population of 38, 029 residents. In both the 2012 and 2022 maps, Clifton Park was the population core of the 112th District (Mary Beth Walsh), while Saratoga Springs was the population core of the 113th District (Carrie Woerner). I think that it is in the best interests of both communities to leave them in separate districts where they can maintain their strong influence, rather than pit them against one another in a competition for resources, state grants and other public monies where Saratoga Springs would obviously be at a clear disadvantage. In addition, I also feel that The Empire Center’s proposals for Saratoga County, especially the 113th District, bear very little resemblance to the current lines. In addition, it is questionable whether the proposals of The Empire Center and others which would connect Saratoga Springs with Clifton Park and Halfmoon to the south respect current laws which mandate that districts are to remain competitive and not favor certain political parties. The Biden-Trump 2020 election results in this area are often very misleading when it comes to voters’ preferences on the state and local levels. Under The Empire Center proposal, Saratoga Springs, which currently has a 5-0 Democratic City Council would be placed into a hypothetical southern Saratoga County district where almost every other community in the district now has a 5-0 Republican Town Board. Similarly, the IRC’s proposal for the 113th District also places Saratoga Springs into a district where every other community in the district, except for the City of Mechanicville, now has a 5-0 Republican Town Board. Retaining the current Saratoga Springs-Glens Falls configuration with some modifications, as I have suggested, at least keeps two small cities with similar, Democratic-leaning local politics and many other commonalities in the same district. This will also help to maintain at least one competitive district in this region where either a generic Democrat or a generic Republican can be elected. For instance, in 2022, the current 113th Distict had one of the most competitive races in the state, where the incumbent, Carrie Woerner, only defeated her Republican challenger by five points. Potentially turning the 113th District into one more stereotypical Saratoga County legislative district where a Republican either runs unopposed or with token Democratic opposition is clearly not in the best interests of the public and is counterintuitive to our democracy. It is my hope that the Independent Redistricting Commission will do everything possible to maintain the competitive political environment that we now have become accustomed to living in the 113th State Assembly District. Thank You, Colin Neal Saratoga Springs, NY

David
January 26, 2023
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I have attached a map with all of Fulton, Montgomery, Hamilton Counties complete. I added a portion of rural Saratoga county that has the same type of rural characteristics of Fulton, Montgomery and Hamilton Counties. I hope you find it helpful in your efforts to consider new maps.

David
January 26, 2023
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I have attached a proposal for the 118th. It has all of the county of Herkimer, Fulton, Hamilton and the majority of Montgomery County. I only did not have all of montgomery county due to population reasons. I will send another map with all of montgomery county as an additional consideration. The vast majority of this proposed district is rural with a high degree of synergy

Anthony
January 25, 2023
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This proposed map of Assembly District 113 is in Saratoga County and includes the towns of Clifton Park, Halfmoon, Malta, Greenfield and Wilton and the city of Saratoga Springs. It has a population of approximately 134,811 residents which is about 185 over the ideal average of 134,626. All the municipalities with the exception of nearby Greenfield are connected with two highways and they are the Northway (Interstate 87) and US Route 9, which carry tens of thousands of cars per day between these municipalities and beyond. These two highways are the common link that combine these suburban communities into a cohesive region that would be best served with a single assembly representative. The mindset of many residents when traveling within or out of their towns is often North-South since these two North-South highways offer either fast and convenient transportation (the Northway) or numerous shopping areas and commercial establishments to do business (Route 9). The current 113th Assembly District has some of these municipalities but also spreads both north and east to include mostly more rural communities in Saratoga and Washington counties including several villages and the city of Glens Falls in Warren County. I believe those communities would largely have more in common with each other compared to the more heavily populated suburban area of central Saratoga County. Their issues would be better represented by an Assemblyperson who could concentrate on topics more common in small villages and rural towns. Thank you for your consideration and please draw Assembly Districts statewide with VERY small population deviations from the statewide average so the concept of one person one vote is respected.

Brandon
January 23, 2023
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Please see an updated version of your original draft that will allow for all of Chester to stay in one district.

Dylan
January 14, 2023
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This map shows Medium-Large communities in Monroe County, NY as identified by the Center for New Data (CFND) using cellular device geolocation pings made from 04/01/2021 to 04/30/2021. This project was undertaken to help identify boundaries for legislative Communities of Interest (COIs).

Joshua
December 21, 2022
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As a resident of the town of Chester in Orange County I personally found it disappointing to see the Commission separate the town of Chester between two Assembly districts as it does in its draft. Chester is already divided in seemingly too many ways with multiple school districts, libraries, police forces, ZIP codes, etc. making community engagement and unity much more complicated than it needs to be. To further add to the already-present confusion by further splitting it between two Assembly districts, as the Commission's draft does, would be to further harm the town and the community that calls it home. As such, this draft proposal would see the entirety of the town of Chester be within the 101st Assembly District. To compensate for the population changes this would make compared to the Commission's draft, the entirety of the town of Hamptonburgh would be moved from the 101st Assembly District (as it is in the Commission's draft) to the 98th Assembly District. In addition, Election Districts 2, 6, 15, and 16 of the town of Blooming Grove would also be moved to the 98th Assembly District. With these changes, the number of towns split by the Commission's draft would be reduced by one while also addressing one of the more egregious deviations from the target population. In the Commission's draft, the population deviation of the 98th Assembly District stands at 2.18%. By making the changes proposed herein, the population deviation is reduced to only 0.79%. In addition, the population deviation of the 101st Assembly district, while increasing, does not do so in such a fashion as to be derisible. Finally, in moving the entirety of the town of Chester into one single Assembly District, the town would see a much higher degree of community in having only one member of the Assembly but also, in putting all of the town in the 101st Assembly District, the town would find itself sharing that member of the Assembly with many of the towns that Chester's residents find the most community connectivity to. Namely, these are the towns of Warwick, Goshen, Wallkill, and the city of Middletown, all of which fall within both the Commission's draft and this proposal's 101st Assembly District. While there is also a significant civic connection to the town of Monroe, which appears on both maps as part of the 98th Assembly District, much of the population centers within the town of Chester find themselves either closely aligned with Warwick in the south or Goshen in the north, with all residents finding themselves traveling along the New York State Route 17 corridor into Wallkill and Middletown on a regular basis. The submission of these comments and maps are not taken lightly. It is well understood that the role of the Commission is to objectively look at the state as a whole and determine how best to divide it so as to ensure that communities with close bonds are kept together, proper representation is made available for all residents of New York, and it all be done on a politically-neutral basis. To that end, this proposal comes from no place other than the wishes of members of the community in the town of Chester who believe it to be for the best for our community to be within one Assembly district, and that district be the amended version of the 101st herein. It is my opinion that, should these amended lines be adopted by the Commission, the Assembly map enacted at the end of the redistricting process will more closely align with the goals and interests of the communities involved as well as the Commission itself.

Andrew
December 1, 2022
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This is my proposal for the 2024 Assembly map, it is focused on Eastern Queens and Long Island.

Peter
February 1, 2022
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upstate NY congressional districts. I am from Rochester and lived in Syracuse for years

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