By SILE MOLONEY
Photo courtesy of Tom Link via Flickr
The New York City District Commission announced a series of additional court dates for which city residents will be able to testify further on the latest draft city council district maps released by the commission on July 15. The commission will vote on the council’s final maps on September 15. , and will submit the final plan to City Council on September 16.
The next court dates are as follows:
Tuesday, August 16, 5:30-9 p.m. at the Museum of the Moving Image, Sumner Redstone Theatre, 36-01 35 Ave Astoria, Queens 11106
Wednesday, August 17, 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Lehman College (CUNY), Gillet Auditorium, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West, The Bronx 10468
Thursday, August 18, 5:30-9 p.m. at Staten Island Borough Hall, 10 Richmond Terrace, Rm 125
Sunday, August 21, 3:30-7 p.m. at Medgar Evers College (CUNY), School of Science Health & Technology, Dining Hall, 1638 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn 11225
Monday, August 22, 5:30-9 p.m. at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm Blvd., Harlem, Manhattan, 10037.
The commission will hold these five hearings in each of the boroughs to receive more public testimony on the overall preliminary plan for all council districts. In addition to testifying in person or via Zoom at meetings, the public can submit written testimonies and maps by email to [email protected], and by mail to NYC Districting Commission, 253 Broadway, 3rd Floor, NY, NY 10007.
Additionally, the NYC Districting Commission is hosting an educational seminar on racial bloc voting analysis, virtually, with a recorded live stream on www.nyc.gov/districting Thursday, August 11 at 10 a.m. to comply with federal voting rights law. The commission’s expert in racial bloc voting redistricting and analysis will provide the commission with an educational seminar on the background and methodology used in racial bloc voting analysis.
As previously reported, a new city council plan is developed every ten years, following the U.S. census, to bring the city into compliance with the constitutional doctrine of one person, one vote, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the charter of the City of New York. Commission officials said, “Residents who wish to submit maps for their testimony can draw their own maps using DistrictR, a mapping tool available on the Commission’s website at nyc.gov. /districting.
Since the commission released the first draft proposals for the 51 redrawn city council district maps on July 15, commission officials say 60,000 people have viewed the draft maps, which are available on the commission’s website at nyc.gov/districting, and 500 people testified. in person, by zoom or by email during the first round of public hearings. The final Bronx hearing, held at Hostos Community College, can be viewed here.
The city’s population grew from 8.2 million in 2010 to 8.8 million in 2020, according to the census, an increase in the size of the city of Detroit. To reflect this growth and bring the city into compliance with federal, state, and local laws, the new draft maps increase the average population per city council district from 160,710 to 172,882. These population metrics are incorporated into DistrictR .
As noted, the New York City Districting Commission released the “NYC Districting Commission 101 Primer” on June 21. The 16-page primer explains the process, covering everything from the US Constitution to the US Census, and the New York City Charter. York.
Officials said the primer also includes the “2022 Five Percent Deviation Guide” that commission mapmakers use to draw the city council’s 51 new maps. The city’s population increased by 630,000 based on the 2020 census and now totals 8.8 million people. According to the one person, one vote doctrine of the US Constitution, all 51 city council maps are to be redrawn with a new average population of 173,631 per city council district.
The Five Percent Deviation Guide shows the current deviation of each of the City Council’s 51 districts from the new average by district. For example, one district has a variance of 20.3%, while another has a negative variance of 10%. Commission Chairman Dennis Walcott said of the city’s redistricting process, “We received so much public interest in our hearings that we decided to do more outreach.”
He added, “Over time, we hope the diversion primer and guide will become tools to encourage New Yorkers to engage in the process, including, and most importantly, submitting their own testimonials about the drawing of the 51 new city council maps.
Source: New York District Commission
Meanwhile, as reported, the CUNY Graduate Center launched an online “Redistricting & You” map focused on NYC Council districts, similar to what the center recently created for New York State and the Redistricting process. redistricting of Congress. The link to the city maps is at: https://nyc.redistrictingandyou.org/.
Just like with maps of New York State and Congress, the website allows the public to quickly determine their city council’s current district, view useful information about each district, and also see how maps of proposed district will affect them.
The NYC Redistricting & you The site shows the current city council districts, as well as draft plans proposed by the NYC Districting Commission. CUNY officials said if outside stakeholders submit proposals for new council districts, the center will add them to the site so the public can easily compare current and proposed lines.
Source: Center for Urban Research, CUNY Graduate Center
Members of the public can click on the map or enter an address to select any district. Redistricting & you displays information such as the 2020 population of the relevant city council, deviation from the average city district population, voting age population by race/Hispanic background, election results of the mayor of 2021 and voter registration statistics.
Click here to see an example for District 11 of the District 11 City Council in the Bronx. The population of the district is just over 4% underneath the average city-wide population of the district, which means that the district boundaries will have to develop to include more people in accordance with new state law that applies to NYC. Also attached are two static maps that show the population gap patterns across the city for the current City Council districts, as well as population changes from 2010 to 2020 by City Council district.
Source: Center for Urban Research, CUNY Graduate Center
Also available on the Redistricting & You site, members of the public can add map overlays to show the local voting-age population or registration trends in each district and across the city.
