Igor Oberman. (Photo: Facebook)

Councilman Mike Nelson's district was controversially reshaped during this year's redistricting process to contain a higher percentage of Russian-American constituents, and that change is clearly shaking up the race to replace him. Previously, District Leader Ari Kagan was one of the only candidates openly campaigning for the seat, but now a bevy of additional hopefuls are poised to join him.

"The lines look good! The lines look good!" attorney Igor Oberman, who temporarily ran against the then-powerful, now-incarcerated State Senator Carl Kruger before withdrawing his campaign, told Politicker. "I haven't made any decision but I can say every morning, the lines get louder and louder."

Meanwhile, another Russian-American attorney, Michael Treybich, has switched his candidacy from Coney Island Councilman Domenic Recchia's district to Mr. Nelson's--including on his campaign website. He said this afternoon that unless the district lines change again, he's officially moved over. Previously, Mr. Treybich expressed loud frustration over the redistricting process.

The growing list doesn't stop there. Theresa Scavo, the chair of Community Board 15, also said she's "definitely" running for the Council herself.

"I see a lot of neglect in the community," she told Politicker, vowing to put a lot of work into changing things around.

Chaim Deutsch, a Nelson staffer and the founder of Flatbush Shomrim, is another potential addition to the race. For his part, Mr. Deutsch said he was seriously considering a bid but was waiting to see if the City Council approves the final lines as expected. Although elements of the Orthodox Jewish community strongly opposed the way Mr. Nelson's seat was redistricted, multiple new Russian-speaking candidates could theoretically split the Russian vote to Mr. Deutsch's benefit.

As Russians and Orthodox Jews are also some of the most politically conservative communities in New York City, Mr. Nelson's seat may very well contain one of the few competitive races come November, especially if former State Senator David Storobin also joins the race on the GOP side of the aisle.

Additional reporting by Ross Barkan.

The 33rd Council District. (Photo: Districting Commission/Google Maps)

One of the fiercest disputes over the decennial redistricting process raged on after the final versions of the new City Council district maps were released this week. Councilman Steve Levin insisted the process through which the districts were drawn was focused on substance while his potential rival, Lincoln Restler, repeatedly dismissed the new Council maps as rooted in political concerns.

"There was never a serious discussion," Mr. Restler argued. "This was a political deal made by the Speaker and the local council member and it's clear throughout the entire process that it's nothing more than an incumbent protection program."

Mr. Restler's long-rumored bid to unseat Mr. Levin took a significant hit when the redistricting dust finally settled. In their final lines, the commission tasked with the decennial redrawing of City Council boundaries upheld an alteration to Mr. Levin's 33rd District that added tracts of Hasidic Jewish voters likely to back Mr. Levin and removed parts of Brownstone Brooklyn favorable to Mr. Restler.

Though neighboring Councilwoman Tish James supported Mr. Restler in his ultimately fruitless bid to undo the change, which was unveiled in an earlier draft, the Commission held its ground arguing the boundaries were amended to ensure Ms. James's district kept a black majority in compliance with the Voting Rights Act while also uniting a local community of common interest: Orthodox Jews.

Mr. Levin, in a lengthy explanation, laid out arguments for why the new district, which cuts out Park Slope and includes the neighborhoods of Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill, is now more logically configured. He agreed with the commission's reasoning, and also pointed out travel from Park Slope to Brooklyn Heights to Greenpoint, via car or public transportation, could be unwieldy if he wanted to conduct multiple meetings in those neighborhoods on a single night, thus justifying the new fourth avenue boundary that shed Park Slope from the district.

"If you see the map of the district, the district as it currently is resembles some type of dinosaur skeleton," Mr. Levin said. "The Districting Commission has a very smart staff and they're balancing a lot of considerations. To me, this is actually above politics. So I think the Commission, if you talk to them, you see they have to specifically address interests in opposition to each other, which is a tough thing to do."

Although he promised in January that he would make an announcement in regards to his possible City Council bid at this week's meeting of his New Kings Democrats club, Mr. Restler didn't end up clarifying his plans and declined to comment on the subject.

Some alterations were made to satisfy the demands of civic groups and minority advocacy organizations, but, at first glance, many were not.

In Bayside, Queens, Asian-American civic groups are likely still upset that a section below the neighborhood home to a growing Asian population was not included in the district represented by Councilman Dan Halloran. In Brooklyn, former district leader Lincoln Restler's chances took a hit when a change to unite Hasidic communities in south Williamsburg and north Bedford-Stuyvesant was included in the final map, giving incumbent Councilman Steve Levin a stronger base of support. And Manhattan Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, a vocal critic of the redistricting process, had Randall's Island and a section of East Harlem restored to her district as she had demanded.

View the maps for yourself below:

Manhattan:

NYC Council Maps February 6 Plan for Manhattan by

Brooklyn:

NYC Council Maps February 6 Plan for Brooklyn by

Bronx:

NYC Council Maps February 6 Plan for the Bronx by

Queens:

NYC Council Maps February 6 Plan for Queens by

Staten Island:

NYC Council Maps February 6 Plan for Staten Island by

Mr. Halloran's bruising 2009 City Council race in northeast Queens cast a long shadow over the hearing in Long Island City- the third of its kind in front of a commission tasked with the decennial redrawing of districts to reflect demographic changes in the city- where he and allied civic groups clashed with Asian advocacy organizations about whether a neighborhood, Oakland Gardens, should be incorporated into Mr. Halloran's 19th District. The heavily Asian neighborhood, which groups like the Asian American Community Coalition on Redistricting and Democracy (ACCORD) believe should be joined with nearby Bayside to empower Asian-American voters in the area, is currently in Councilman Mark Weprin's district.

"Additionally, contrary to some public submissions which call for the creation of a Asian or other ethnic district, I cannot help but to recall the words of the great New Yorker and president, Teddy Roosevelt when he said that, 'There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americans,'" Mr. Halloran said. "We do not have proposals to create an Irish district, an Italian district, a Greek district, a district of green eyed people or a district of left handed people."

Though a bevy of Asian advocacy organizations believe Oakland Gardens, which many locals call Bayside, should be naturally joined with Bayside in the 19th District, Mr. Halloran sharply disagreed. The seemingly small matter of where the district line ultimately falls could determine Mr. Halloran's political future. In 2009, he was able to defeat the Korean-American Democrat Kevin Kim in what was an election defined by race and religion. If Asian advocacy organizations get the district lines they want, Mr. Halloran may not a win a second or third term, especially if an Asian candidate like Mr. Kim emerges in the future (no Asian candidates have filed to run in this year's 19th District race).

Groups like ACCORD, Korean Americans for Political Advancement or the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) profess to be nonpartisan and bristle at any assertions that they support one candidate or oppose another. However, Mr. Halloran's '09 race was alluded to several times during the proceedings.

"Bayside in particular was the center of a racially charged city council race between an Asian American and a white candidate in 2009," said Jerry Vattamala, a staff attorney with AALDEF, the group that crafted a detailed City Council map for New York City known as the Unity Map. "Asian Americans were assaulted, intimidated, had property destroyed and were disenfranchised at poll sites."

Mr. Halloran and his predominately white civic allies had their own qualms with the commission as well, testifying that a section of suburban northern Flushing should be drawn into Mr. Halloran's leafier district. This proposal was not contested by members of the public, unlike the latest draft of the 28th District, which ropes in Jamaica, Rochdale, Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park. While the district, until this point, has been primarily a place where the aforementioned advocacy groups have argued that the area's booming South Asian and Indo-Caribbean populations should be granted greater voting power, it emerged last night as a battleground between Asian civic groups and the larger African-American community on the other side of the Van Wyck Expressway.

Represented by the African-American Ruben Wills, the district has traditionally elected black council members. South Asians in Richmond Hill have complained that those council members, like the late Tom White Jr., neglected the western portion of the district. The proposed district would be about 45 percent black, down from 48 percent in the current district with the Asian population growing from about 16 to 18 percent and the Hispanic population growing from about 17 to 18 percent.

"This is a predominately and historically black community of middle class families residing in one and two family homes," said southeast Queens resident Florence Johnson. "I find these attempts to skew these lines to create a new majority that includes Asian, Hispanic and other ethnicities is a clear attempt to disenfranchise my historically black community."

One of southeast Queens' political power brokers, Reverend Charles Norris Sr., appeared at the hearing to back up the contentions of residents like Ms. Johnson. Yet South Asian and Indo-Caribbean leaders were not satisfied with the proposed district either, arguing that it still did not encompass enough of South Ozone Park and neglected to include a local high school and the Aqueduct Racetrack.

"It seems as though everybody here has the same problem," Mr. Norris said, as applause rippled through the auditorium.

It was the multicultural American Dream, the only hope of ambitious Russian immigrants and the possible death knell of Orthodox Jewish communities, all at once, at least according to some of those testifying at the redistricting hearing last night in Brooklyn.

It was not the controversial draft map that placed potential Council candidate Vito Lopez in a neighboring district--the aspect of this year's redrawing of the City Council lines to reflect the new Census numbers that has attracted the most media coverage--that sparked the controversy last night. Rather, two versions of Councilman Michael Nelson’s 48th District offered alternating realities for competing demographic groups, dominating the public hearing in front of most members of the Districting Commission.

Along with the term-limited Mr. Nelson, Orthodox Jewish leaders packed the hearing to affirm their opposition to proposed council lines that they said would split their Midwood area stronghold into two districts, Mr. Nelson’s and the neighboring 45^th, represented by Councilman Jumaane Williams. The proposed district also ropes in Russian-populated apartment complexes in Coney Island and Brighton Beach like Luna Park, Trump and Sea Breeze. Everyone testifying at the hearings agreed that Mr. Nelson’s district would become more Russian, which was thrilling for Russian media mogul Gregory Davidzon.

“Almost everybody who spoke today asked to keep communities together. African-American, Orthodox Jew, Chinese people and everybody has to be together,” Mr. Davidzon said. “You created a district with all Russians together. What’s wrong with this?”

Much is at stake for both factions. If the district lines are indeed altered significantly from Mr. Nelson’s current district, the probability of the emergent Russian community electing their first member of the City Council increases. After the revised district lines became public on Nov. 16, Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield tweeted that, “First thing that jumps out in S. Brooklyn is creation of Super-Russian-American 48^th Council District.”

If the lines are adopted, the clout the Orthodox Jews have in their district with Mr. Nelson could be less likely to be replicated with the new council member. Orthodox Jews fear funding for crucial community programs will dry up and the district could lose some of its conservatism as less religious communities are added. Mr. Nelson and his allies sought to defend the current district as a multicultural bastion.

“The new lines that are proposed will disenfranchise our wonderful community,” said Josh Mehlman, an Orthodox Jewish civic leader. “Many people will not sit back and just allow it to be divided up. If this goes forward unchanged it will certainly backfire and cause problems that may be unforeseen. The Orthodox community has grown exponentially and this attempt to divide us is unconstitutional in our opinion and will certainly be a detriment to our community.”

If the proposed district is adopted, there will be ripple effects in the neighboring 47^th District being vacated by Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr. While John Lisyanskiy, a candidate of Russian descent, has already leaped into the race to replace Mr. Recchia, other candidates are holding off making their official declarations until the lines are finalized.

A possible candidate much further north, former district leader Lincoln Restler, saw his chances of victory take a hit when the commission unveiled a seemingly slight alteration to Councilman Stephen Levin’s Brownstone Brooklyn 33rd District that joined a Satmar community in northern Bedford-Stuyvesant with the influential Satmars of south Williamsburg, expanding a voting bloc supportive of Mr. Levin. Opinions among Orthodox Jews themselves were decidedly mixed; one Satmar said he didn’t want to live “in a Jewish ghetto,” preferring two council members for his community, while another praised the commission for uniting a “community of interest.”

Mr. Levin argued that the move was intended to increase the percentage of African-Americans in Councilwoman Tish James’s 35^th District. More speakers at the hearing were in Mr. Restler’s corner than Mr. Levin’s, including the term-limited Ms. James.

“Establishing a separate council district that would primarily affect the Orthodox population actually divides these residents from their longstanding neighbors,” Ms. James said. “Many leaders from the Orthodox community have shared their concerns about this Bed-Stuy area being rolled into a new councilmanic district, as they seek to have multiple legislative representatives.”

(Photo: @LincolnRestler)

“Does he have an office, though? Does he use the computer?”

The crowd jammed into Williamsburg’s Los Sures Museum last night for the New Kings Democrats’s first meeting of the year laughed at what was not necessarily intended to be a joke. Attorney Jason Otaño, an unsuccessful state senate candidate last fall, really wanted to know if Carl Hum, the executive director of the New York City Districting Commission, had an office and a computer.

Mr. Hum does indeed have both, but technology hasn't been his biggest headache during this year's decennial redistricting process where the City Council's lines will be redrawn to reflect the latest Census numbers. After the New York Post reported Councilman Erik Dilan requested his ally, former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Vito Lopez, have his residence drawn into term-limited Councilwoman Diana Reyna’s nearby district in anticipation of a potential Lopez Council run—a request that was honored in what was then the latest version of the district lines—Council Speaker Christine Quinn scrambled to push the Commission to move the scandal-scarred Mr. Lopez back and hold another round of public hearings this month.

Instead of Mr. Hum, Jonathan Ettricks, director of community outreach at the commission, spoke in front of what could have been a much more hostile crowd for the commission. NKD’s genesis was partially fueled by an anti-Lopez fervor that has not gone away with Mr. Lopez's fall from his former leadership position. Former district leader Lincoln Restler, mulling a City Council run of his own against Mr. Lopez’s former chief of staff, Stephen Levin, was blunt, characterizing the commission’s redistricting as “not at all an independent process.”

“Carl [Hum] said that he took the interests of incumbents into account and that there’s nothing inappropriate about that and that the relationships they developed with constituents should be a critical factor in determining the lines,” Mr. Restler said to Mr. Ettricks. “That seemed highly unusual to me.”

“I think if Carl made that comment he was being candid. Again, any elected official by virtue of being an elected official is not barred from making their interests known,” Mr. Ettricks replied.

Elected officials, Mr. Ettricks argued, have the same right to voice opinions in this process as they do everywhere else, like in local zoning or transportation issues. NKD President Alex Low and other members wanted to know why meetings between City Council members and commission members were not a part of the readily available public record, like testimonies at public hearings.

“You know something, to be perfectly candid, I don’t know the reason why that process doesn’t exist,” Mr. Ettricks reiterated. “I think that’s an issue that has come up and there are some elected officials who have even raised that issue publicly and perhaps it’s something that should be done going forward but it’s not something that was incorporated into the process.”

Yet when Mr. Restler asked how the public could be confident their voices would be taken into account during the public hearings, Mr. Ettricks nevertheless admitted, “I would be disingenuous if I said politics was completely removed from this process."

(Photo: Getty)

Although the Districting Commission's proposal for new City Council lines was initially expected to easily pass with no changes, Council Speaker Christine Quinn has officially thrown a wrench into that process. In a letter to the Commission's chair, Ms. Quinn said she is "requesting in the strongest possible terms that the Commission withdraw its submission to the Council to receive additional input from the public."

Ms. Quinn's main beef with the plan, as has been well-established, are last-minute changes allegedly made to aid the potential candidacy of scandal-tarred Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who is seriously considering a councilmanic campaign. Although residency requirements for the chamber are fairly loose--candidates can move into the district after winning the all-important primary--a storm of media stories have speculated some sort of deal with Mr. Lopez was cut to move the former party boss' official address into the district he was eyeing. Ms. Quinn, who is expected to run for mayor next year, has fiercely denied any involvement, however.

"[I]n reviewing the lines, I have a few concerns that I believe would have been vetted and addressed during another round of public hearings. The most significant concern I have relates to the new lines for District 34," Ms. Quinn explained. "I am requesting in the strongest possible terms that the Commission withdraw its submission to the Council to receive additional input from the public. After you have satisfied your benchmarks for review and public comment, the Commission should then resubmit a plan to the Council with new district lines. I recognize that the Charter still affords the Council the opportunity to vote on the plan after this formal submission."

It's not immediately clear if the process described in the letter, whereby an up-or-down City Council vote is seemingly skipped by simply withdrawing the map, is technically correct. A Commission spokeswoman told Crain's Insider the legislative chamber needs to reject the map first.

View the full letter below:

Although the commission is technically independent, its lines usually favor the City Council establishment, which appoints many of its members. Accordingly, at an immediate glance, the maps do not appear to be massively different from the draft proposal released earlier this year, which protected most existing legislators, with a couple exceptions.

View below:

Brooklyn:

The proposed lines for a segment of Kings County.

Due to the Census' new population figures, the City Council is currently undergoing its legal requirement of redrawing district boundaries so that they are again roughly equal in population before the 2013 elections. The process is ostensibly open, but, in general, actually controlled by the powers that be. Thus, although there have been public hearings and the like, a good chunk of incumbent council members likely got the district they more or less wanted.

Accordingly, at a glance, there doesn't appear to be any sweeping changes. However, there are a lot of moving pieces and it will take additional time to digest. The five borough maps can be found below:

Manhattan:

Brooklyn:

Queens:

The Bronx:

Staten Island:

(Photo: Wikimedia)

The City Council's redistricting commission is meeting to hear public input in Queens this evening, and before they do, groups are pushing them to avoid splitting their communities.

One of those groups is SEVA, which is specifically calling for a district that keeps the neighborhoods of Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park intact, as they both contain a significant South Asian and Indo-Caribbean population. And to make that call, they've enlisted Himanshu “Heems” Suri, one of the members of the rap group Das Racist, to lobby for their cause.

"This largely immigrant community has been underserved by the city and state for decades," Mr. Suri wrote in an open letter to Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "The signs of institutional neglect are too obvious; the demise of Richmond Hill high school, the decay in transportation infrastructure, the absence of local programs for our senior citizens, and the lack of capital investment by the city and state are just some of the struggles of this community."

Mr. Suri argued this dilapidated set of conditions is because of gerrymandering -- the process of contorting the boundaries of legislative seats to serve particular political purposes, such as the protection of incumbents or partisan advantage. Over Twitter, SEVA said these two neighborhoods are currently split into four different Council districts.

"Not even one single district office—at any legislative level—exists in this community," Mr. Suri explained. "It’s time twhat this community is united and has a champion for its causes in the City Council."

This is not Mr. Suri's first attempt to influence the redistricting process either. Earlier this year, he released a solo mixtape in conjunction with SEVA in the hopes of getting the community more interested in how political lines were drawn.

Other Asian American advocacy groups are also getting involved. Right before the redistricting hearing begins at Queens Borough Public Library, members of the Asian American Community Coalition on Redistricting and Democracy (ACCORD), an alliance of 14 organizations, will be holding a press conference on the library's steps, undoubtedly to call for additional communities of interest to be kept intact as well.

View his letter below: