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By Ross Barkan 2/08 10:14am

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Lincoln Restler Sees a ‘Political Deal’ in North Brooklyn Council District Map

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. Read More

By Ross Barkan 2/05 1:04pm

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New City Council Lines Announced

The Districting Commission tasked with redrawing City Council lines unveiled yesterday the latest, and likely last, version of those lines. After a process fraught with alleged backroom deals and heated public hearings, the lines are a City Council vote away from being final for another decade.

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

By Ross Barkan 1/15 10:50am

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Racial Tensions Flare at Queens Redistricting Hearing

Unlike Teddy Roosevelt, the president he quoted at last night’s Queens redistricting hearing, Republican Councilman Dan Halloran spoke loudly and did not carry a big stick.

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.” Read More

By Ross Barkan 1/11 12:10pm

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Russians and Orthodox Jews Clash at Brooklyn Redistricting Hearing

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.

Read More

By Ross Barkan 1/04 1:17pm

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(Photo: @LincolnRestler)

Skeptical Democrats Grill Redistricting Commission in Brooklyn

“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. Read More

By Colin Campbell 9/04/12 3:49pm

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The proposed lines for a segment of Kings County.

City Council Redistricting Drafts Released

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: Read More

By Colin Campbell 6/18/12 12:13pm

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A scene from Ms. Crowley's campaign video hitting Mr. Lancman.

Elizabeth Crowley Takes The Gloves Off, Bops Lancman [Video]

Assembly Members Grace Meng and Rory Lancman, both candidates for an open congressional seat in northeastern Queens, have been taking shots at one another on issues ranging from Social Security to The New York Times endorsement, but the third main candidate in the race, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, has largely been keeping her head down. That changed this morning when her campaign released a video accusing Mr. Lancman of being hypocritical on the issue of independent redistricting.

“Assemblyman Lancman is very eager to attack his opponents, but seems to have forgotten to mind his own backyard,” a high ranking official in Ms. Crowley’s campaign declared. “If he tells a crowd of voters that he supports independent redistricting and always has, but told NY1 four months ago that he had a hand in drawing his own lines, it is a case of pandering at best and lying at worst.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 5/17/12 9:53am

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One of the new districts.

Last Lawsuit Against Redistricting Plan Stumbles

The State Legislative lines for the 2012 cycle are now set in stone.

Yesterday evening, a judge denied a Democratic request for a preliminary injunction against the redrawn map, which means that there won’t be enough time now for the trial to intervene before primary season begins for the State Senate and State Assembly elections this year.

Legal arguments against the lines based on population variances and other issues will continue, but any impact they have will be for future elections, not this one. Read More

By Colin Campbell 3/26/12 12:20pm

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A Deeper Look at The New Congressional Districts

The data-miners at Daily Kos Elections have taken a thorough look at the court’s new congressional plan and provided a set of tools to better understand the new districts.

These include a Google Maps overlay that allows viewers to zoom all the way in to individual streets, a breakdown of the county percentages of the new districts, and historic performance numbers of statewide candidates in the new seats.

A number of useful facts can be found by combing over these numbers. Read More

By Colin Campbell 3/14/12 11:00am

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Karim Camara (Photo: assembly.state.ny.us)

Camara: Redistricting Map ‘Egregious Assault on the Voting Rights Act’

Assemblyman Karim Camara, who heads New York State’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, announced his caucus’ opposition to the legislative redistricting plan and suggested many legislators will vote to send the plan back to the drawing board today.

Mr. Camara argued the State Senate’s plan violates the Voting Rights Act because it splits minority communities in Long Island, as well as other places, where they could be kept whole.

“We expect it to come to a vote today and we expect … it will have significant opposition to it. But our concern isn’t whether this bill passes or fails,” Mr. Camara told Fred Dicker on his radio show this morning. “Our concern is to use every legal recourse available, including the courts, to challenge the lines, which would include a strong possibility of a lawsuit by the caucus against the lines [regardless of] whatever happens today.” Read More