Redistricting Commission holds second hearing in Queens
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Aminta Kilawan-Narine, the founder of the South Queens Women’s March, spoke in support of keeping Richmond Hill, Ozone Park and South Ozone Park in one Senate and Assembly district before the NYIRC on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. Photo via NYIRC
By Jacob Kaye
For over five hours, Queens residents told the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission how they felt the initial proposed redistricting maps held up to their expectations earlier this week.
Gathered at York College on Wednesday, the commission held its second public meeting in the World’s Borough, gathering input from Queens residents about what they want to see in their new electoral lines.
The first public meeting, which was held virtually in July, saw groups from Central, Eastern and South Queens speak about the ways in which their communities have been historically disassembled among Assembly and Senate Districts, dulling their political power by breaking apart voting blocks.
Wednesday’s meeting saw much of the same testimony.
“For decades these neighborhoods have been sliced and diced into other districts diluting our voice in many levels of governments,” said Heather Beers-Dimitriadis, the co-chair of the Central Queens Redistricting Coalition. “We are asking the commission to understand that these neighborhoods are not arbitrary and need to be kept whole.”
Beers-Dimitriadis’ and others’ testimony focused on the first two sets of draft maps proposed by the commission in September. Though the commission, which is evenly split between Democratic and Republican members, was expected to submit one first draft, it instead submitted too.
For some, it was a move that sparked concern – this is the first time the independent body has been tasked with drawing the electoral lines, a process previously undertaken by elected members of the State Legislature.
Chair of the commission David Imamura began the meeting by addressing the concern and promising that the commission was doing all it can to reach a consensus, something he thinks is possible.
“I want to stress that this process has been extremely challenging,” Imamura said, citing the delay in receiving Census numbers, which largely inform the drawing process, due to the pandemic. “What should have taken a year has been boiled down to four months...but this process has gone fantastically in terms of taking in public input and drawing maps.”
Over 100 Queens residents signed up to speak at Wednesday’s hearing, many from similar organizing groups including APA Voice, South Queens Women’s March and the Central Queens Redistricting Coalition.
A large portion of those giving testimony spoke in support of the Unity Map, a redistricting map created by The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund that attempts to keep majority minority neighborhoods throughout Queens and the city whole.
“Without fair lines that preserve our communities of interest, it impacts our ability to build voting power and to elect representation that is responsive to our community’s needs and advances progress in issues that directly impact us,” said Sanra Choi, the civic participation manager at the MinKwon Center for Community Action in Flushing.
Choi said that she was in support of the Unity Map, which would keep much of the East Asian population in Northeast Queens together in one Senate and Assembly District.
“Compared to the existing State Senate lines that reflect jagged borders, stretching from Central to Eastern Queens, the borders of the Unity Map follow natural boundaries, its lines are compact, contiguous and most importantly, protects our communities of interest,” Choi said.
Asian American voting power was at the center of much of the testimony Wednesday, and for good reason – no other ethnic or racial group grew faster in New York over the past decade, according to the 2020 Census.
Despite a large number of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean immigrants living in Queens and throughout the city, there are currently only two South Asian members of the Assembly.
“Many of my family members and friends, they get excited, they think that they can vote for a candidate of their choice, we talk about that candidate and then they come to find out that candidate is not in their district and that’s a chronic issue in our community,” said Aminta Kilawan-Narine, the founder of the South Queens Women’s March and a resident of South Ozone Park. “This is not about identity politics at South Queens Women’s March specifically, it’s about equity.”
District Leader Richard David spoke in support of the Letters Map, one of the two proposed maps drafted by the commission, and noted specifically that he appreciates how it depicts the electoral borders in South Queens.
“What we’ve asked for for decades finally happened,” David said. “You’ve brought Richmond Hill..South Ozone Park and Ozone Park together for the first time in an Assembly district. That’s a bold and courageous decision and one you should be applauded for.”
However, David had his own criticisms that were echoed in the testimony of other speakers.
Several people, including David, told the commission that no Senate or Assembly district should cover a portion of Queens as well as a portion of Long Island, as several do in both sets of draft maps.
“That is a nonstarter in the current maps,” David said.
Armed with Wednesday’s testimony as well as testimony from counties across the city and state, the IRC will draw a final version of the maps and submit it for review to the legislature by Jan. 15, 2022. The legislature will then vote on the maps. If they are rejected, the commission will draft one more set and submit it back to the lawmakers before Feb. 28.
If those maps are rejected as well, the legislature will be responsible for drafting and passing their own maps.
