‘Stop dividing us’: Queens shares hopes for redistricting
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Though they are connected by community, Richmond Hill, South Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park are broken up into seven assembly districts, Queens residents testified at the Independent Redistricting Commission hearing Thursday. Map via NYC.gov
By Jacob Kaye
Queens, the most diverse county in the United States, is filled with tightly-knit communities. But it would be hard to identify the boundaries of those communities by looking at an electoral map of the borough, residents told the New York Independent Redistricting Commission Thursday.
Over 100 Queens residents testified at the commission’s first Queens-based virtual hearing on redistricting this week and shared their thoughts on how the current electoral maps are drawn and how they wish to see them drawn in the near future.
Embarking on a constitutionally mandated listening tour, the commission heard testimony from Queens residents who overwhelmingly said their communities have been divided, their voices damped and their electoral power quashed by arbitrary lines drawn to serve a political purpose.
“My community has been gerrymandered for way too long,” said Aminta Kilawan-Narine, who lives in South Queens. “The lines divide us in a way that dilutes our ability to be a strong voice...Stop dividing us, keep us whole. This isn’t about identity politics, it’s about fairness, equity and justice.”
Despite sharing a large South Asian and Indo-Caribbean community, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park and South Ozone Park are divided among seven assembly districts and were the subject of well over a dozen Queens residents’ testimony at the hearing.
John Albert, a founding board member of nonprofit organization Taking Our Seat, said that Hillside Avenue may serve as a strong connection for the community but it's not recognized as such on an electoral map.
“That area is not just a road, it’s a spine of a community and that community is predominantly home to people form the Asian continent and the Asian subcontinent,” Albert said. “What we are asking is that this part of Richmond Hill be kept together… I think you can do justice for these communities.”
While the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean community that populates the area has grown larger since the last lines were drawn a decade ago, the community has been there for nearly 50 years. It began to grow in the 1970s, when a large group of Indian Americans began to move into the neighborhood to practice medicine at nearby hospitals, Albert said.
Last month, a section of Richmond Hill on Liberty Avenue from Woodhaven Boulevard to the Van Wyck Expressway was officially named Little Guyana, recognizing the sizable population of Guyanese residents who call it home. The area is also home to Little Punjab. Residents said it’s time the neighborhoods be recognized on an electoral map, as well.
Richard David, who testified at the hearing and was one of the organizers behind the neighborhood’s renaming, said that the area’s split districting has real consequences.
“During the COVID-19 crisis, we were the last to get vaccines and PPE,” David said. “Nowhere in New York City will you experience [seven different assembly districts] in a 10 minute drive.”
Also a focus of Queens residents’ testimony to the redistricting commission was Rego Park and, in general, Central Queens, which is divided into several districts. When issues arise in the neighborhood, there isn’t one elected official to turn to to get the problem resolved, residents said.
“I wanted to tell you about our cohesive neighborhood community because the current district lines split us up,” said Raj Korpan. “Right now our senators and assembly members are focused on other parts of the district and ignore Central Queens.”
Korpan, like several others who testified, blamed the dividing lines on former lawmakers who drew the districts in a way to preserve their own political power.
“Voters should pick their representatives, not representatives picking their voters,” Korpan said. “We believe in mutual respect and that the redistricting processes should be left up to the people.”
Joby Jacob, an associate professor at LaGuardia Community College, put it bluntly.
“Districts in Queens sure look like they're drawn to crack the Asian and Hispanic vote,” Jacob said. “The majority minority community [in Eastern Queens] is growing and it’s important the person representing this growing community is answerable to the community and ultimately looks like that community.”
“Representation is important,” he added.
The Independent Redistricting Commission was formed in 2014 in anticipation of this year’s once-in-a-decade redistricting processes. The commission is made up of 10 members – four Democrats, four Republicans and a chair and vice chair. It’s led by two co-executive directors.
Thursday’s meeting was the second overall held by the commission and the first in Queens.
Census data, which largely informs the lines for redistricting as each district needs an equal number of residents, will be released in August and the commission will begin to draw the first round of its electoral maps and release them by Sept. 15.
Based on the drafts, the commission will solicit a second round of public input and Queens residents will again have an opportunity to testify on how they feel the lines should be drawn.
The commission will then draw up a second and final version of the maps and present them to the state legislature for approval in January 2022. If the legislature rejects the proposal twice, the lawmakers will be responsible for drawing their own electoral maps.
Queens residents can continue to submit testimony on the redistricting process by heading to nyirc.gov.
Correction: The Independent Redistricting Commission is made up of four Democratic members and four Republican members. An earlier version of this story said their were five members from each party.
