Photo Courtesy of the City Districting Commission
The commission’s first stage of mapmaking produced a Preliminary Plan which commissioners voted to publish on July 15.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The City Districting Commission is now sifting through more than 8,300 submissions it received from residents to help the panel further refine proposed City Council district maps.
The commission was established by the City Charter to draw a City Council plan every 10 years following the U.S. Census. This process ensures that council districts reflect population and demographic changes, the commission noted.
The commission’s first stage of mapmaking produced a Preliminary Plan which commissioners voted to publish on July 15. This is the plan about which so many New Yorkers have been sharing their comments.
We made a decision early in the process that we were going to throw as wide a net as possible to solicit public opinion for the Preliminary Plan,” said Commission Chairman Dennis Walcott. “We had such a tremendous response we had to extend our Queens hearing past midnight and added a morning Zoom hearing because demand to testify was so high. And we’re still receiving testimonials by mail and online daily.”
To get a head start, the commission has been tracking responses to the Preliminary Plan since it was published. Now it is preparing to revise the Preliminary Plan based on this public testimony to create a Revised Plan.
The commission is projected to vote on this Revised Plan and submit it to the City Council by late September.
The commission’s website is nyc.gov/districting. Public testimony can still be submitted by email to publictestimony@redistricting.nyc.gov or by mail to 253 Broadway, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10007.
