Sunday, September 19, 2021

Redistricting Commission Preliminary Maps Impact Greenburgh

Redistricting:

The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission released its preliminary maps this past week. Unable to resolve their differences, the Democratic and Republican members of the commission submitted competing proposals. If the Commission ultimately fails to present a single plan, redistricting will be turned over to the Democratic Party-controlled state legislature, whose redistricting plan will almost certainly be approved by the state's Democratic governor.  In other words, the map submitted by the commission's Democratic members should be evaluated as a starting point and the state legislature could potentially gerrymander  a map even more favorable to Democrats.

I.  Congress:  Greenburgh is almost entirely unified in Jamaal Bowman's 16th Congressional District and bids adieu to Mondaire Jones

As I previously predicted, the Congressional map will certainly be changed in ways that impact Greenburgh.  Currently Greenburgh is divided with the villages of Hastings and Ardsley, and the south end of the Ardsley school district and the Edgemont School Districts in unincorporated Greenburgh in the 16th Congressional district (represented by Jamaal Bowman) with the remainder  (the villages of Elmsford, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Tarrytown as well as Hartsdale and Fairview and the remainder of unincorporated Greenburgh) in the 17th Congressional district (represented by Mondaire Jones).











Current 16th/17th District Boundary in the Town of Greenburgh

As expected, the Commission pushed the current Congressional districts north, with Bowman almost entirely losing his base in The Bronx but gaining much of central Westchester.   Mondaire Jones, on the other hand, lost much of central Westchester as his 17th district expanded north to include Putnam County.  

Under the redistricting Commission proposal, Bowman's 16th would now include nearly all of Greenburgh except the north half of the  village of Tarrytown and the North Elmsford neighborhoods in the Pocantico Hills School District.  If this plan is enacted, the 16th would now cover all of Greenburgh except for about 7,000 (about 8%) of residents on the town's northern edge, by moving about 60,000  Greenburgh residents from the 17th to the 16th district  (this is a rough estimate).











NY Ind. Redistricting Comm. Democratic members' proposal- 16th: green; 17th: blue

Summary: Under this redistricting proposal, the large majority of Town of Greenburgh residents who were not already in the 16th will be saying goodbye to Mondaire Jones after just two years and welcoming  Jamaal Bowman as Congressman (assuming of course that Bowman does not lose the June 2022 Democratic primary in a newly reconfigured 16th district). 

II.    State Senate:

Currently, all of Greenburgh is within the 30th Senate district represented by State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.  Thankfully, Greenburgh's senate district appears to be unchanged by the Commission's Democratic Members.

III. State Assembly

Currently, all of Greenburgh lies within the 92nd Assembly district represented by Assemblyman Tom Abinanti.  The 92nd also includes the Town of Mount Pleasant.  Greenburgh stays unified in a reconfigured assembly districts that loses much of Mount Pleasant and extends south to include a strip of Yonkers bordering the Hudson.  The Democratic Commission members proposal however adds uncertainty because (as I understand) Tom Abinanti's current residence lies outside the borders of the assembly district he has represented since 2011.  These lines, however, are initial proposals and are far from certain.  



  








Proposed 92nd Assembly District 

1 comment:

  1. Does this mean we may soon be rid of Abinanti? Huge if true!

    ReplyDelete