Republican members of Nassau’s redistricting commission introduced a new legislative district map Friday, proposing changes that could shift political representation for much of the North Shore.
The proposed map, which was to be subject to discussion and a commission vote at a public hearing Thursday, would place Kings Point and Saddle Rock and part of the Village of Great Neck in a different district than the rest of Great Neck and shift boundaries in New Hyde Park and the Willistons.
The proposal is subject to approval by the full 10-member commission and the county Legislature – a prospect that appears highly unlikely at best.
Democrats will “absolutely” ax the proposal, according to commission member Steven Markowitz (D-Great Neck), who called the map outrageous and partisan.
And in response to the Republican plan, Democrats have drawn up an alternative proposal that largely conforms to the current county map and keeps Great Neck within a single district, but changes Lakeview’s representation.
Commission Chair Francis X. Moroney (R-Carle Place) said the Republican map was fair and a good faith effort to address demographic changes in Nassau.
The commission, which had a $500,000 budget, is split 5-5 between Republicans and Democrats, necessitating bipartisan support for any proposal to pass.
Under the Republican plan, a redrawn 10th district, currently represented by Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck), would no longer include Kings Point, Saddle Rock, all of the Village of Great Neck, Plandome or Munsey Park, instead encompassing the rest of Great Neck, Searingtown and parts of New Hyde Park.
Nassau County Legislator Wink, a Roslyn Democrat who has been talked about as a possible opponent against Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, would move to the 9th District, gaining Old Westbury and part of Jericho to the East while losing Herricks and part of Glenwood Landing.
And Richard Nicolello’s (R-New Hyde Park) new 11th District would lose part of Nicolello’s home village but would extend north in a narrow corridor, including parts of Roslyn Heights and Manhasset as well as Plandome and Kings Point.
Nicolello said as a resident he would prefer to see a unified New Hyde Park, but that the map would ultimately be drawn according to the county’s legal process.
“We’re going to look at the map and we’ll look at what the public has to say within the time that the charter allows us to,” said Nicolello. “I would prefer to see all of New Hyde Park all in one district, but it never has been all in one district.”
The map, drawn up by Republicans on the redistricting advisory commission, is part of a process dating back to 2011 when a plan passed by Republicans in the county Legislature was entangled in court proceedings following opposition by Democrats. Republicans said the changes were needed for the county to comply with changes in population shown in the 2010 census.
The state Court of Appeals ruled that the 2011 plan, which would have split Great Neck and reduced the number of Democratic incumbent districts, was invalid until 2013.
Should the new plan pass the commission, the county Legislature may adopt the recommendations, amend them or draft their own map; if no agreement is reached, the Legislature, which has a 10-9 Republican majority, will have until March 5 to pass a plan.
Moroney said the plan developed by the Republicans on the commission fit all legal requirements for redrawing district and defended the division of Kings Point and Great Neck as a part of the compromise inherent in the redistricting process.
“”There have been dramatic demographic changes since the first map was produced 20 years ago,” Moroney said.
Moroney added that the plan did not take incumbency into account and established three minority districts.
Moroney said the commission’s work has been transparent, pointing to six public hearings held so far. He also criticized Democrats, who he said had failed to present a plan to the public.
When Moroney spoke to Blank Slate Media, the Democrats has not publicly released a map. They have since done so, and both plans were to be discussed at Thursday’s hearing.
According to an email from Moroney, he informed the Democrats on the commission on Monday, Dec. 24 that he would be releasing the Republican map on Friday.
“When you have a lot of competing interests – and certainly districting is partisan in nature – it’s going to cause a little stir,” Moroney said.
County Democratic party chair Jay Jacobs said the plan was a “joke” and doubted that it could pass the Republican controlled Legislature.
“I think they did it to pressure the Democrats… I think it’s a fiction,” Jacobs said. “This is a radical, right-wing Republican power grab.”
Markowitz concurred, saying it would place two pairs of Democratic incumbents – Delia De Riggi-Whitton (Glen Cove) and Judi Jacobs (Woodbury), along with Joseph Scannell (Baldwin) and Dave Denenberg (Merrick) – in the same district.
The commission’s Democratic members would unanimously reject the map, Markowitz said. He blamed Republicans for the lack of unity on the ostensibly bipartisan commission, saying efforts to work together had been rebuffed.
“We have not met once with our Republican counterparts,” Markowitz said. ““The whole thing was a sham.”
The Democrats will introduce their map for consideration at Thursday’s meeting that will change the districts of fewer residents. According to Markowitz, Democrats did not originally intend on drawing their own map, and prepared their proposal after learning that Republicans were going to introduce their plan.
Moroney rejected charges that Republicans had been uncooperative, saying that Democrats’ reluctance to present their map made negotiation impossible.
“What I had said to them was everyone should go and develop a map and talk… you can’t come to the table without a negotiating position,” Moroney said. “They clearly had intended to put out a plan, and to say something else would make a cynic blush.”
Moroney also criticized the Democrats’ proposed shift of Lakeview, a majority Black community, out of a minority district.
“The moving between District 2 and District 5 was something that the Democrats tried to do ten years ago… because of protests within their own party and the minority party they backed away from that,” Moroney said.
Markowitz acknowledged that the Democratic plan is not expected to gain Republican support.
Bosworth released a statement criticizing the plan for its division of Great Neck into two districts.
“I am greatly disappointed in the Republican commissioners’ proposed redistricting map for the Nassau County Legislature. Not only does it remove the villages of Kings Point and Saddle Rock from the 10th Legislative District, it also removes part of the Village of Great Neck, so that this single village will now be represented by two county Legislators,” said Bosworth in the statement. “Our Great Neck peninsula shares common needs and interests and its governmental units act cohesively for the benefit of all residents of the peninsula. In fact, many of our local leaders said just that when they testified before the redistricting commission over these past months. They implored the commissioners to keep the Great Neck peninsula within one legislative district, apparently to no avail. I am puzzled as to why the Republican commissioners seem determined to split the Great Neck peninsula one way or another.”
The splitting of the Great Neck peninsula would not harm residents, according to Moroney. He emphasized that the plan was still subject to a public hearing and legislative approval, leaving opportunities for residents to voice their concerns.
“People don’t move into a community because they live in a particular legislative district,” Moroney said.
Wink was less optimistic about the map’s prospects for approval.
“I think that this plan has absolutely no chance of ever passing,” said Wink. “There are too may districts that violate the cardinal rule of redistricting, that is compactness… it clearly breaks up many of not most communities in this county.”
One such district – the 19th – would stretch east in a narrow band through Garden City, Carle Place, Westbury, Hicksville and Bethpage.
Moroney said the make up of the district was part of the compromises demanded by the redistricting process.
“District 19 is certainly ugly from a drawing point of view, but if you look at all the maps that have been developed over the years they all have developments that raise questions,” said Moroney. “I have said in the beginning of each hearing that districting, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.”
