On September 7 the NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment rolled into Queens. A strange name for a committee charged with the task of drawing new legislative district lines following the 2010 census.
Although a majority of state legislators actively endorsed former Mayor Koch’s call for an independent legislative redistricting process, this is not what we got. Where are the voices that promised an independent redistricting commission? Of course, nowhere to be found now that the two parties begin drawing district lines that will insure the re-election of these politicians over the next 10 years? When we elect the same people, time and time again, why should we expect different results?
As President of Glen Oaks Village, a co-op that is home to 3,000 families in eastern Queens, I testified before this legislative committee. I told them that Queens is a borough of diverse communities and neighborhoods and it is essential that these neighborhoods remain intact and not split up in the redistricting process. In the past Glen Oaks Village has been cut into separate legislative districts, which has hurt our ability to speak with one voice and lessened the political potency of our residents.
I urged the committee to pay particular attention to the neighborhoods in which legislative district lines are being drawn. These are not merely streets and avenues, but are real-live communities of individuals whose neighborhoods must remain undivided in the legislative redistricting process. Respecting the integrity of civic associations and keeping neighborhoods together must be an essential component of any re-districting process and must trump the political goal of designing election districts merely to re-elect incumbents.
Bob Friedrich
Glen Oaks Village
