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Overcast BCA swears in a new group of leaders
At its first public meeting of 2023 last week, the Baldwin Civic Association swore in a new group of officers.
Members gathered at Baldwin High school on Jan. 5 to outline their priorities for the year, and Nassau County Legislator Debra Mulé swore in four new officials — President Kimberly Malone, Vice President Marguerite Keller, Treasurer Colette Carrion and Recording Secretary Erika Hill — and the re-elected corresponding secretary, Mark Prevatt, all of whom were voted in last month.
Malone, who is originally from Chicago but has lived in Baldwin for 20 years, said that the civic association is ready to focus on several initiatives and goals for the community, like working with Town of Hempstead officials to guide Baldwin’s downtown revitalization, which includes projects such as Breslin Realty’s recently approved development, the Grand at Baldwin.
One of the first issues members deliberated on was the proposed redrawing of the Town of Hempstead’s map of its councilmatic districts — which would divide Baldwin into three different districts.
Almost all of northern Baldwin would be in Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby’s district, southern Baldwin would fall in Councilman Christopher Carini’s district, which extends as far East as Wantagh, and a small section of northwestern Baldwin would be in the 4th District, which stretches to Valley Stream and which, until November, was represented by Anthony D’Espo-sito, who was elected to Congress.
Some members said they felt that as drawn, the new districts would not adequately represent the hamlet’s diverse communities, and asked whether the town redistricting commission should reconsider their boundaries.
Baldwin should share districts with communities like Rockville Centre or Freeport, where Baldwin residents shop and dine, they said.
Others described the maps as a textbook example of gerrymandering and “cracking and packing,” the practice of splitting populations into fragments or “packing” a demographic group into one district, by which voting strength among different demographic, or racial, groups can be diluted.
One option that was discussed was pressuring town redistricting officials to keep all of Baldwin in one district. Malone said that would make it easier and more efficient to work with one representative on town projects and initiatives rather than three from separate districts. It would also keep the Baldwin community’s voice more centralized and united, she said.
“We feel that if an official represents smaller parts of Baldwin, with smaller populations, those populations will have less impact in their districts,” Malone said.
A third consideration, she added, is accountability — holding one elected official accountable for town policy that affects Baldwin.
Malone said that association members planned to gather at a hearing of the town’s Temporary Redistricting Commission on Monday night, after the Herald went to press, to express their desire to keep Baldwin united in one town district.
