By Howard Goldstein
The Nassau Temporary District Advisory Commission, comprising five Democrats, five Republicans and a non-voting chairperson, was set up to recommend new district lines for the county Legislature, as required by law. The commission, however, made no recommendation to the Legislature, as the two plans that it put forth respectively by Democrats and Republicans were both deadlocked in a vote along party lines.
The Democratic plan, citing changes in population, redrew the lines of all 19 voting districts, while the Republican plan shifted only a few boundaries in six districts.
Redistricting was deemed necessary after U.S. Census figures showed an increase in population in a few districts, mostly in District Two, that far exceeded the county average.
To ascertain the number of citizens per district, the county-wide population is divided by 19. According to a state Supreme Court ruling, the number is permitted to be 5 percent above or below average to maintain neighborhood integrity.
District Two now exceeds the average by more than 12 percent.
According to the district proposal put forth by the Democratic Commissioners, North Bellmore, now mostly in Norma Gonsalves' 13th District, would be redistricted with Bellmore in David Denenberg's 19th District.
According to Steve Lester, a Democrat on the commission, the most important factor in redistricting is "the one person, one vote" principle that necessitates the districts being more or less evenly populated.
"As a result of shifting the boundaries for overpopulated districts, many other districts had to be redrawn," he said.
"The changes in North Bellmore came about primarily from public hearings in which considerable evidence was presented that the people of North Bellmore want to be grouped with Bellmore, as they are one community," Lester said.
John Kiernan, a Republican who served on the commission, said Democrats wanted to radically redraw every line in the county, when in reality only a few boundary shifts were necessary to bring overpopulated District Two within legal limits.
"Districts One and Two, both in need of redistricting, are strongly Democratic minority districts, but the Democratic plan threw pieces of these districts into Republican areas to make those districts more Democratic," Kiernan said.
Kiernan said there is no legal reason to change the 13 of the 19 districts that are within the county average.
"There is no reason to break up North Bellmore and divide it among two legislators," Kiernan said about the Democratic proposal. "It is merely part of a county-wide gerrymandering effort."
Denenberg (D-Merrick) has mixed feelings about the possibility of redistricting North Bellmore.
"On one hand, I'm very excited about the prospect of legislating for North Bellmore and being able to think about the Bellmores as a whole community, " said Denenberg, who now legislates for Bellmore, "but I am also upset about the prospect of leaving Seaford and Wantagh [currently part of District 19, which would be reassigned], communities I've long worked with. After all the projects in those communities, it would be rough to not get to be their legislator any longer."
Denenberg also cited public testimony at the hearings held last fall that indicated a strong interest in uniting the Bellmores.
"The goal is to have neighborhoods spread into fewer districts," he said, "and the Bellmores and Merricks share a high school district. The county wants to keep school district lines and legislative district lines similar."
Despite the commission submitting no recommendation, a plan must be approved by March, and the county Legislature has complete power over what plan becomes law. Even if a plan had been approved by the commission, it would only be a recommendation and would in no way bind the Legislature.
Although the Legislature is now Democratic-led 10-9, it is unlikely that the original plan put forth by Democrats will pass unamended.
Democrats Roger Corbin, of District Two, and Kevan Abrams, of District One, have openly opposed the Democratic plan that moves parts of their minority districts into other areas.
If the Democratic majority, however, can propose an amended plan acceptable to Corbin and Abrams, they have an excellent chance of passing something similar to the original proposal.
Republicans have also complained that the Democratic plan is vague at best and the map indiscernible.
Joe Scaleri, Republican deputy director minority appointee to the commission, said the map is inadequate. "The Democratic map is a map of the county with lines, but shows no details, and the Democrats have refused to release their data for their guess work," he said.
Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) agrees that the map is unclear.
"According to the map, it is very difficult to determine what would be in District 13 or 19. It's hard to read with no boundaries," she said.
Gonsalves noted the lack of a commission recommendation and described the redistricting process as a " at a standstill." She would offer no other comment at this time.
Scaleri also said that the claim by Democrats that only two new districts have been given a new Democratic edge is misleading because it would potentially bump the number of Democratic seats from 10 to 12. These new lines would be law until the next redistricting, which could be years away.
But Democrats say that Republican concern over districting objectivity is disingenuous.
"Republicans want the lines to stay the same, because they drew those lines in the first place," Denenberg said.
The current district lines were originally drawn up by a Republican-dominated Legislature. When federal Judge Arthur Spatt ruled that the Nassau Board of Supervisors had to be replaced by a legislature in 1993, a measure made law by public referendum in 1994, 15 of the 19 districts were Republican.
"The actual proposal is not 'vague,' and clearly outlines the legislative districts. The Democrat plan is aimed at keeping school districts and communities together, while accommodating the population growth of some areas," said Denenberg.
He also noted that the needs of minority neighborhoods led by Corbin and Abrams would help determine changes that Democrats would likely propose to the original plan.
According to Democrats and some residents, the splitting of North Bellmore would keep the Bellmores together as one community. It would also unite East Meadow under Norma Gonsalves.
Republicans and some other residents consider the measure to be breaking up the community of North Bellmore.
Bill Christensen, president of the North Bellmore Civic Association, has reservations about splitting North Bellmore. "We have a long and close association with Norma Gonsalves," he said. "She is a real advocate for North Bellmore, has long been our legislator, has worked heavily with the civic association, and we don't want to lose her as our legislator.
"The majority of people from my group who voiced an opinion did not approve of any plan that removed Norma from North Bellmore. Of course, other members of the community like the idea of keeping the Bellmores together. "
Christensen added that he is not at all upset at the prospect of having Denenberg as a legislator.
"It's not that we don't want Dave, just that we don't want to lose Norma. Dave is also a good friend of North Bellmore, and has often worked with us on many important initiatives."
Richard Schary, of North Bellmore, who has worked closely with Gonsalves in developing a hiking/bicycling path through the Bellmore-Wantagh area, is adamantly opposed to splitting North Bellmore in two.
"In North Bellmore," he said, "we have two Assembly districts, two state Senate districts, we have two Congressional districts. We even have two town districts...Because we have only one legislative district, we don't want to lose it."
The 13th Legislative District, he said, provides North Bellmore with a "sense of identity."
ITAL -Scott Brinton contributed to this story. UNITAL
