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, recently offered no recommendation to the Legislature when it was supposed to, because the two plans put forth by Democratic and Republican commissioners were deadlocked in a vote along party lines.
The Democratic plan, citing population changes, redrew the lines of all 19 voting districts, while the Republican proposal shifted only a few boundaries in six districts.
According to the Democratic plan, North Bellmore, now mostly in Norma Gonsalves's 13th District, would be realigned with Bellmore in David Denenberg's 19th District. The Republican proposal wouldn't change lines in North Bellmore.
N. Merrick out
Denenberg (D-Merrick) cited public testimony at hearings held last fall that indicated a strong interest in uniting the Bellmores.
He also said that a goal of redistricting was to keep communities whole when possible. "The Bellmores and Merricks share a high school district," he said. "The county wants to keep school district lines and legislative district lines similar."
However, despite Democrats' assertions that keeping communities together was a top priority during the redistricting process, under their plan, North Merrick would remain outside District 19, which encompasses the rest of Merrick. North Merrick would stay in District 13, which Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) represents.
Denenberg explained North Merrick's exclusion from District 19 as a matter of practicality. "If North Merrick was added to District 19, it would become too populous, and district overpopulation leads to this redistricting in the first place," he said.
"If my district acquired North Merrick, it would have to lose its portion of Freeport. The only adjoining districts that could take this area of Freeport are minority areas. Adding this area would make these districts less minority, and since those districts' legislators have balked at losing parts of their minority communities under redistricting, this is not an option."
Denenberg also said that, with current lines, his district has more North Bellmore schools than North Merrick schools, so consolidating the Bellmores makes more sense than doing so with the Merricks.
Denenberg (D-Merrick) has mixed feelings about the possibility of redistricting North Bellmore, which he would take over if the Democratic plan went through. "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 represents 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."
subhead: Reasons for redistricting
Redistricting was deemed necessary after U.S. Census figures showed an increase in population in a few districts, mostly in District 2, that far exceeded the county average.
To determine the number of citizens per district, the county population was divided by 19. According to a state Supreme Court ruling, the number is permitted to be 5 percent above or below average to maintain district integrity. District 2 now exceeds the average by more than 12 percent.
According to Steve Lester, a Democratic redistricting commissioner, the one-person, one-vote principle requires that districts remain more or less evenly populated. "As a result of shifting the boundaries for overpopulated districts, many other districts had to be redrawn," he said.
subhead: Radical change?
"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 redistricting commissioner, 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 2 within legal limits.
"Districts 1 and 2, both in need of redistricting," Kiernan said, "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 there is no legal reason to change the 13 districts that are within the county average. "There is no reason to break up North Bellmore and divide it among two legislators," he said about the Democratic proposal. "It is merely part of a county-wide gerrymandering effort."
Although the Legislature is now Democrat-led, 10 to 9, it likely will not pass the Democratic redistricting plan unchanged. Democrats Roger Corbin, of District 2, and Kevan Abrams, of District 1, have openly opposed the Democratic plan that moves parts of their minority districts into other areas.
If the Democratic majority, however, can develop an amended plan acceptable to Corbin and Abrams, it stands an excellent chance of passing a plan similar to the Democratic commissioners' original proposal.
Republicans have also complained that the Democratic blueprint is vague at best and the map indiscernible. Joseph Scaleri, Republican deputy director of the commission and a minority appointee, 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 agreed that the map is unclear. "According to the map, it is very difficult to determine what would be in District 13 or 19," she said. "It's hard to read with no boundaries."
Gonsalves noted the lack of a commission recommendation and described the redistricting process as "at a standstill." She offered no other comment.
The current district lines were originally drawn by a Republican-dominated Legislature. When federal Judge Arthur Spatt ruled in 1993 that the Nassau Board of Supervisors had to be replaced by a legislature, a measure made law by public referendum in 1994, 15 of the 19 districts were Republican.
