By Anthony Rifilato
At a public hearing last Tuesday, David Stonehill, an attorney from Merrick, criticized the board for what he said was a map that was "riddled with errors," and said that more information about the scheduled hearing should have been given to the media. "This map is presented to the public with inadequate data," said Stonehill. "Members of the Town Council owe residents more."
Although Town Supervisor Kate Murray said that the hearing was legally advertised, residents criticized the process and said that in order to gauge the impact of redrawn council lines, more than one hearing should have been held.
"This map is the product of a closed-door process," Stonehill said, adding that the lines "wreak havoc" in the current districts and that election districts are not included in the map.
Others told the board they were put through a daunting and complicated process in order to get information, and one resident said he was forced to pay $4 for a copy of the new map at the town clerk's office, which Clerk Mark Bonilla said shouldn't have happened.
Others, like Barbara Patton, a Democrat who chaired Nassau County's Redistricting Committee and is running for town supervisor, said more should have been done to notify the public. "The inference that the public couldn't participate is a negative for this process," Patton said.
Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, who had initially opposed the map, said she was satisfied with the amount of census data provided and new lines. "I am happy to say that the current plan is respectful to voting-rights concerns," Goosby said.
Under the new map, Goosby will pick up five election districts in northeast Baldwin, but members of the Baldwin Oaks Community Association were not even aware that the town council lines were being redrawn. "I only heard about the county's [redistricting hearings], I heard nothing about the town's," said Jackie Bell, president of BOCA. "It should have been publicized more."
Previously, Town Councilman Anthony Santino was the sole Town of Hempstead representative in Baldwin and South Hempstead, but under the new map he will now represent 29 election districts in Baldwin, down from his previous 34. Santino still holds three election districts in South Hempstead.
"I fought very hard so that Baldwin remained intact," said Santino, who also picks up a significant portion of Lynbrook on the new map.
Asked if the siphoned election districts would dilute Baldwin's political voice, as some community groups have argued, Santino said that he still represents the vast majority of Baldwin despite the minor changes.
"I'm very committed to the future of Baldwin," said Santino, who added that the new lines weren't dissimilar from the redrawn county map, in which two election districts in north Baldwin went to Legislator Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead). "These districts are basically the same as they were before," said Santino.
Although the lines are configured using the 2000 census data and must conform to the Voting Rights Act, community groups in Baldwin have fought tenaciously for one representative at the state, county and town levels, saying that it strengthens the unincorporated village's political voice.
"We have been advocating for all of Baldwin to be in one district," said Doris Duffy, a member of the Baldwin Community Association, who said that she found out about the hearing only a day before. While Duffy said she understands that Baldwin's lines where redrawn based on census data, she said that the BCA maintains that it is "better to have all of a community in one district."
"We wanted one representative from each level of government," Duffy said.
