The streets in the red areas on the map would no longer be in Assembly District 44.
Submit comments online by April 1st at https://www.nyirc.gov/participate.
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Update, February 15, 2023: Today's Kings County hearing is archived at totalwebcasting.com/view/?func=VIEW&id=nysirc&date=2023-02-15&seq=1.
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Most of Kensington and the entirety of Windsor Terrace have been in the same Assembly District for decades. In spite of that, the Independent Redistricting Commission has proposed a plan that would chop off several streets in both neighborhoods and stick them in a different Assembly District, where they'd be overwhelmed by the needs of the larger neighborhoods of Red Hook and Sunset Park.
Residents living between Caton Avenue and 8th Avenue, from McDonald Avenue to the Prospect Expressway, and residents living between Fort Hamilton Parkway and 15th Avenue, from Dahill Road to 39th Street, would be moved out of Assembly District 44.
As we're hearing the bad news about part of us getting dumped into AD 51, Park Slope is getting this good news: the redrawn map greatly expands the boundaries of District 44 so that it includes the bulk of Park Slope. ("See How Park Slope's Assembly Districts Change In New Maps" https://patch.com/new-york/parkslope/see-how-park-slope-s-assembly-districts-change-new-maps)
So, not only will the southwest portion of Windsor Terrace be negatively affected, but the portion of Windsor Terrace that remains in AD 44 will be too, as AD 44's Park Slope constituency grows and yours shrinks. Park Slope will get even more of a voice as you get less, simply because of its size.
This is we need: people who will testify in favor of keeping Kensington and Windsor Terrace whole, either in person or by submitting a comment online. When you can do either of those--testify in person or submit a comment online--please notify Dan Campanelli at the office of 44th District Assemblymember Robert (Bobby) Carroll. Dan's phone number is 917-586-7182.
From Assemblymember Carroll's office:
The IRC (Independent Redistricting Commission), in their proposed draft Assembly Plan, cut Windsor Terrace in half and put them in the 51st AD. It's really important we have people testify to the commission on February 15th to make sure they know how important it is that we keep Windsor Terrace with Park Slope and Kensington in one contiguous district, as has largely been the case for 30+ years.Here is some background, with information about the hearing below and some sample testimony and a copy of the map with the portions they've drawn out highlighted in red.The ongoing redistricting process for Assembly District lines is continuing. While our lines for 2023-2024 are set, due to a court order, the lines for the following eight years (2025-2032) still need to be drawn. On December 1st, New York’s redistricting commission released their proposed Assembly District Map.There are a number of issues with the map, but the biggest for the 44th Assembly District is that the commission cuts Windsor Terrace into two Assembly Districts, by making the Prospect Expressway the dividing line, rather than the natural boundary of Green-Wood Cemetery. Additionally, the commission draws a dividing line at Dahill Road instead of Fort Hamilton Parkway, cutting out several blocks in Kensington, which have been in the 44th AD for decades.We are asking the commission to restore Green-Wood Cemetery along 20th Street to be the western border of the 44th AD, not the Prospect Expressway as in the draft plan, and Green-Wood Cemetery along McDonald Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway out to 39th Street as the northern boundary between the 44th and 51st ADs.This is a shift of only a few blocks but makes complete sense geographically. Without this change, the portions of Kensington and Windsor Terrace cut out of the 44th AD will be a small afterthought in the 51st AD, divided from that district by the hundreds of acres of Green-Wood Cemetery.The 51st AD contains most of the thriving neighborhood of Sunset Park and Red Hook, and those neighborhoods historically dominate that district. The inevitable result of the draft plan is that the few blocks of Windsor Terrace and Kensington attached to the vast bulk of Sunset Park and Red Hook will be underserved.Beyond that, there are some blocks in Prospect Park South that they cut out, particularly Westminster Road to Rugby Road between Church Avenue and Albemarle Road, which could be restored by simply drawing the dividing line on Church Avenue rather than Albemarle Road.
In addition, there are a number of blocks in Kensington and West Midwood that have been cut out, even though they have also been in the district for 30 years.Here [at the top of this blog post] is a map of the IRC-proposed district, with the areas that they intend to remove highlighted in red.The Commission is holding public hearings around the state to get input from New Yorkers. The hearing for Brooklyn is taking place on February 15th at Medgar Evers College, and it would help a lot if you would come out and testify to keep Windsor Terrace and Kensington together with Park Slope in the 44th Assembly District.See full details on the hearing below. You must register here to give testimony in person (https://www.nyirc.gov/register).While it would be best for you to attend in person, if you cannot, you may still participate by submitting a comment here (https://www.nyirc.gov/participate) by April 1st.Wednesday, February 15, 20234:00 PMKings County Public HearingLocation: Medgar Evers College (CUNY)Founders Auditorium 1650 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11225*Proof of vaccination/negative COVID test within 7 days required.Please Note: sign-up for this meeting ends at 4:00 PM February 14th 2023.Thanks, and please let me know if you're willing to testify in person and/or submit comment and let me know if you have questions.Thanks a lot,Dan917 586 7182-------------------------------------------------------------
Sample Draft Testimony to IRC Members of the Commission
This can also be adapted for posting comments online.
Windsor Terrace/Kensington
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. My name is ______________. I reside in Windsor Terrace/Kensington and am speaking on behalf of myself and my community.My comments will focus on your plan for the 44th Assembly District and, specifically, your decision to place portions of the neighborhoods of Windsor Terrace and Kensington in two different Assembly Districts, the 44th and the 51st. We believe both neighborhoods should be wholly within the 44th AD, as they have been historically.Your decision to put portions of both Windsor Terrace and Kensington into different Assembly Districts makes both impacted ADs less compact and contiguous and also divides two long-established and discrete communities with common interests, demographics, and a history of positive civic activism.Simply stated, it is contrary to many of the bedrock principles which should guide fair redistricting and good government.Specifically, we ask that you make Green-Wood Cemetery along 20th Street the western border of the 44th AD, not the Prospect Expressway as in the draft plan, and Green-Wood Cemetery along McDonald Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway out to 39th Street the northern boundary between the 44th and 51st ADs. This is a shift of only a few blocks but makes complete sense geographically.Without this change, the portions of Kensington and Windsor Terrace cut out of the 44th AD will be a small afterthought in the 51st AD, divided from that district by the hundreds of acres of Greenwood Cemetery.The 51st AD contains the entirety of the thriving neighborhood of Sunset Park and that neighborhood historically dominates that district. The inevitable result of the draft plan is that the few blocks of Windsor Terrace and Kensington attached to the vast bulk of Sunset Park will be underserved.The proposed plan also dilutes the ability of vital neighborhood institutions to advocate on behalf of their respective constituents. Two local elementary schools, P.S. 130 and P.S. 230, several local places of worship, such as Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church, the Flatbush Jewish Center, which, despite its name, is in Kensington, and the Darul Jannah Masjid and Masjid Nur Al-Islam will all see their catchment areas, now wholly within the 44th AD, divided between the 44th and the 51st AD.This is especially troublesome with respect to the mosques which serve the growing South Asian community in Kensington and will now have to petition two different Assemblymembers rather than having a single point of contact.Historically, the entirety of the two discrete, cohesive, and well-defined neighborhoods of Kensington and Windsor Terrace have been in the same Assembly District. This is true since at least the reapportionment following the 1970 census.Indeed, the phone number for the local Assembly District Office has remained unchanged since 1974, and many of my friends and neighbors have told me that they have it memorized or on their speed dial. This is not just an interesting but irrelevant tidbit, it is testimony to the fact that, at least in Brooklyn, the Assembly District is the smallest unit of government and, traditionally, the most responsive to local needs.In the 1950s, Robert Moses built the Prospect Expressway and inflicted a still-obvious scar on Windsor Terrace and Kensington. The people of Windsor Terrace and Kensington banded together and protested Moses’ plan, but unlike more affluent neighborhoods, such as Brooklyn Heights and Greenwich Village, they lost, and the Prospect Expressway was built.Moses’ wound, however, drew the Windsor Terrace and Kensington communities closer together, and over the following decades, they jointly fought and defeated repeated ill-advised rezoning proposals to first permit large-scale manufacturing and then residential overdevelopment in these thriving working class neighborhoods.We ask that you not reopen the wound Robert Moses inflicted. Please make Greenwood Cemetery, not the Prospect Expressway, the boundary between the 44th AD and the 51st AD. Please keep Windsor Terrace and Kensington intact.Thank you for your time.
