The New York City Districting Commission announced hearing dates for city residents to testify on the Preliminary Plan of 51 City Council districts published at the beginning of July.
The public hearings for New Yorkers to testify on the Preliminary Plan are scheduled for:
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DATE & TIME |
VENUE & BOROUGH |
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Tues., Aug. 16 5:30 to 9 pm |
Museum of the Moving Image, Sumner Redstone Theater, 36-01 35 Ave Astoria, Queens 11106
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Wed., Aug. 17 5:30 to 9 pm |
Lehman College (CUNY), Gillet Auditorium, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West, The Bronx 10468
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Thurs., Aug. 18 5:30 to 9 pm |
Staten Island Borough Hall, 10 Richmond Terrace Rm 125
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Sun., Aug 21 3:30 to 7 pm |
Medgar Evers College (CUNY), School of Science Health & Technology, Dining Hall, 1638 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn.11225
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Mon., Aug. 22 5:30 to 9 pm |
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm Blvd., Harlem, Manhattan, 10037 |
To date, 60,000 people have viewed the preliminary plan maps available on the commission website at nyc.gov/districting since they were published on July 15th. And five hundred people testified in person, by zoom, or email during the first round of public hearings at the beginning of the summer.
The City is in the middle of the districting process. A new City Council plan is drawn every ten years following the U.S. Census to bring the city into compliance with the Constitutional doctrine of one-person, one vote, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the charter of the City of New York.
Residents who would like to submit maps for their testimony may draw their own maps using DistrictR, a mapping tool available on the commission website at nyc.gov/districting
The city’s population grew 8.2 million in 2010 to 8.8 million in 2020, according to the Census, an increase the size of the city of Detroit. To reflect this growth and bring the city in line with federal, state, and local laws the new preliminary plan raises the average number of residents per City Council district from 160,710 to 172,882. These population parameters are built into DistrictR.
The Commission will hold these five hearings in each of the boroughs to receive more public testimony on the Preliminary Plan. Besides testifying in person or by Zoom at the meetings, the public may submit written testimony and maps by by email to PublicTestimony@redistricting.nyc.gov, and by mail at NYC Districting Commission, 253 Broadway, 3rd Floor, NY, NY 10007.
