1 --------------------------------------------------X 2 CITY OF NEW YORK 2022-2023 DISTRICTING COMMISSION 3 PUBLIC MEETING 4 TO VOTE ON PROPOSED DISTRICTING PLAN 5 --------------------------------------------------X 6 22 Reade Street 7 New York, New York 8 DATE: September 22, 2022 TIME: 11:01 a.m. 9 10 11 PUBLIC MEETING in the above-referenced 12 matter, held at the above-mentioned time and 13 location, before Sabrina Brown Stewart, a Notary 14 Public of the State of New York. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 LH REPORTING SERVICES, INC. Computer-Aided Transcription (718)526-7100 2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 COMMISSIONERS: 3 DENNIS M. WALCOTT, Chair 4 YOVAN SAMUEL COLLADO 5 HON. MARILYN D. GO 6 KEVIN JOHN HANRATTY 7 MARIA MATEO, ESQ. 8 JOSHUA SCHNEPS 9 LISA SORIN 10 MONSIGNOR KEVIN SULLIVAN 11 KAI-KI WONG 12 MAF MISBAH UDDIN 13 MICHAEL SCHNALL 14 KRISTEN JOHNSON 15 GREGORY W. KIRSCHENBAUM 16 MARC WURZEL 17 DR. DARRIN K. PORCHER 18 19 SENIOR STAFF: 20 DR. JOHN FLATEAU, Executive Director 21 GRACE PYUN, General Counsel 22 JOSEPH MALIGNO, Deputy Executive Director 23 ALI RASOULINEJAD, Chief of Staff 24 EDDIE BORGES, Communications Director 25 LATOYA BENJAMIN, Deputy Chief of Staff 3 1 CHAIR WALCOTT: Good morning, all. It 2 is a pleasure and honor to be here. It is 3 now 11:01, and we want to start on time, 4 and -- is Joseph around? So, Joseph can call 5 the roll and then we'll take off from there. 6 There's Joseph coming out right now. 7 Joseph. 8 MR. MALIGNO: Good morning. 9 CHAIR WALCOTT: Good morning, sir. 10 MR. MALIGNO: So, I will conduct the 11 roll call for today, starting off with Dennis 12 Walcott. 13 CHAIR WALCOTT: I am definitely 14 present. 15 MR. MALIGNO: Kai-Ki Wong? 16 COMMISSIONER WONG: Present. 17 MR. MALIGNO: Marilyn Go? 18 (No response). 19 MR. MALIGNO: Kristen Johnson? 20 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Present. 21 MR. MALIGNO: Maf Uddin? 22 COMMISSIONER UDDIN: Present. 23 MR. MALIGNO: Yovan Collado? 24 COMMISSIONER COLLADO: Present. 25 MR. MALIGNO: Lisa Sorin? 4 1 CHAIR WALCOTT: She's finding a spot 2 right now. 3 MR. MALIGNO: Marc Wurzel? 4 COMMISSIONER WURZEL: Present. 5 MR. MALIGNO: Kevin Hanratty? 6 COMMISSIONER HANRATTY: Present. 7 MR. MALIGNO: Maria Mateo? 8 COMMISSIONER MATEO: Present. 9 MR. MALIGNO: Joshua Schneps? 10 (No response). 11 MR. MALIGNO: Kevin Sullivan? 12 COMMISSIONER SULLIVAN: Present. 13 MR. MALIGNO: Gregory Kirschenbaum? 14 (No response). 15 MR. MALIGNO: Michael Schnall? 16 COMMISSIONER SCHNALL: Present, 17 virtually. 18 MR. MALIGNO: Thank you. 19 Darrin Porcher? 20 COMMISSIONER PORCHER: Present, 21 virtually. Thanks for starting on time. 22 MR. MALIGNO: And that is the roll call 23 for today. 24 CHAIR WALCOTT: And thank you. And as 25 others join us, we'll have them introduce 5 1 themselves to the audience and to the general 2 public as well. And one of the things I'll 3 talk about in several minutes, not at this 4 moment, is the commitment of the group of 5 commissioners who are sitting here and who 6 are also part of our virtual world. 7 And why I say that, because we have one 8 of our commissioners who's sitting in a 9 waiting room at the airport right now. And 10 so, I know he's on a clock, so we don't want 11 to be accused of having him miss his plane. 12 So, Commissioner Schnall, we will 13 adjust our program accordingly and give you 14 the appropriate time in a little while, 15 before you have to catch your transportation 16 to your flight. 17 And with that being said, I'd like to 18 turn it over to our Executive Director, the 19 outstanding Dr. John Flateau. 20 Dr. Flateau. 21 DR. FLATEAU: Thank you, Mr. Chair and 22 Commission. Good morning, Commissioners. 23 Good morning, New Yorkers. 24 The Executive Director's Report is the 25 item that I'm about to share with you. It is 6 1 a narrative of the district by district 2 changes from the preliminary plan from 3 July 15th to the proposed revised plan that 4 is under consideration at this meeting today. 5 This proposed revised plan is the collective 6 work of your commissioners, and the bright 7 and best staff of New York in the City of New 8 York, and I would like to have our general 9 audience at least give an acknowledgment to 10 our commissioners and staff and all of this 11 hard work -- 12 (Applause). 13 DR. FLATEAU: -- in lightening speed, 14 and with a whole range of new mandates that 15 brought us to where we are right now. Let me 16 go right to -- I'm going to, as I narrate 17 each of the districts, let's start -- we'll 18 go through each borough and each district, 19 also, in lightening speed. 20 CHAIR WALCOTT: And Dr. Flateau, we've 21 been joined by Judge Go. 22 So, Judge, welcome as well. 23 DR. FLATEAU: Julia, so we're going to 24 start with Manhattan, District 1, at the 25 south end of Manhattan. 7 1 This is where we are. According to the 2 proposed revised plan, District 1 consists of 3 Chinatown, Battery Park City, Tribeca, Soho, 4 the Financial District, Governors Island and 5 Greenwich Village. This district was 6 overpopulated by nearly 12,000 persons. This 7 district remains mostly intact with little 8 changes, small changes. 9 We'll go heading north on the Island of 10 Manhattan to District 2, one to two. 11 District 2 consists of the Lower East Side, 12 the East Village and parts of Kips Bay, 13 Murray Hill and Gramercy Park. This district 14 was slightly overpopulated by about 800 15 people. The southern boundary of this 16 district is now Houston Street and, clearly, 17 on the east side to the East River. Then, 18 we're moving north. 19 Chair, you may -- we have two 20 commissioners. 21 CHAIR WALCOTT: Yep. I'm waiting for 22 you to have your break for a second. 23 And we've been joined by Commissioner 24 Sorin, Commissioner Schneps. And online, we 25 also have Commissioner Kirschenbaum, so I 8 1 think we have a full house of commissioners, 2 both in person as well as virtually. 3 DR. FLATEAU: So, we now are in 4 District 3 in Manhattan on the west side. 5 District 3 consists of Hell's Kitchen, 6 West Village, West Soho, Hudson Yards, parts 7 of Times Square, Flatiron and the Upper 8 West Side. District 3 was overpopulated 9 nearly 30,000 persons. There were clear 10 testimony that Hell's Kitchen wanted to be 11 kept intact, that was previously divided in 12 the preliminary plan. And this particular 13 objective was accomplished with the revised 14 plan. 15 Moving north. Actually, to the east 16 side, District 4. District 4 consists of 17 Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village, Times 18 Square, East Midtown and parts of the Upper 19 East Side. District 4 was overpopulated by 20 over 11,000 persons. So, then, some of these 21 boundaries were adjusted to take account the 22 requirement for population adjustments. 23 Moving north on the east side, 24 District 5 in Manhattan. District 5 consists 25 of parts of the Upper East Side, Yorkville 9 1 and Roosevelt Island. District 5 was 2 overpopulated by over 8,000 persons. And it 3 includes now Roosevelt Island, Upper 4 East Side and Yorkville, particularly in 5 response to changes to the preliminary plan, 6 where there was a Queens/Manhattan crossover 7 district, and that no longer exists in the 8 revised plan. 9 District 6, Manhattan, Upper West Side. 10 This district consists of Central Park, 11 Clinton, Upper West Side and Lincoln Square. 12 This district was overpopulated by over 8,000 13 persons. The entirety of Central Park 14 remains in this District 6 in the proposed 15 revised plan. 16 Moving north on the west side, 17 District 7. District 7 consists of Manhattan 18 Valley, Morningside Heights, Hamilton 19 Heights, Manhattanville, parts of Washington 20 Heights. District 7 was underpopulated by 21 over 7,000 persons. The district boundaries 22 changed slightly to increase, to make up that 23 deficit of populations. And on the north 24 end, this area called the East 160s was added 25 to District 7. 10 1 Moving to the east side, Manhattan, 2 District 8. District 8 consists of 3 El Barrio, Spanish East Harlem in Manhattan, 4 and a portion of the Bronx, South Bronx, Mott 5 Haven, Highbridge, Concourse, Longwood and 6 Port Morris. This continues to be a 7 Manhattan/Bronx cross-borough district. 8 District 9. District 9 consists of 9 Harlem, Hamilton Heights and parts of 10 Manhattanville. This district was 11 overpopulated by almost 6,000 persons. 12 Additionally, testimony from residents asked 13 to ensure that Schomburg Plaza, Lakeview 14 Apartments and Polo Grounds remain in 15 District 9. 16 Going north to northernmost district in 17 Manhattan, District 10. 10 consists of 18 Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill. 19 District 10 was underpopulated by over 14,000 20 persons. Parts of the southern boundary, 21 therefore, was moved slightly lower in 22 District 10. 23 We're moving on now to the next 24 borough, the Bronx, Districts 11 through 18. 25 Maybe a little larger. 11 1 So, District 11. District 11 consists 2 of parts of Kingsbridge, Riverdale, 3 North Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Bedford 4 Park, Norwood, Woodlawn and Wakefield, as 5 well as Van Cortlandt Park. And this 6 district was over 7,000 underpopulated. And 7 slight border changes have made done to that 8 district to bring its population requirement 9 into focus. 10 Next over is District 12. It consists 11 of Eastchester, Williamsbridge, Co-op City 12 and parts of Wakefield. There was a 13 population growth in District 12, and it was 14 actually overpopulated by 4,000 persons. So, 15 slight adjustments were made, and the lower 16 boundary is now along Arnow Avenue and 17 East Gun Hill Road, as well as Gun Hill 18 Houses are contained in the 12th. 19 Now, District 13, which consists of 20 Pelham Bay, Pelham Gardens, Van Nest, Morris 21 Park, Bronxdale, Throgs Neck, Schuylerville, 22 Country Club and City Island. This district 23 was underpopulated by over 5,000 people. Van 24 Nest neighborhood was specifically asked to 25 be contained in District 13 in whole as a 12 1 neighborhood. 2 Next district is District 14. Where 3 are you hiding? 4 CHAIR WALCOTT: (Indicating). 5 DR. FLATEAU: 14, West Bronx. 14, 6 District 14, it contains parts of 7 Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights and 8 University Heights. This district was 9 underpopulated by more than 3,800 people, so 10 adjustments were made to that district as 11 well. And Kingsbridge Armory and surrounding 12 business corridors of this landmark were 13 restored to the district, 14th District. 14 Next, District 15. It consists of 15 Bedford Park, Fordham, Mount Hope, Bathgate, 16 Belmont, East Tremont, West Farms, Allerton 17 and Olinville. This district was slightly 18 overpopulated and minor adjustments to its 19 borders. 20 District 16. It consists of Claremont, 21 Concourse, Concourse Village, Highbridge, 22 Morris Heights, Mount Eden and Morrisania. 23 This district was slightly underpopulated by 24 2,000 persons, and that district's boundaries 25 were slightly adjusted to bring it into 13 1 compliance. 2 District 17, it consists of Concourse 3 Village, Crotona Park East, East Tremont, 4 Hunts Point, Longwood, Melrose, Morrisania, 5 Port Morris, West Farms, North Brother Island 6 and South Brother Island. And this district 7 was slightly overpopulated by a thousand 8 people. The neighborhood of Longwood, 9 additionally, and Concourse Village were 10 maintained, its entire complex in 11 District 17. 12 District 18 consists of Soundview, 13 Castle Hill, Parkchester, Clason Point and 14 Harding Park. This was overpopulated by 15 almost 9,000 people. Westchester Square and 16 Soundview are also contained in this 17 district, and border adjustments to bring 18 population in compliance were made in that 19 district. 20 We're now going to Queens, starting 21 with District 19. This district consists of 22 Auburndale, Bay Terrace, Bayside, Beechhurst, 23 College Point, Douglaston, Flushing, Little 24 Neck, Malba and Whitestone. This district 25 was underpopulated by over 5,000 people, 14 1 therefore, minor adjustments to its 2 boundaries were made. And the entirety of 3 Bayside Village, BID, Business Improvement 4 District, and a number of LIRR train stations 5 in that area were included in that district. 6 The next district, District 20. It 7 consists of Downtown Flushing, Murray Hill 8 and Queensboro Hill. This was slightly 9 underpopulated by about a thousand people. 10 We were asked to also include Mitchell-Linden 11 in that district, and other minor boundary 12 adjustments were made. 13 The next district, 21. This consists 14 of Corona, parts of Elmhurst, East Elmhurst 15 and Jackson Heights. This district was 16 underpopulated by approximately 1,700 people. 17 It also retained LaGuardia Airport, Flushing 18 Meadows Park within this district, as well as 19 Lefrak City. 20 Next, District 22 in Queens. Ah, 22. 21 22, this consists of Astoria, East Elmhurst, 22 Jackson Heights and Woodside. This district 23 was heavily underpopulated by over 13,000 24 people, so adjustments were required to the 25 borders of that district. Ravenswood, 15 1 Queensbridge districts are in that -- no, 2 they're in 26. They came out of the 3 preliminary plan. This District 22 also 4 unifies the Steinway Street BID as requested 5 as well. District 22. 6 District 23, Queens. Here we are. 7 This district consists of Glen Oaks, Fresh 8 Meadows and Bellerose. This was heavily 9 underpopulated by over 12,000 persons. Its 10 main boundaries are still intact, but 11 population boundaries were made to adjust to 12 bring it into compliance for required 13 population. 14 Next, District 24. Consists of Kew 15 Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, Fresh 16 Meadows, Hillcrest, Jamaica Estates, 17 Briarwood, Parkway Village, Jamaica Hills and 18 Jamaica. This district was underpopulated by 19 nearly 7,000 persons, so boundaries had to be 20 made adjusted. We received testimony from 21 Jewish residents in the area required -- or 22 requested that Hillcrest remain intact within 23 24, which it does. 24 District 25. District 25 consists of 25 Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. This was 16 1 slightly underpopulated by 600 persons, and 2 the boundaries were largely kept intact, and 3 the 82nd Street BID was also unified in that 4 district. It received, also, testimony from 5 residents that they were -- south of Queens 6 Boulevard requested to be moved into 7 District 30, and that request was also 8 accommodated. 9 The next district, Council District 26. 10 It consists of Sunnyside, Woodside, Long 11 Island City, Astoria and Dutch Kills. This 12 district was originally overpopulated by 13 almost 11,000 persons. This district is now 14 based entirely in Queens, which was in the 15 preliminary plan linked to Manhattan. That 16 Manhattan/West Queens district no longer 17 exists. It's been delinked. 18 District 27. District 27 consists of 19 Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, 20 Queens Village and Springfield Gardens. This 21 district was very slightly underpopulated. 22 This district now, as request -- from public 23 testimony, requested unification of the 24 Downtown Jamaica Central Business District, 25 which is now in District 7, along with three 17 1 business improvement districts, all unified 2 in one district. 3 District 28, it consists of Jamaica, 4 Richmond Hill, Rochdale Village and 5 South Ozone Park. District 28 was 6 overpopulated by 10,000 persons. The 7 boundaries of District 28 have been slightly 8 revised moving close to the Merrick Boulevard 9 corridor, as well Ozone Park is primarily 10 united into this one district. 11 Next district is 29. It consists of 12 Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens and 13 Richmond Hill. This district was 14 underpopulated over 8,000 persons and 15 required adjustments to its boundaries. It 16 remains anchored with Forest Hills, Rego Park 17 and Kew Gardens. 18 Next district is District 30. 19 District 30, it consists of Glendale, 20 Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood, Woodhaven 21 and Woodside. This district was 22 underpopulated by almost 6,000 persons. In 23 response to testimony, Elmhurst Triangle 24 located -- was near Woodhaven Boulevard have 25 been included in District 30. 18 1 District 31. District 31, it consists 2 of Arverne, Brookville, Edgemere, Far 3 Rockaway, Laurelton, Rosedale and Springfield 4 Gardens. It was just slightly overpopulated 5 and retained most of its current district 6 lines. Additional testimony wanted the JFK 7 Airport kept in this district, 31. 8 32. District -- it consists of Ozone 9 Park, Howard Beach and Woodhaven. It was 10 underpopulated by over 7,000 persons and 11 required some boundary adjustments. 12 Now, we're moving to Brooklyn. 13 CHAIR WALCOTT: Hey, John, I don't want 14 to shortchange the other boroughs, but I also 15 want to be conscious of our Commissioner 16 who's sitting in the airport. So, continue 17 on, but -- 18 DR. FLATEAU: Whenever I'm 19 interrupted -- 20 CHAIR WALCOTT: No. No. I don't -- 21 DR. FLATEAU: I can always come back. 22 CHAIR WALCOTT: -- want to interrupt 23 the other boroughs because I think we should 24 have full context, so I just want to let you 25 know, if you could just speed it up a little. 19 1 DR. FLATEAU: Okay. Oh, you're 2 shortchanging Brooklyn, huh? 3 CHAIR WALCOTT: Not at all, sir. 4 DR. FLATEAU: Hey, hey. Okay. Yes, 5 sir. 6 Wow, we have the most districts to run 7 through, so this is going to be a lightening 8 round. Pay attention. 9 District 33, this is the waterfront 10 district, northern Brooklyn -- Boerum Hill, 11 Brooklyn Heights, Navy Yard, Dumbo, Fulton 12 Ferry. It is the largest overpopulated 13 district in the City, along with the west 14 side. So, clearly they needed a lot of 15 adjustments along 33. And there's an 16 important population in Williamsburg, the 17 Jewish community was kept intact there. 18 Next, District 34, coming around. This 19 is the only Latino voting rights district in 20 the borough. It was slightly underpopulated. 21 It is a cross-borough, that little horn you 22 see is actually going over the Queens line, 23 and it has been that way for the last 24 20 years, decades, and that minor adjustments 25 were made. 20 1 Coming in 35. I mean, 35 right here. 2 Very minor changes to the current district 3 boundaries of 35, and you could say similarly 4 for 36. And you'll hear more about these 5 Central Brooklyn districts and the Southeast 6 Queens when we hear from our expert, 7 Dr. Handley, a little later. 8 Let's go to 37. This is another 9 district, was very underpopulated by over 10 9,000 people. It currently consists of 11 South Bushwick, Cypress Hills, parts of Ocean 12 Hill-Brownsville and Wyckoff Heights. No 13 major adjustments to 37. 14 38 consists now of Red Hook, most of 15 Sunset Park and parts of Park Slope, Windsor 16 Terrace, Dyker Heights, and a small portion 17 of Bensonhurst. 18 Next, District 39. Carroll Gardens, 19 Gowanus, Park Slope, parts of Windsor 20 Terrace, Kensington and Prospect Park. It 21 was slightly overpopulated and minor 22 adjustments were made. 23 Next, District 40, covers Ditmas Park, 24 East Flatbush, Flatbush, parts of Lefferts 25 Gardens, and Prospect Park South. It was 21 1 severely underpopulated by 17,000 people, so 2 a lot of adjustments had to be made to make 3 that 40 come into compliance for population 4 requirements. 5 Next, District 41, consists of mainly 6 Ocean Hill, Brownsville, small parts of 7 East Flatbush and Crown Heights. It was also 8 underpopulated by almost 9,000 people, 41, 9 and some minor adjustments around this 10 bounder, therefore, had to be made. 11 Next, District 42. 42, mainly 12 East New York, Brownsville. It was slightly 13 underpopulated as well, over 4,000 people. 14 Slightly, adjustments were made. 15 The next district after 42, 43. This 16 is a newly-drawn councilmanic district there 17 in South Brooklyn. It consists primarily of 18 Sunset Park, parts of Dyker Heights and 19 Bensonhurst. It is a new district created 20 that research showed, and census, that 21 there's a very large, new and growing, Asian 22 American population in that area, and the 23 Commission created a new district. You'll 24 hear more, again, from Dr. Handley about that 25 district. 22 1 Next, District 44. 44 consists of 2 Borough Park, Midwood, Gravesend and 3 Mapleton. And it was expressed, a request to 4 try to unite the Borough Park and Midwood 5 portion -- major part of those neighborhoods 6 together in one district, 44. 7 45 consists of Flatbush, East Flatbush, 8 Flatlands and a small part of Midwood. It 9 was severely underpopulated by over 15,000 10 people and, therefore, adjustments had to be 11 made along those borders to balance that 12 population for 45. 13 Next, District 46. 45, 46. It 14 consists of Gerritsen Beach, Mill Basin, 15 Canarsie, Georgetown and parts of Flatlands. 16 It was slightly overpopulated by about 4,000 17 people, so along the borders, slightly, 18 adjustments were made for that 46. 19 Next, District 47. 47 consists of Bay 20 Ridge, parts of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, 21 Gravesend, Coney Island and Sea Gate. The 22 shape of this district results from the 23 creation of that 43. So, there was a small 24 corridor needed to unite these two 25 neighborhoods that expressed a request to be 23 1 united in one district, 47. 2 48 consists of Manhattan Beach, 3 Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay and Midwood. 4 This district was overpopulated by almost 5 8,000 people. Therefore, 48, some slight 6 adjustments along its borders were made to 7 bring it into population compliance. 8 We're leading to our last wonderful 9 borough, Staten Island. 10 Staten Island. 48, now we're going to 11 49. 49 consists of -- that's the North Shore 12 district -- Arlington, Clifton, Clove Lakes, 13 Concord, Elm Park, Graniteville, Mariners 14 Harbor and a number of other neighborhoods on 15 that North Shore. It was slightly 16 underpopulation, some minor adjustments were 17 made to the 49th District proposed. 18 The Mid Island district, 50. And this, 19 how you might want to describe it, a thumb, 20 that is actually a piece of Brooklyn. The 21 Mid Island is now connected by the Verrazano 22 Bridge and takes in a small portion of 23 Brooklyn, South Brooklyn on the other side of 24 that bridge, to help pop -- balance the 25 populations for the three Staten Island 24 1 districts. 2 And there were some changes along the 3 Mid Island 50th degree -- I mean, district 4 boundaries. And on the Brooklyn side, it 5 takes in Fort Hamilton, that rectangle, Fort 6 Hamilton Base, the VA Hospital, Dyker Beach 7 Park and a few other blocks; that's the 50th. 8 And then, the last district is the 9 51st, consisting of -- that's 51, South Shore 10 district on Staten Island, Annadale, Arden 11 Heights, Bay Terrace, Charleston, Great 12 Kills, and a number of neighborhoods 13 throughout that South Shore community. It 14 was underpopulated by over 13,000. So, 15 adjustments made across those three Staten 16 Island districts, so that's all 51 districts 17 throughout the City are in compliance with 18 the new 5 percent state-mandated deviation. 19 And there are -- just a highlight very 20 briefly. There are 29 majority/minority 21 districts. That's more than half of the 22 districts in the City of New York in this 23 revised plan, and you'll get more details now 24 on that last point. 25 Should I stop or hand off -- okay. 25 1 We'll hear from our next presenter after we 2 hear from the Chair. 3 Thank you. 4 CHAIR WALCOTT: So, what I'd like to do 5 with the Commissioners' permission is to call 6 for a vote, and then we'll have Dr. Handley 7 speak afterwards. And this is out of respect 8 to our Commissioner, who has to take off. We 9 want to make sure all votes are recorded. 10 And in addition to that, just to add to 11 that part of the discussion, that when you do 12 vote -- obviously, we always have our back 13 and forth with each other, so as you vote, 14 you can feel free to talk about your vote, if 15 you still desire. 16 In addition to that, I just want the 17 Commission to know how much I appreciate all 18 the Commissioners, all the hard work, people 19 who had to postpone vacations, people who 20 were sick, the commitment, publications that 21 we got out into 70 newspapers, multiple 22 languages, over 9,600 responses. 23 We have been out in the community, 24 people meeting individually and we have laid 25 a foundation for the feedback that we 26 1 received to influence it. And the way 2 Dr. Flateau laid it out, I wish it was that 3 easy in our discussions because as we know, 4 every change that is made has a domino effect 5 on something else. And we have been very, 6 hopefully, considerate. And where it needs 7 to be adjusted, if the vote is passed, then 8 that will be on City Council to either accept 9 or put it back to us and then we'll have 10 another round of public hearings and then 11 move it from there. 12 I just want the Commission to know that 13 I'm honored to be a part of this and honored 14 that the Mayor asked me to join. And I think 15 that we are well-served in serving the 16 public. 17 And if there's a motion to entertain 18 or -- 19 COMMISSIONER UDDIN: So moved. 20 CHAIR WALCOTT: So moved. 21 Is there a second? 22 (No response). 23 CHAIR WALCOTT: Is there a second for 24 the vote? 25 (Hand gestures). 27 1 CHAIR WALCOTT: Seconds around. And if 2 the transcriber -- do you need the names as 3 well, Counsel? 4 So, Maf is the originator of the motion 5 and I saw Josh Schneps and I saw Kristen also 6 second, so -- and Lisa Sorin. 7 COMMISSIONER PORCHER: And I second the 8 motion. 9 CHAIR WALCOTT: I hear Dr. Porcher as 10 well, so we have a number of seconds on the 11 table. 12 Commissioner Schnall, knowing of your 13 timeline and I think I see you up in the top 14 corner, and I want to make sure I don't get 15 accused of delaying you for other reasons, 16 the floor is yours, sir, for your vote. 17 COMMISSIONER SCHNALL: Thank you, Chair 18 Walcott. And I really, really appreciate the 19 ability to vote now, so that I can catch my 20 flight back, come back to the city that I 21 love and see my family, see all of you. So, 22 I just want to provide some quick context on 23 my vote, and again, thank Chair Walcott for 24 allowing me to speak for a few minutes. 25 Since the last vote in July, a lot has 28 1 happened. We've met in all five boroughs. 2 We've hosted a lot of virtual participation. 3 We've seen over 9,500 pieces of testimony. 4 We've had meetings learning about racial bloc 5 voting, hundreds of hours of mapping 6 sessions, thousands of staff hours. We made 7 every intention and effort to make -- to 8 think about, deliberate and incorporate all 9 the feedback we've received. 10 It's an incredible amount of hard work 11 and energy and dedication that went in, and I 12 am so thankful for everyone's participation, 13 the staff's hard work, the education I've 14 gotten from this whole process and feel 15 honored to be here. With that said, I wanted 16 to make three quick points to explain my 17 vote. 18 First, I learned a long time ago that 19 it's best -- it's often best to listen and 20 rely on others with expertise when you don't 21 have any, and so this applied to my work on 22 the Commission. And I took the position that 23 if I wasn't intimately familiar with a 24 neighborhood, I would listen, observe but not 25 inject my uninformed viewpoint. And what I 29 1 saw during this last round of mapping was a 2 little unsettling and frankly unfair. 3 A few individuals undid some of the 4 work of the many, often at the last minutes 5 of a mapping session, which got finalized in 6 these maps. Frankly, I think it's unfair to 7 the countless members of the public who took 8 time to testify and a little disrespectful to 9 the work of our staff and fellow 10 commissioners. 11 Second, process matters. Some lawyers 12 will tell you that if you cannot argue 13 substance, you argue process. And in this 14 instance, I'm talking about both. But since 15 July, most of our meetings have been held 16 during the workday, short notice was given 17 for some, and it made navigating the process 18 and being present very difficult. 19 I know, including myself, we did 20 everything we could to the best of our 21 abilities to participate as much as possible, 22 but it was very challenging and I know we 23 could do better. But I know that we also 24 can't let the perfect be the enemy of the 25 good. So, I know that if we go further in 30 1 this process, we will do things better. 2 Third, and my last point is that the 3 two boroughs with the most to lose in the 4 second round of drafting did, the Bronx and 5 Staten Island. So, for the record, I wholly 6 oppose and oppose the dilution of Bronx 7 political power with the change in the ratio 8 of Council District 8, which now favors 9 Manhattan. Rebalancing this district would 10 have taken some really, really hard work, but 11 I think it would have been worth the effort 12 to better balance the district and restore 13 the power that Bronx deserves. 14 And I know that I'm a broken record on 15 this, and I resent the fact that Staten 16 Island has been blamed for all the troubles 17 identified in the first draft. The reality 18 is that there are three things that cause 19 more issues than anything else. A 5 percent 20 deviation handed down from Albany without any 21 challenge or pushback from the Law 22 Department, a newly redrawn South Brooklyn 23 district and intentionally underpopulated 24 districts. 25 So, when it comes to vilifying Staten 31 1 Island, and there has been a lot of that 2 recently, frankly it's cliché. I've heard it 3 my entire life. I'm tired of it, and enough 4 is enough. Staten Island deserves the same 5 respect and chance at self-determination that 6 the other boroughs enjoy. 7 And speaking of Staten Island, and most 8 importantly why I am voting the way I am, I 9 am adamantly opposed to the addition of 10 approximately 16,000 people from Brooklyn to 11 Council District 50. This move 12 disenfranchises those 16,000 people, who 13 deserve adequate and accessible 14 representation. They will have to pay a $20 15 toll and drive 10 miles to see their council 16 member. This is unfair, inequitable and 17 completely avoidable. 18 This Brooklyn addition dilutes Staten 19 Island's political power and sets the borough 20 back ten years in the progress we've made to 21 establish ourselves and chart our own future 22 as a borough. So, as such, and as the only 23 Staten Islander on this Commission and for 24 all the reasons above, I vote no. 25 Thank you, Chair, for allowing me the 32 1 grace and privilege to voting right now, and 2 I will see you back in New York. 3 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Commissioner 4 Schnall. Have a safe flight. Look forward 5 to seeing you back in New York. 6 And with that being said, I will call 7 the roll and I will start, with the 8 Commission's permission, with myself. And I 9 will vote "Yes" for this plan. And in 10 addition to what I heard the Commissioner 11 say, Commissioner Schnall, I believe both in 12 the substance and the process, and I think 13 the substance and the process has been 14 adhered to. 15 I think the number of community 16 meetings, the input for the individuals as 17 well as the dialogue back and forth, 18 including Commissioner Schnall and others as 19 far as the line-drawing with the mappers as 20 well, has been extremely beneficial to the 21 process. 22 And again, I think the challenge is 23 making sure that we don't undermine all of 24 the hard work and allow the process to unfold 25 to the next step, because I think the 33 1 Commission has done an excellent job in 2 meeting its responsibility and its due 3 diligence and for that reason, I vote yes. 4 Commission Collado. 5 COMMISSIONER COLLADO: Thank you, 6 Mr. Chair. 7 I wholeheartedly agree with those 8 comments. First and foremost, I'd like to 9 thank the staff, the Commission and everyone 10 who has put in countless hours into these 11 maps. Thank you. And most importantly the 12 public, for their input, which was our 13 guiding light in this process. 14 And with that, I vote yes. 15 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, 16 Commissioner. 17 Commissioner Go. 18 COMMISSIONER GO: Thank you, Chair, 19 Chairman Walcott. I join in your -- in the 20 praise that we've heard for the public 21 because voting is such an important right to 22 this country. And interestingly, I'm a judge 23 by training and a lawyer by training, it's 24 interesting that the Constitution never 25 explicitly protects the right to vote, but 34 1 voting appears in the Constitution many 2 times. And the concept of equity 3 proportionality is so important to our life. 4 We want to be fair and we want every vote to 5 have the same weight. 6 So, I do feel Commissioner Schnall's 7 pain about Staten Island. I think the people 8 in Staten Island were wonderful. We were 9 very impressed with them in coming up with 10 the preliminary plans. But ultimately, the 11 principle of one-person, one-vote, equity 12 proportionality governs. And so, I do know 13 that I have received some requests to delay 14 the vote, and I share some of Commissioner 15 Schnall's reservation about the process. 16 I wish people had had the chance to see 17 these final maps that we are voting on. 18 However, the maps were made after 19 consideration of many comments, many hours of 20 hearings, many consultations with the 21 map-makers, and I really do thank the public. 22 How many districting commissions can have the 23 privilege of receiving over 9,000 comments? 24 That is a credit to John Q. Public. Thank 25 you. I applaud all of you who are here who 35 1 are not reporters. Thank you for bearing 2 with us. 3 And that being said, and being so 4 long-winded about it, I vote "yes" in 5 favor -- even though I have no problems with 6 delaying this vote to consider additional 7 comments, I think the outreach has been 8 fabulous. We've received wonderful 9 responses, and there's just no reason for 10 further delay and consideration by the City 11 Council. 12 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, 13 Commissioner. 14 Commissioner Hanratty. 15 COMMISSIONER HANRATTY: Yes. First of 16 all, I'd like to say that it's an honor to 17 serve on this Commission. I feel privileged 18 to be here. And I'd like to thank 19 Chairman Walcott and all my fellow 20 Commissioners and Dr. John Flateau and the 21 entire staff for all the hard work they've 22 put in. 23 However, at this time, I will be voting 24 "no" on this proposal because of the -- 25 what's perceived to be the adverse effect on 36 1 certain communities of interest and certain 2 competitive districts. So, my vote this time 3 will be a "no." Thanks. 4 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Commissioner 5 Hanratty. 6 Commissioner Mateo. 7 COMMISSIONER MATEO: Thank you. 8 Good morning, everyone. I would like 9 to join in the comments of all the 10 Commissioners, thanking the hard work, all 11 the hours of the staff and especially the 12 Commissioners who've been putting so many 13 hours and a lot of work into making these 14 maps come into fruition. 15 With that being said, there have 16 been -- even though we have been making great 17 strides as to making the districts much 18 better, there have been a lot of public 19 comments from my Dominican community, 20 especially in some districts in Manhattan, 21 specifically the second one and the seventh 22 one. 23 And my Dominican community has grave 24 concerns about the diluting of the Dominican 25 vote. For those reasons and some others that 37 1 we will address in due time, I believe that 2 there is still work to be done before we 3 submit the maps to the City Council. So, I'm 4 voting no. 5 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Commissioner 6 Mateo. 7 Commissioner Schneps. 8 COMMISSIONER SCHNEPS: My vote is no, 9 largely because this is an incredibly 10 thorough process, and I would say that the 11 amount of time that I spent on it, a lot, and 12 that's nothing compared to the staff here. 13 But just hearing some of the feedback here, 14 just the end of the process has been really 15 too quick for us to even hear each other's 16 feedback for the final decision. 17 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Commissioner 18 Schneps. 19 Commissioner Sorin. 20 COMMISSIONER SORIN: Okay. So, I'm 21 going to echo, this has been a process like 22 nothing other, and I've learned a lot. I 23 will say that I want to move on to the next 24 process. Selfishly, I'm going to be 25 completely honest and say that what I don't 38 1 want is another huge round of public 2 hearings. Because I think that among 3 ourselves there's been so much debate, so 4 much conversation. 5 We've listened to the testimony, but 6 there's still a lot to be heard. There's 7 still conversations among the Commission, and 8 I need to hear more from the Hispanic 9 community. So, for that reason, I vote no. 10 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Commissioner 11 Sorin. 12 Commissioner Sullivan. 13 COMMISSIONER SULLIVAN: Thank you. 14 I want to just emphasize that the vote 15 we are taking today is not to -- is not to 16 approve this plan. As the draft letter of 17 the Chairman to the Speaker of the City 18 Council says, it is to present it to them for 19 their conversation. So, this is not an 20 approval of this plan. It is to take it to 21 the next stage of the process. 22 So, it's for that reason that I 23 believe, given all the hard work that has 24 been done, I think it is time for us to hear 25 from the City Council itself on this plan. 39 1 And if the City Council chooses to send it 2 back to us for the additional work to deal 3 with any of the -- any of the deficiencies or 4 anything in the plan. 5 For that reason, I would -- I am voting 6 that we do present this plan for the 7 consideration of the City Council, as in 8 Chairman Walcott's letter to the Speaker. 9 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Commissioner 10 Sullivan. 11 Commissioner Wong. 12 COMMISSIONER WONG: Okay. Good 13 morning, everybody. I'm such honor to be 14 sitting there as Chair, as Commissioner. 15 First of all, my -- I have to thank all 16 the people -- John and the team worked so 17 hard and diligently. But I have some 18 suggestions for the mapping working. Since I 19 worked City, for City for 35 years, I know 20 the zoning is so important. With New York, 21 we have 58 zoning districts, but the district 22 for the voting is 57. If all this zoning 23 district is changing constantly and every day 24 they're doing upgrade and downgrade, they're 25 going to affect the population. 40 1 For example, Long Island City special 2 district, before it's M1-1, the zoning is 3 around that area, it's a manufacture zone. 4 Today, you could see Long Island City, they 5 have five different subdistricts for zoning, 6 and they have constructed the building, 7 60-story building, mixed-use building 8 increase population certainly. 9 So, the zoning has also affected the 10 population so quickly and we are -- maybe 11 it's not falling so fast. We have ten years 12 to redo the districting map, but the zoning 13 map, they change constantly. So, somehow we 14 have to link, incorporate with the zoning map 15 and that there's some kind of synchronization 16 to consider, the zoning map and districting 17 map. That's my idea. Thanks. 18 CHAIR WALCOTT: And your vote is, sir? 19 Your vote. 20 COMMISSIONER WONG: Temporarily, I say 21 no. 22 CHAIR WALCOTT: No, okay. Thank you, 23 Commissioner. 24 Next is Commissioner Uddin. 25 COMMISSIONER UDDIN: Yes. Good 41 1 morning, everybody. It is an honor that I 2 sit with these distinguished people, we have 3 worked very hard. I want to thank the staff, 4 especially Dr. John Flateau, and Chair, you 5 have been so kind. 6 I think the most important thank you 7 deserve our community, over 9,000 people 8 testified in different ways, in different 9 format, twice in each borough, and the 10 Commissioner was so kind. Everybody gave 11 their time, thoughts and analysis and we 12 arrived here. 13 I agree with the Commissioner that this 14 is the process. We have preliminary maps on 15 July 15th, we received feedback. We worked 16 harder, and now September 22nd, we're going 17 to send to the City Council. If City Council 18 wants to do some of those legal things or do 19 better, we have time to do it. 20 And that is why I am going to vote yes. 21 And with that, I want to thank you, everyone 22 who is here, and just to let you know how 23 proud I -- how honored I am because I think 24 this is one of the commissions that I have 25 seen in the last 38 years in this country, 42 1 most diverse, most intelligent, and most 2 analytical. And so, I feel so proud that I 3 am part of it. 4 Thank you very much. 5 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, 6 Commissioner. 7 Commissioner Johnson. 8 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Hi, everyone. 9 So, I'll start off with my vote. My 10 vote is a "yes," to the current iteration of 11 the maps. And I want to echo the thanks to 12 my fellow Commissioners, to the staff. I 13 mean, it's clear a lot of work has gone into 14 this, including the public's work, right? 15 And so, the one thing I will say is I 16 think part of the hard work is, how do we 17 reconcile all of the public comments, right? 18 Into like -- there's conflicting testimony, 19 right, every -- it's not all kumbaya in all 20 the comments. So, how do we reconcile that 21 with the reality of complying with the Voting 22 Rights -- the Constitution, the Voting Rights 23 Act, the City Charter? 24 And I believe this Commission has 25 worked hard to do that, and so my vote is 43 1 yes, for the current iteration of the map. 2 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, 3 Commissioner. 4 Commissioner Kirschenbaum. 5 COMMISSIONER KIRSCHENBAUM: Good 6 afternoon, everyone. It's just after noon. 7 I want to echo a lot of the same sentiment 8 that has been mentioned by my fellow 9 Commissioners. I think the staff has worked 10 extremely hard incorporating a lot of the 11 feedback that we received from the public 12 here, and I want to thank all of the public 13 members who came out to the public hearings 14 in person and submitted testimony 15 electronically and via Zoom. 16 By no means do I think that this is the 17 most perfect map in the history of the world, 18 but I do think that we made a lot of progress 19 and put a lot of time into this. And that 20 time is now to send it to the next step, 21 which is submitting it to the New York City 22 Council. 23 If there is feedback for things that 24 need to be tweaked, I think we're all happy 25 to review that. But I vote yes in the moving 44 1 forward with this process. And I just want 2 to echo again, thanking everybody for their 3 hard work on this process. 4 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, 5 Commissioner. 6 Commissioner Porcher. 7 COMMISSIONER PORCHER: Thank you. 8 First, I want to say -- I want to give 9 a special thank you to Chair Dennis Walcott. 10 I think you did an amazing job dealing with a 11 polarizing topic in connection with the 12 redistricting of the City of New York. 13 Dr. Plateau (sic), your efforts were 14 phenomenal in organizing one of the Herculean 15 feats that's known to this city's history. I 16 think we, as a Commission, did a great job in 17 exchanging our ideas, especially in 18 connection with the public hearings. Because 19 on many instances, we may have had diametric 20 opposition to specific topics. However, I 21 believe that we coalesce behind the ultimate, 22 and that was to support the democracy of the 23 City of New York to ensure that the 24 redistricting process was sound. 25 That being said, I had a number of 45 1 concerns, more so specific to Staten Island, 2 Brooklyn -- Brooklyn South specifically and 3 Manhattan, which I felt that there were some 4 very challenging issues that were introduced, 5 that I don't think we're fully satisfied in 6 connection with the redistricting. 7 So, as a result of that, I'm voting no, 8 and I'm hopeful that we can get to a point 9 whereas we can all -- and I know it's not 10 going to be 100, but eventually I believe 11 that we can coalesce behind a strategy that 12 supports the eight and three-quarter million 13 residents of the City of New York, to ensure 14 the voting process is sound moving forward. 15 So, in synopsis, my vote is no. 16 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Commissioner 17 Porcher. 18 Commissioner Wurzel. 19 COMMISSIONER WURZEL: Thank you, 20 Mr. Chair. 21 I, too, would like to acknowledge the 22 hard work and long hours that our staff, our 23 map team from District R, our consultants, 24 our volunteer commissioners have invested in 25 this process to date. I'd also like to thank 46 1 the thousands of New Yorkers who testified 2 and participated in this process. 3 I'd also like to thank, on behalf of 4 the Commissioners and the staff, our families 5 and as it applies to Commissioners, many of 6 our employers, who have tolerated and 7 supported us through this time-consuming 8 process. 9 Unlike the preliminary plan, which I 10 supported as a working draft, I cannot 11 support the formal submission of this 12 districting plan to the City Council because 13 I don't think it meets an acceptable standard 14 that addresses all of the criteria set forth 15 in the Charter. 16 As Commissioner Schnall said in his 17 opening remarks, there was a false narrative 18 after we published the preliminary plan, that 19 having three wholly contained districts in 20 Staten Island was the root of each and every 21 perceived problem with the preliminary plan. 22 It's ironic that as soon as we -- as the 23 Commission walked away from having three 24 districts on Staten Island, more problems 25 developed, some inevitable and some 47 1 self-inflicted. 2 There are several improvements in this 3 current plan that Commissioners worked 4 cooperatively to address. For example, this 5 plan, as a preliminary plan, continues to 6 meet and exceed voting and civil rights 7 standards established by state, federal and 8 local law, and by the courts. But there are 9 a number of serious problems that still 10 precludes me from endorsing this document. 11 Quite frankly, we just ran out of time 12 because we're adhering to an aggressive 13 schedule and deadline that we were forced to 14 follow. We'd rather not meet a deadline or 15 push that deadline to get something right 16 rather than meet an arbitrary deadline with a 17 less than satisfactory product. 18 As we began this process in the spring, 19 and as we proceeded through it, we have been 20 hamstrung by an unfortunate act by the 21 governor and the legislature this fall, this 22 past fall, to dust off a poorly drafted piece 23 of legislation that has eviscerated the 24 population variance that was approved by city 25 voters and has been used to draw New York 48 1 Council districts for the past 30 years. 2 As a result, communities like the 3 south -- south Brooklyn have been twisted 4 into a mess because we have interjected a 5 Staten Island appendage that was supposed to 6 solve problems but somehow trigger more of 7 them. We've shifted a South Bronx-dominated 8 district that was connected to Manhattan, to 9 now a Manhattan-dominated district that 10 connects to Southwest Bronx. And we've 11 twisted, divided and cannibalized several 12 communities in a handful of competitive fair 13 fight districts in Queens and Brooklyn, 14 deeply concern me. 15 That is an important priority for me 16 and has been ten and 20 years ago when I 17 served on this very same Commission to draw 18 balanced districts that support competitive 19 elections. That's a basic tenet of good 20 government. Every voter deserves a chance to 21 elect the representatives of their choice, 22 not just the voters who are enrolled in a 23 certain political party and who can vote in a 24 closed primary. 25 Election Day, not primary day, should 49 1 not determine who our elected representatives 2 are, and that's the case in fair fight 3 competitive districts that I have long sought 4 in this city. So, I certainly plan to focus 5 my energies to correct some of these issues 6 when the City Council responds to this plan 7 and we consider the modifications this fall. 8 But I cannot lend my name to this document 9 that we're proposing to submit to the City 10 Council. 11 Finally, I cannot let this opportunity 12 pass and not express my profound 13 disappointment that confidential maps were 14 shared with media outlets before they were 15 adopted or even subjected to a vote by the 16 Commissioners, and share -- and not shared 17 with the public. A plan is not a plan until 18 it is adopted and authorized by 19 Commissioners. 20 I do not know who thought it was a good 21 idea to share these intimate and confidential 22 details of the maps hours and minutes after 23 the mapping process concluded. I do not 24 share an assessment. Consequently, I vote no 25 on this plan. 50 1 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Commissioner 2 Wurzel. 3 So, based on the vote, we will not be 4 submitting these plans to the City Council. 5 And then we will reconvene to discuss our 6 next steps. And I want to thank the 7 Commissioners, but also, I do want to take 8 advantage, since we rearranged our schedule 9 to accommodate Commissioner Schnall. 10 Dr. Handley, if you don't mind giving a 11 brief presentation or I think it's important 12 because you've put a lot of work into this, 13 and I do not want to ignore all the hard work 14 both from the Commissioners, the staff and 15 those experts who've been part of this 16 process. 17 DR. HANDLEY: Well, I was going to tell 18 you that the plan that you drew passed Voting 19 Rights Act muster, in my opinion. I'm not 20 sure what's going to happen now, but let me 21 tell you how I went about doing this. 22 I was retained by the Commission to do 23 an analysis of voting patterns by race. This 24 is required, essentially, by the Voting 25 Rights Act if you have a significant minority 51 1 population. Here in New York, you have three 2 significant -- I mean three protected 3 minority populations that are significantly 4 large enough to draw districts. 5 So, we're interested here in what the 6 voting patterns of black voters, Hispanic 7 voters and Asian voters are, relative to 8 white voters. So, this is what I analyzed: 9 It turns out the voting is polarized in New 10 York City. It has been -- this shouldn't 11 have been a surprise. It was ten years ago. 12 It was 20 years ago. It was 30 years ago. 13 It is still. 14 This is particularly true in democratic 15 primaries, but the democratic primary is 16 particularly important in New York City, so 17 this is important. So, what this means is 18 that you have to draw districts that comply 19 with the Voting Rights Act. 20 First slide. I have some slides here. 21 So, as I said, voting is polarized in 22 New York City and you have to draw districts 23 or if you already have them, you have to 24 maintain them in a way that allows minority 25 voters to elect their candidates of choice. 52 1 Now, this doesn't necessarily mean you 2 draw majority/minority districts. An 3 opportunity district is one that allows 4 minorities to elect their candidates of 5 choice, but it may be the case that they're 6 only a plurality in the district and they get 7 enough votes from, say, white voters or other 8 minorities if you're talking, say, about a 9 Hispanic district to elect the candidate of 10 choice. 11 So, what I'm focusing on are districts 12 with significant minority populations, that 13 is, are -- is the minority a -- are blacks, 14 Hispanics or Asians, a majority or a 15 plurality in the district? And those are the 16 districts that I focused on to determine how 17 many opportunity districts you have in the 18 current plan and how many you will have in 19 any proposed plan that you put forward. 20 Okay. Next slide. 21 So, how do we do this? No elections 22 have taken place under the district you've 23 drawn, so we have to come up with some method 24 just as if -- just as I use statistics to 25 come up with a way of determining whether 53 1 voting was polarized. I'm going to use a 2 method called recompiled election results to 3 see if you have districts that will allow 4 each of these minority groups to elect their 5 candidates of choice. 6 We do this by looking at previous 7 elections and we call these Bellwether 8 elections, elections that were polarized 9 previously and we want to see by recompiling 10 the election results to the proposed 11 districts if the minority-preferred candidate 12 would carry these proposed districts. So, 13 this is how we tell if you have maintained a 14 minority district. And here is a list of the 15 district, the elections that I looked at to 16 determine if you had succeeded in drawing 17 minority opportunity districts. 18 Now, each of these districts in general 19 elections, black voters, Hispanic voters and 20 usually Asian voters vote alike. But in 21 democratic primaries, not necessarily so at 22 all. So, each of these groups have to be 23 considered separately and each of these 24 districts have to be considered separately. 25 Next slide. 54 1 Okay. So, the first thing I did was, 2 given that voting was polarized, identify how 3 many districts currently could be called 4 opportunity districts for each of these 5 groups, and I did that by determining whether 6 the minority-preferred candidate was being 7 elected to City Council. 8 Next step was looking at the proposed 9 districts and comparing the -- not just the 10 demographic composition of these districts, 11 but because we're supposed to be doing a 12 district-specific functional analysis, 13 looking at possible electoral outcomes. So, 14 that's what I was going to do with each of 15 the proposed districts. 16 Next slide. 17 So, I'm going to go through borough by 18 borough. Here are the data, but let me just 19 summarize and say -- so, in Manhattan, you 20 had one district, District 9. And you can 21 see the statistics for this, what it's in -- 22 what exists in the current plan and what the 23 revised plan is. And this remains an 24 effective district. That means it's an 25 opportunity district for black voters. 55 1 Next slide. 2 You have two majority Hispanic 3 districts that are going to remain effective, 4 District 7 was a different story. It was a 5 plurality Hispanic voting-age populations 6 district. This was -- Hispanic voting-age 7 population was decreased. The white 8 population was increased, so now it's a 9 plurality white district. 10 Now, the voting in this district was 11 not polarized between Hispanics and whites. 12 It was between Hispanics and black voters, I 13 believe, but not between Hispanics and 14 whites. The current representative was 15 supported by both Hispanics and whites. And 16 presumably, in the future, it's possible that 17 a Hispanic can win with white support, but 18 not with Hispanic support alone because it's 19 no longer a plurality Hispanic district. 20 Next slide. 21 Okay. So, you have one majority black 22 district in the Bronx and you maintained that 23 district. It's as effective as it was in the 24 currently plan. 25 Next slide. 56 1 There are five majority Hispanic 2 districts, four of them elect 3 Hispanic-preferred candidates. The other one 4 is an opportunity district, but it elect a 5 black-preferred candidate. The -- you 6 increase the black -- the Hispanic VAP, so 7 it's going to trend towards a Hispanic 8 district. It is a minority opportunity 9 district, but not a Hispanic minority 10 opportunity district. 11 Next slide. 12 This is the data for that. Next slide. 13 So, you have two plurality Hispanic 14 districts, one of which is not an opportunity 15 district. It did not elect a 16 Hispanic-preferred candidate and the other 17 did, and that district did not change very 18 much. So, you have one plurality district 19 that's an opportunity district that remains 20 an opportunity district. And the other, 21 which was not and remains not an opportunity 22 district. Again, these -- this is not a 23 majority district. This is a plurality 24 district. 25 Next slide. 57 1 In Queens, you have two majority black 2 districts and they remain effective 3 opportunity districts for black voters in the 4 revised plan. 5 Next slide. 6 Then you have a plurality black 7 district that was -- that you increase the 8 black population and this will increase the 9 effectiveness of that particular district, 10 which was already an opportunity district. 11 Next slide. 12 You have one majority Hispanic 13 district, which changed very little and will 14 remain an Hispanic district in Queens. 15 Next slide. 16 So, there is one majority Asian 17 district in the revised plan, as there was in 18 the current plan and is equally effective in 19 both plans. There were four plurality Asian 20 districts, three of which were opportunity 21 districts for Asian voters and remain 22 opportunity districts. And the fourth of 23 which, District 25, although it elects 24 an Asian, turns out that's the Asian 25 candidate of choice of white voters. Asian 58 1 voters supported a different Asian candidate, 2 so that's not an opportunity district and it 3 remains not an opportunity district in the 4 revised plan. 5 Next slide. Next slide. 6 In Brooklyn, you have six majority 7 black districts. They've all -- in the 8 revised plan, as in the current plan, are 9 effective or opportunity districts for black 10 voters. 11 Next slide. Next slide. 12 You have one district that's a majority 13 Hispanic district, District 37, that remains 14 essentially the same and it is an effective 15 Hispanic district. 16 Next slide. 17 So, you have -- you have created a 18 new Asian district. It is an effective Asian 19 district. You can tell by the votes for 20 Yang, Andrew Yang, when he ran for mayor. 21 District 38 was an Asian plurality district 22 and the current plan is an Asian plurality 23 district. Now, it was not electing the Asian 24 candidate of choice. It was electing 25 Hispanic candidate of choice. This was 59 1 traditionally a Hispanic district. 2 What the revised plan does, it 3 maintains the same Hispanic percentage, 4 decreases the Asian percentage and increases 5 the white percentage. Now, the Hispanic 6 incumbent won with Hispanic vote and white 7 vote, so there's no reason to believe that 8 the current incumbent wouldn't win this 9 district. It was Asian voters who did not 10 support this candidate. This district, Asian 11 voters and Hispanic voters were quite 12 polarized in this district. 13 Next slide. 14 In Staten Island, you maintained your 15 majority/minority district with essentially 16 the same black, Hispanic and Asian voting-age 17 population. 18 And finally, my conclusion. 19 You have maintained the exact same 20 numbers of black and Hispanic opportunity 21 districts in the revised plan, as in the 22 current plan, and you've increased the number 23 of Asian districts, Asian opportunity 24 districts, by one. And this, of course, is 25 the fastest growing minority population and 60 1 it certainly -- I would say that you would 2 have been successfully sued had you not done 3 that, if somebody brought a suit, because it 4 was possible to draw one and voting in that 5 area was very polarized. 6 And that concludes my comments on the 7 revised plan. 8 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you, Dr. Handley. 9 And questions for Dr. Handley? 10 Commission Wurzel. 11 COMMISSIONER WURZEL: Dr. Handley, 12 correct me if I'm wrong with this 13 characterization: You're analysis, there 14 are -- and I think John highlighted this in 15 his presentation. There are 29 effective 16 performing majority districts that were part 17 of your detailed analysis, and one 18 additional -- I guess for lack of a better 19 way of describing it, we've used this 20 description, a coalition district. 21 Is that correct? 22 DR. HANDLEY: Not exactly. 23 COMMISSIONER WURZEL: So, please 24 correct me. 25 DR. HANDLEY: So, as I said, a majority 61 1 district isn't necessarily an opportunity 2 district, and some plurality districts might 3 be opportunity districts. Now, let me see if 4 I can get the numbers. There are currently, 5 let's see, 19 majority districts in which 6 either black, Hispanic or Asians are a 7 majority. 8 All of those are effective opportunity 9 districts, except that one of these Hispanic 10 majority, as I mentioned, is actually a black 11 opportunity district. There are also a 12 number of plurality districts, some of which 13 are opportunity districts. 14 So, the numbers are a little -- the 15 number shift. So, do you want to know about 16 majority districts, plurality districts, 17 opportunity districts? 18 COMMISSIONER WURZEL: No, I would -- 19 the point I'm trying to get to by asking this 20 is that these are 29 districts, but I guess 21 30 districts, that if they -- as we go back 22 to the drawing board, if they're -- if we 23 maintained the demographics of those 24 districts, your analysis moves on to cover 25 these districts as well? 62 1 DR. HANDLEY: Yes. Yes. I'm not sure 2 about your numbers, but yes, that's correct. 3 COMMISSIONER WURZEL: Well, I just 4 added up the numbers. I added up the 5 districts -- 6 DR. HANDLEY: Again, it's not just 7 majority districts. 8 COMMISSIONER WURZEL: Well, I didn't -- 9 I'm talking about the combination of, you 10 know, the majority performing, you know. I 11 put everybody in the same, you know, set to, 12 you know, ask my question, you know, if we -- 13 as we move forward, if we keep these 14 districts, the demographics of these 15 districts somewhat comparable to where they 16 are now, they would meet the standards of 17 voting rights, civil rights, local law and 18 court findings about polarized voting. 19 DR. HANDLEY: With the caveat that it's 20 not just the demographics. You're going to 21 look at recompiled election results as well, 22 because it has to be a functional analysis. 23 But, yes. Yes. 24 COMMISSIONER WURZEL: Thank you. 25 CHAIR WALCOTT: So, to take 63 1 Commissioner Wurzel's question to a different 2 level and also trying to tie together as far 3 as next steps, we would still have to make 4 sure that you are reviewing what we post and 5 make sure that we're in compliance, no matter 6 where those districts are, if there are any 7 reconfiguration that meets a new need, as 8 identified by other Commissioners, that role 9 that you play is still extremely important as 10 far as those next steps are concerned. 11 DR. HANDLEY: If these districts that 12 I've identified as opportunity districts are 13 modified, I would have to review them; that's 14 correct. 15 CHAIR WALCOTT: Thank you very much. 16 Any other questions for Dr. Handley? 17 (No response). 18 CHAIR WALCOTT: So, for next steps, 19 since we are not submitting this plan to the 20 City Council, that means we'll be reconvening 21 at some point. 22 Staff, we'll be getting back to all of 23 you within 24 to 48 hours to set a date for 24 the next meeting. And then, we will go 25 through the process of addressing any of the 64 1 concerns because we still have a 2 responsibility to submit these plans to the 3 City Council for their review, as Commission 4 Sullivan indicated. And if they have 5 concerns around them, then they will get back 6 to us with those concerns or they can pass on 7 the maps once we do submit them. 8 Is that a correct way to articulate the 9 next steps? 10 MS. PYUN: Yes. 11 CHAIR WALCOTT: Okay. Fine. So, 12 you'll be hearing from staff shortly to find 13 a mutually satisfactory date for all. 14 And if that is it, if there aren't any 15 other questions, can I have a motion to 16 adjourn? 17 COMMISSIONER UDDIN: So moved. 18 CHAIR WALCOTT: There's a motion to 19 adjourn. 20 Is there a second? 21 COMMISSIONER SORIN: (Hand gesture). 22 COMMISSIONER MATEO: (Hand gesture). 23 COMMISSIONER COLLADO: (Hand gesture). 24 COMMISSIONER HANRATTY: (Hand gesture). 25 CHAIR WALCOTT: All in favor? 65 1 (Chorus of ayes.) 2 CHAIR WALCOTT: All opposed? 3 (No response). 4 CHAIR WALCOTT: And thank you for your 5 time and your energy and your commitment as 6 well. 7 (TIME ADJOURNED: 12:27 p.m.) 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 66 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 STATE OF NEW YORK) 4 :SS 5 COUNTY OF QUEENS) 6 7 I, Sabrina Brown Stewart, a shorthand 8 reporter within and for the State of New York, do 9 hereby certify that the within is a true and 10 accurate transcript of the statement taken on 11 September 22, 2022. 12 I further certify that I am not related to 13 any of the parties to this action by blood or by 14 marriage, and that I am in no way interested in the 15 outcome of this matter. 16 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my 17 hand this 8th day of October 2022. 18 19 20 _signature_ 21 22 23 24 25