Foil: Your right to Know.
From Michael Parietti/Preserve Ramapo: Rockland County Legislature Redistricting Committee Unveils Its Proposed Map for the Legislature. Once again it is not fairly drawn.
Public Hearing on the proposed map is set for Wed. Oct. 19th, 7:00 PM at the Rockland County Legislature.
๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ 2020 ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ด.
๐๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 14, 2022 ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ท๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ
๐๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ! ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ด ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ.
๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐บ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ!
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ป๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ค ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ค ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ.
๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐๐ค๐ต. 19๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ต 7:00 ๐๐ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ show ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฑ.
๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฑ:
Districts # 1 and # 2
District # 1 includes all of Stony Point and once again straddles the Ramapo Mountains to rope in the village of Sloatsburg, and now also Hillburn, which are much closer geographically and culturally to Suffern and Montebello than they are to Stony Point. Stony Point should be properly joined with the hamlet of Theills in northwest Haverstraw which lies right next to it geographically, and shares many of the same concerns with it.
It appears that sitting Legislator Michael Grant does not want to surrender any of his current District # 2 in western Haverstraw to Stony Point, and so District # 1 must then reach south over the mountains for 15 miles or more to achieve its population target.
This transparent gerrymander has the primary purpose of protecting the incumbency of Michael Grant who happens to be the co-chair of the Redistricting Committee. It also acts to chop up western Ramapo so that it will have no voice in the legislature.
District # 4
The committees proposed District # 4 is formed by needlessly and deliberately mashing together the suburban village of New Hempstead with the high-density Hasidic enclave of New Square. These are two starkly different communities of interest with diametrically opposed political interests. New Square has the greater population of the two villages and it’s well known that the residents vote in a Bloc at the direction of their leaders. Thus, the candidate that receives the Bloc vote from New Square will easily defeat any other candidate they face. This is yet another blatant gerrymander, tailor made to protect the incumbency of Itamar Yeager who lives in the village of New Hempstead but received 99% of the New Square vote in his last reelection. It also divides up diverse suburban areas in northern Ramapo to ensure that they will have no voice in the County Legislature.
District # 6
District # 6 is yet another deliberate gerrymander, the primary purpose of which appears to be to protect the incumbency of Alden Wolfe, the Speaker of the Rockland County Legislature and Co Chairman of the Redistricting Committee. The new redistricting guidelines in New York, state that villages like Montebello with a population of less than 7,967 should be united within the same legislative district to the extent practicable. Nonetheless, Montebello is divided into two sections, one placed in District # 6 and the remainder in District # 12.
Why was this was done? Likely because Alden Wolfe, the sitting incumbent in District # 6, lives in Montebello, and the new legislative District # 6 map connects the Montebello election district, in which he lives, to the high-density Hasidic hamlet of Monsey, (which he won overwhelmingly and was his reelection margin of victory). This would be a blatant, transparent, and overt, gerrymander to help ensure an incumbent will have an easy reelection, a clear violation of New York State Law.
District # 7
District # 7 is another absurd Gerrymander in which the diverse suburban village of Wesley hills is connected by a narrow, elongated corridor to the high-density Hasidic enclave of the village of Kaser. These two villages share very little in common and have diametrically opposite political interests. The sparsely populated Wesley Hills is no match for the densely populated village of Kaser in any election contest. Kaserโs favored candidate, the District 7 incumbent, Phil Soskin could win this district easily without any real effort. The boundaries of this district are drawn in such a way to discourage competition which is violation of New York State Law.
Districts # 8 and # 13
These two proposed districts are hideous examples of racist gerrymandering at its worst. In both districts, communities of color, including African American, Haitian and Hispanic population centers are deliberately and unnecessarily connected to high density Hasidic population centers by narrow corridors. This ensures that the candidate who receives the Hasidic Bloc vote will always win out over the candidate preferred by people of color. Thus, communities of color are robbed of real representation in the legislature because their vote is divided and diluted.
However, the most amazing thing about this injustice is how easily it could be rectified if the redistricting committee chose to fix it. All they have to do is disconnect the sections of proposed District 8 and 13 that comprise the communities of color from the high-density Hasidic areas in each district. Then simply unite the two sections of communities of color together within one legislative district. This would be easy to do because these portions of District 8 and 13 are located directly adjacent to each other and could be easily joined together.
The two high-density Hasidic areas currently in the District # 8 and #13, are also located right next to each other and could be easily joined together in the same district as well. The end result would be one district for people of color to decide who will represent them, and a second district within which the Hasidic community can chose a representative. In this way, both communities would have a voice in the legislature rather than only one.
District # 10
To our eyes, District # 10 is a strange looking bird. It appears to be a polyglot district of scattered locales randomly linked together. It is decidedly not compact in any measure. Our proposed map previously demonstrated that the municipalities of Nyack, South Nyack, Upper Nyack and West Nyack could easily be joined together within a single legislative District # 10, to give that community of interest itโs fair share of representation.
District # 12
District # 12 is yet another ill-conceived legislative construct that acts to dilute the voting power of diverse suburban areas in western Ramapo. We stand by our proposed version of District # 12 which unites the entirety of the villages of Montebello, Suffern, Hillburn and Sloatsburg and provides that compelling community of interest a voice within the legislature.
District # 15
District # 15 is a riddle unto itself. Why would you randomly carve a massive chunk out of Pearl River and connect it to Nanuet? What is the hidden agenda here? Our proposed map clearly demonstrates that Pearl River has enough population to be united within the same legislative district and thus provide that obvious community of interest with their own legislative district.
District # 16
District # 16 should be reformed by including all of Pearl River within itโs boundaries and shifting the other areas of Orangetown it now holds over to District 17 where the remainder of Orangetown is now located.
Please put the date of the public hearing on the committee’s proposed map at the County Legislature on your calendar. People will not be allowed to speak in person at the Public Hearing Wednesday October 19th at 7:00 PM, however, you can submit your comments to the Redistricting Committee by email by 7:30 PM on Oct 19, and they will be incorporated into the public hearing.
We encourage you to send your comments to the following email:
Michael Parietti
