Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81) shared in his regular newsletter dated Feb. 2 that the New York State legislature would likely approve newly redrawn maps of The Bronx’s congressional districts, supported by the majority of State legislators, as part of the ongoing redistricting process which follows the 2020 census. The legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, did just that on Feb. 2, and Gov. Kathy Hochul approved the new maps on Feb. 3. The result is that Norwood no longer falls within New York’s Congressional District 13, represented by Rep. Adriano Espaillat, and instead, now falls into Congressional District 15, represented by Rep. Ritchie Torres.

 

According to Dinowitz, starting in 2014, the redistricting process, which occurs every ten years following each decennial census, was redesigned, via an amendment to the State constitution, as reported, and created a new Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) to oversee this process. According to Dinowitz, the commission has the first opportunity to redraw the districts and come up with newly proposed maps, in consultation with the public.

 

Following the 2020 census, and a number of citywide community hearings, the Bronx County hearing to discuss the final drafts of the proposed redistricting maps put forward by the IRC was held on Nov. 9, 2021. It can be watched here. The final redistricting plans/maps for Assembly, State and Congress prepared by the commission were submitted on Jan. 3, to the State legislature. These plans can be viewed here: https://www.nyirc.gov/plans. The State legislature ultimately did not vote on these plans.

 

Instead, as above, members voted to approve alternate maps proposed by the Democratic Party and, as above, these were signed off by the governor on Feb. 3. The New York State Republican Party immediately mounted a legal challenge, claiming gerrymandering by Democrats. The latest State-approved congressional maps for congressional districts 3, 13, 14, 15 and 16 are attached.

 

According to Dinowitz, the legislature’s involvement in coming up with alternate new district maps, as opposed to voting on the maps submitted by the IRC, came about due to an impending deadline. Candidates running for office were required to collect a minimum number of signatures to get on the ballot in time for the June primaries and had to know where to canvass for signatures. “The timeline was very tight because the process for candidates to qualify for the June primary election ballot begins on March 1, 2022,” Dinowitz said. “The maps created by the legislature are built on dozens of public hearings that were conducted by the IRC with the goal of keeping communities together,” he said.

 

Acknowledging that it was an imperfect process, Dinowitz, added, “I believe that the proposed maps from the legislature are fair and correct. Decades of Republican-led gerrymandering had resulted in the under-representation of many New Yorkers in government.”

 

He said for residents of the 81st Assembly District, there were several significant changes to the congressional lines, as follows:

• The neighborhood of Norwood has merged into the entirely Bronx-based district (NY-15), currently represented by Congressman Richie Torres. Norwood was previously represented by Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13).
• The neighborhoods of Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale have merged into NY-15. These neighborhoods were previously represented by Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16).
• The neighborhoods of Woodlawn and Wakefield remain in the district currently represented by Bowman, and the neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, Marble Hill, and Van Cortlandt Village remain in the district currently represented by Espaillat.

 

Following news of the changes, Norwood News spoke with 63 people on the street in the neighborhood on Thursday, Feb. 3. Of these 63 people, 60 didn’t know who Ritchie Torres was. The other three people weren’t Norwood residents. We tried again on another day.

 

Asked how he would feel being represented by Torres as opposed to Espaillat, local resident, Alex Soto, 62, said, “This guy, Ritchie Torres? I consider him useless. He does all these proposals. Where is the money? Ritchie Torres was always hiding. I don’t want him to represent our community. He’s going to do nada.” Meanwhile, on the main issues he felt his congressional representative should work on, Soto said, “The main issue is when the community invites them, they need to show up. Show their respect for the community. Espaillat shows up. If he doesn’t show up, he sends his people to show up.”

 

We also spoke to Angel Seymore, 48. Asked how she would feel being represented by Torres, she said, “I don’t think he will do anything for us. I don’t want him as a representative. He hasn’t shown interest in low-income neighborhoods. He’s only working with high-profile neighborhoods. He’s just trying to make himself look good.” Asked what was the main issue she felt her congressional representative should work on, she said, “Well, definitely investigate what is going on with these fires. They seem very suspicious, especially in our low-income areas. Fires are getting too frequent. We didn’t have them frequent like this.”

 

(Norwood News reached out to Torres for comment. His office responded, and we were due to speak with him for a follow-up story. In the meantime, he had to travel overseas, and we have not yet set a new date for the interview. We will continue to follow-up with him.)

Meanwhile, as reported by The Bronx Times on Tuesday, Feb. 8, East Bronx residents sent an open letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul, State senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart Cousins, State assembly speaker, Carl Heastie, State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (S.D. 34), and Assembly Member Michael Benedetto (A.D. 82), voicing their dissatisfaction with the new redistricting arrangements which sees the East of the borough essentially cut off from the rest of The Bronx. It now falls into New York’s newly drawn 3rd congressional district (NY-3), together with parts of Queens and Long Island. “We have about as much in common with someone in Smithtown, Long Island, as we do with someone on the planet Mars,” the residents wrote.