Here’s what the New York State Legislature wants you to know about redistricting: (silence … birds chirping, crickets singing, the ghost of Guy Velella chuckling)

In other words, nothing.

At a meeting last week at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center set up by local community groups (with help from State Senator Gustavo Rivera) meant to make sense of what’s going with the new district lines, Lucia Gomez, who works for La Fuente, a nonprofit group that advocates for government reform, said the entire process is done without input from the people it will affect — no, it’s not the lawmakers who are protecting their jobs, it’s the people who live in those districts.

“The whole process is rushed,” Gomez said to an audience of about 20 concerned residents. “And you [lawmakers] want people to have input? No, you don’t!”

Let’s recap what happened before Albany approved new gerrymandered lines on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

After the 2010 Census came out in early 2011, lawmakers had an entire year to create new maps. When Senate Republicans balked (early) at creating an independent redistricting panel (which many pledged to support before the 2010 election cycle and then just forgot about when it came time to actually doing it), Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would veto any lines that appeared gerrymandered (created just to protect incumbents no matter how many communities they divide).

Fast-forward a year later. LATFOR, the “bi-partisan” task force made up of lawmakers that draws the new lines, finally releases a set of maps that is blatantly gerrymandered — for Democrats in the assembly and for Republicans in the senate. In the one hearing held in the Bronx, dozens of community leaders and residents came out to verbally rip the maps to shreds, saying they will disenfranchise voters, divide communities and leave many residents voiceless. Nobody listened to them. The maps remained unchanged.

Then, in the days before a judge wanted an update before taking redistricting into their own less-biased hands, the legislature hashed out an agreement behind closed doors to approve the new gerrymandered maps in exchange for the opportunity to ask voters to approve a Constitutional amendment that would create a new task force, appointed by lawmakers, that would theoretically be slightly less biased and politically motivated than LATFOR. It would still mean the maps would be gerrymandered for another decade until after the next Census comes out in 2020. Cumo backed off his veto promise.

So, on Wednesday night, along with several other bills, the redistricting proposals went through. In the senate, the redistricting bill was brought to the floor at 9 p.m. Two hours into what was supposed to be a four-hour debate on a matter that will affect government for the next decade, Republicans, who hold a slim majority that is often boosted by the right-leaning Independent Democratic Caucus (led by Bronx Democrat Jeff Klein), brought the bill to the floor. In response, Senate Democrats walked out. (Klein stayed and voted for the maps, despite pledging not to support gerrymandered redistricting.)

I can’t blame them. Here’s minority leader John Sampson explaining what happened and how it will affect citizens (courtesy of the Albany Times-Union).

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2012 New York State Legislature!

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.