A federal judge released a set of maps on Tuesday proposing to redraw New York State’s Congressional districts, an act required this year to reflect population changes based on the 2010 Census count. If approved, the new lines would have the Bronx represented by four different members of Congress, expanding the northern Manhattan district currently represented by Congressman Charles Rangel into the Bronx to include sections of Kingsbridge and Norwood.

Lawmakers in Albany have been sparring for months over how to draw the new maps. They proposed drafts for the State Senate and Assembly lines in February, but were unable to come to an agreement on how to re-draw the state’s Congressional districts, having to eliminate two, from 29 to 27, because of population changes.

With the deadline of the Congressional primary looming in June, a panel of federal judges appointed a magistrate to draft the new maps if the legislature couldn’t come to an agreement of its own. After hearing testimony and viewing map proposals from the public — including the Assembly Democrats, the Senate Republicans, a coalition of Bronx officials and good government groups — U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann released a set of drafted maps on Tuesday. Her proposal eliminates a district in the Hudson Valley and another that straddles Brooklyn and Queens.

In a letter sent to Mann last week, Bronx Borough President Ruben, Diaz, Jr. and a number of other local elected officials had urged the judge to maintain the Bronx districts of Congressmen Jose E. Serrano and Eliot Engel, something the proposed maps largely do.

“Both Rep. Serrano and Rep. Eliot are lifelong Bronxites who have represented parts of our borough for their entire careers,” Diaz said. “If the Bronx were to lose their collective seniority in Washington — and the clout that comes with it — it would do our borough tremendous harm.”

Under Mann’s proposal, Serrano’s south Bronx district will be renumbered as Congressional District 15, but will remain contained entirely within the borough, and will remain majority Hispanic. Engel, whose proposed district would encompass much of lower Westchester, would continue to represent the north Bronx neighborhoods of Riverdale, Williamsbridge and Eastchester, but he would lose Kingsbridge and Norwood to Manhattan Congressman Rangel’s newly expanded district. Congressman Joseph Crowley, who currently represents the east Bronx and Queens, would retain those neighborhoods and would also acquire Riker’s Island.

By press time, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., had not had time to analyze the new maps, according to spokesman John DeSio.

His father, State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., said he thought Mann’s proposed maps were a significant improvement for the Bronx compared to those proposed by the majority parties in the State Senate and State Assembly. Bronx officials had criticized those — particularly the maps drafted by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, which had the Bronx divided across five districts — as unfairly carving up the Bronx, and in turn diminishing the borough’s electoral power.

“Those two were disastrous,” Diaz, Sr. said of the legislature’s proposals, adding that Mann’s maps “show more respect and more consideration for the black and Hispanic communities of the Bronx.”

Still, lawmakers might have the last say. If the Senate and Assembly can come up with compromise maps for the State Senate, Assembly and Congressional lines, and if those maps are accepted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo before a federal deadline of March 20, it would remove the courts from the process, according to Michael McDonald, a redistricting expert at George Mason University.

Cuomo, who has pushed for the idea of an independent body to control the redistricting process, had vowed to veto any maps proposed by lawmakers that showed evidence of gerrymandering, or done in a way that protects incumbent candidates.

But McDonald predicts that if a compromise plan is reached, Cuomo may be likely to approve it.

“The threat of veto is really to force the legislature to produce a better map,” he said.

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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.