Critics: Brookhaven's proposed redistricting maps dilute Blacks'/Latinos' voting power, are confusing

Brookhaven’s once-a-decade effort to redraw boundary lines for its six town council districts has prompted complaints from residents and critics who said the proposed maps are confusing, would unnecessarily move some communities into new districts and dilute the voting power of Blacks and Hispanics.

A town committee appointed to oversee redistricting, which ensures that each district contains equal citizen populations, faces a Sept. 15 deadline to submit new maps. U.S. census data shows two districts no longer meet town population criteria. 

The eight-member committee is required by town law to submit a map to the town board, which must set new borders by Dec. 15. Any map submitted by the committee must be approved by at least six members. lt’s not clear what would happen if the committee doesn’t agree on a proposed map.

Town residents also are invited to submit their map plans by Sept. 15; at least two residents have done so. The town board can approve a map submitted by the committee or a resident, or adopt one of its own. 

The outcome could help influence town board elections over the next decade. Republicans currently hold a 6-1 majority.

Objections to proposed maps

Dozens of people who attended meetings last month to review redistricting proposals objected to two maps drafted by an upstate consultant that would split up some communities while leaving in place boundaries that divide areas with large populations of Black and Hispanic residents.

Residents and some committee members said they have been frustrated by a process that they said has been poorly managed by town officials and rushed to meet the mid-September deadline.

“If they really do want a consensus, they have to let the commission do its job,” George Hoffman, 69, a Setauket civic leader and one of three Democrats on the committee, told Newsday. “It needs six votes. I don’t know how we’re going to get there.”

Republicans have defended the effort, and GOP Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said during an Aug. 11 town board meeting that officials would do “the best job we can to make the districts as representative as possible.”

“I’m going to be looking for less splits,” he said. “I’m looking for keeping communities together.”

Population shifts in Districts 2, 6

Brookhaven Town law requires redistricting when one or more districts are too large or too small. The population of each of Brookhaven’s six council districts must be within 5% of 81,000 residents, or about one-sixth of the town’s total population of 485,773, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

District 2, which includes northeastern Brookhaven communities such as Miller Place and Rocky Point and is represented by Republican Councilwoman Jane Bonner, has 75,154 residents, or 7.3% less than required.

District 6, which includes the Moriches area, Mastic Beach and Shirley in southeastern Brookhaven and is represented by GOP Councilman Dan Panico, has 85,680 people, or 5.7% too many. Both districts must be redrawn to comply with town law.

The town board in May appointed a redistricting committee that includes three Democrats, three Republicans and two independents. Members include civic leaders, voting-rights advocates and GOP and Democratic activists.

The committee is tasked by town law with recommending districts with balanced populations that also keep hamlets intact “to the extent practicable.”

The committee held six public meetings in July to collect community feedback and six hearings in July and August to review maps prepared by Schenectady-based Skyline Consulting. Skyline also is involved in the Suffolk County Legislature’s ongoing redistricting effort.

A battleground over district lines

Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies, told Newsday that redistricting typically becomes a battle between Democrats and Republicans over district lines that could shift the balance of political power.

Political leaders have to decide whether they want to go the safest route possible or roll the dice and sprinkle some of those Democrats into other districts to make it more of a fair fight,” Levy said. “What’s happening in Brookhaven is a microcosm of what’s happening in congressional districts across the country.”

The two maps under consideration by the committee propose boosting District 2’s population by shifting portions of Port Jefferson Station and Terryville, currently in District 1, which includes Stony Brook and Port Jefferson.

Part of Ridge, in eastern Brookhaven, would be moved from District 6 to District 4, which includes Yaphank, Middle Island and part of Coram.

Coram and Gordon Heights, which have a large number of Black and Latino residents, would remain split between Districts, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Coram’s population was 40,200, according to the 2020 census; Gordon Heights has about 4,200 people. 

Residents speak up

Coram Civic Association vice president Kareem Nugdalla, 33, told Newsday he submitted a proposed map that would place almost all of Coram and Gordon Heights in District 2.

“Coram is split four different ways, and it needs to be split one way,” Nugdalla told the committee during an Aug. 16 meeting at Comsewogue Public Library in Port Jefferson Station. “It’s just frustrating that on one side of [Route 25] there’s a councilman with one way of doing it, and on the other side of 25 there’s another councilman with another way of doing it.”

Many residents at recent meetings urged town officials to adopt a map drafted by Coram resident Logan Mazer, 18, a George Washington University political science major. Proposed maps may be submitted via the redistricting committee’s website, brookhavenny.gov/1294/Redistricting-Committee.

Mazer, who has worked as an intern for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), said his map would avoid splitting up minority communities like Gordon Heights.

"It’s pretty common-sense,” Mazer told Newsday. “I know that my map wasn’t perfect, but my goal was to protect communities of interest and come up with something that will pass the town council.”

Residents of Port Jefferson Station and Terryville — separate hamlets that share a civic association, chamber of commerce, school district and even a ZIP code — said they fear splitting, or cracking, their communities will hurt downtown revitalization efforts.

“It waters down our influence on the council district representative we have been working with,” Joan Nickeson, 59, of Terryville, told Newsday, referring to District 1 Councilman Jonathan Kornreich. 

Residents said the proposed maps also would undercut Kornreich, the town board’s lone Democrat, by shifting Democratic votes to Bonner’s district. 

Maps hard to read, some say

Many residents and some redistricting committee members also said proposed maps posted on the town website are hard to read, making it difficult to determine how reapportionment might affect them.

“It’s difficult to discern streets,” Nickeson said. 

Rabia Aziz, the redistricting committee’s Democratic co-chair, said she opposes dividing Port Jefferson Station and Terryville. Port Jefferson Station’s population is 7,950 and Terryville’s is 8,804, according to 2020 U.S. Census figures. 

“To split that up does no justice to the residents of the community,” Aziz, 75, a Brookhaven Town Democratic committeewoman from Gordon Heights, told Newsday. “You break up relationships … and that does not bode well for the residents in that area and the residents of Brookhaven.”

Aziz said the committee could complete its task by adjusting the border where council Districts 2 and 6 currently meet in the vicinity of Ridge and Manorville in eastern Brookhaven. “It could be a very easy fix, and they are like-minded communities,” Aziz said.

Republican co-chair Ali Nazir, a senior staffer to Suffolk Legislature Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), said the committee has asked Skyline to avoid splitting Port Jefferson Station and Terryville. Skyline vice president David Schaefer declined to speak to Newsday.

Michael Dawidziak, a Sayville political consultant and veteran of Long Island redistricting battles who mostly works with Republicans, said splitting some hamlets may be inevitable, given the priority of balancing population size.

“The thing about redistricting is that theoretically, districts are supposed to be as compact as possible … [but] in reality, it’s going to be impossible to keep everything together,” Dawidziak told Newsday. “Something has to get split at some point. You can’t keep every community together.”

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.