NYS REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
Two proposed Assembly redistricting maps for Manhattan, side by side.
Blurred lines
State’s redistricting plan halted once again
BY MORGAN C. MULLINGS
Candidate petitioning for
the 2022 elections is
coming up soon, but the
state’s redistricting process is
not done yet.
That after the 10-member
New York State Independent
Redistricting Commission
(IRC) today were deadlocked
in a 5-5 vote on their two map
proposals with Democrats
choosing their own and Republicans
doing the same.
Petitioning begins in March,
and the 2022 primary is set
for June 28, so time is of the
essence for this process to fi nish.
However, the panel that is
deciding on how to draw New
York State’s political maps is
bipartisan, and independent,
and has been the subject of
stories of infi ghting over two
very similar maps.
This means that both maps
will be sent to the legislature
for a vote, and they are
POLITICS
likely to be approved before
the primary.
If the state legislature cannot
reach a majority, or the
governor vetoes the plan they
do vote on, the commission
will try again on Feb. 28.
The plans both redraw Senate,
Assembly and Congressional
districts. As law professor
Jeffrey M. Wice reported last
week, New York State gained
more in population between
2010 and 2020 (adding more
than 800,000 persons) but
its gains were edged out by
other states’ census counts.
As a result, New York lost one
congressional district.
New population estimates
from the Census Bureau reveal
a potentially more negative recent
trend: between July 2020
and July 2021 New York State’s
population dropped by 1.5%
(or by more than 350,000 persons).
New York has a major
challenge ahead to make sure
every resident is counted in the
2030 Census.
There are some instances
where the maps, referred to as
Plan A and Plan B, differ the
most.
In the Congressional maps,
Plan A cuts a piece of what appears
to be Sunset Park and
Bay Ridge and merges it with
the district that includes all
of Staten Island, while Plan
B does not associate it with
Staten Island and instead joins
it with Manhattan and the rest
of Brooklyn.
Manhattan and the Bronx
are largely the same in both
proposals.
Once the state redistricting
is completed, New York City,
Mayor Eric Adams, City Council
Speaker Adrienne Adams,
and City Council Minority
Leader Joe Borelli will appoint
a 15-member City Council redistricting
commission that is
tasked with redrawing Council
district lines by December
2022.
End of an era for
ex-Speaker Johnson
BY MATT TRACY
The seven new out LGBTQ
members of the
City Council are overhauling
the LGBT Caucus in
historic fashion and bringing
a dash of bipartisanship for
the fi rst time, but the changing
of the guard also marks
the end of an era that will go
down in queer history.
But Corey Johnson, who
represented much of the Village
and Chelsea and served
as City Council speaker the
last four years, was one of
four out City Council members
who left offi ce over the
past year, either through
term limits or fi nding another
elected position.
Johnson made history as
the fi rst individual living
with HIV to lead the Council,
having become speaker
in 2018.
Long before being elected
to the City Council, Johnson
was a gay activist and
chaired Community Board 4
before he went on to prevail
in a competitive City Council
race against out lesbian attorney
Yetta Kurland to succeed
out lesbian former Speaker
Christine Quinn in District 3,
which includes Chelsea, Hell’s
Kitchen, Greenwich Village,
West SoHo, Hudson Square,
Times Square, the Garment
District, the Flatiron District,
and the Upper West Side.
Four years later, Johnson
zigzagged the city to persuade
colleagues from every borough
and ideological background to
back his bid for speaker. At the
same time, he tapped into the
emotions of constituents when
he conveyed his personal story
of growing up as a closeted
gay youth who struggled with
depression.
Johnson, who did not respond
to multiple requests
for an interview for this story,
saw his fair share of highs and
lows during his tenure in offi
ce, which included a period
during 2019 when he was labeled
by some as the “de facto
mayor” because he was scrambling
to update New Yorkers
on the status of a summertime
blackout when Bill de Blasio
was preoccupied with his
2020 presidential campaign.
Speaker Corey Johnson at
the City Council’s last stated
meeting of 2021.
Johnson also, however,
struck a nerve with many in
the LGBTQ community that
same year when he voiced his
opposition to full sex work
decriminalization. That issue
shot to the forefront of queer
advocacy in 2019 — the same
year that the DecrimNY coalition
swept through the city.
DecrimNY, Gay Men’s Health
Crisis, the New York City Anti
Violence Project, VOCALNY,
and WOMANKIND and
other organizations criticized
Johnson for his stance on that
issue.
On the contrary, many of
the incoming Democratic
members of the LGBT Caucus
explicitly campaigned on
decriminalizing sex work —
and after the passage of statebased
legislation repealing the
ban on Walking While Trans,
there is reason to believe that
those out members of the
Council will serve as strong
advocates for the decriminalization
movement as well as
other progressive causes.
The other incoming members
of the LGBT Caucus are
Manhattan’s Erik Bottcher,
who is succeeding Johnson
in District 3 and served as
his chief of staff for seven of
his eight years in offi ce, and
Kristin Richardson Jordan of
District 9.
According to the New York
Post, Johnson is considering
launching a government-relations
consulting shop.
More at gaycitynews.nyc.
14 January 6, 2022 Schneps Media