Dear Editor,
Queens-based Guyanese came out in large numbers on Tuesday evening to make an impassioned plea to keep the greater Richmond Hill community as a single united city council district for elections to be held next year November. New York City is required by law to redraw electoral boundaries for its 51-seat council after every census conducted decennially. The latest census was concluded in 2010 and population count completed in 2011. The redrawing of boundaries, according to court rulings, must keep communities united. The greater Richmond Hill area was divided into four city council districts after the 2000 census preventing a Guyanese or a South Asian or someone of a minority background from being elected to represent any part of the area. The lines are being redrawn as mandated by the results of the 2010 US Census.
The area has approximately 100,000 Guyanese and a similar number of Trinidadians and 50,000 South Asians (mostly Punjabis). The Guyanese American community and the South Asians have been lobbying for a state assembly or state senate seat but they were denied one when the
boundaries were drawn last June. Now, they are making a case for a city council seat. A seat must be approximately 140,000 in population size.
So the Guyanese, Trinis and South Asians have more than the requisite number for a seat but so far they have not been able to win over the commissioners to create a seat for them for their area although Jews, Irish, Italians, and other ethnic communities have had seats drawn up for their communities.
The Guyanese community leaders made their case for a seat in front of the City Districting Commission on Tuesday evening. The City’s Districting Commis-sion is charged with redrawing city council district lines and has been holding a series of hearings to collect public input. A large group of Guyanese, South Asians and other West Indians made their presence known outside with placards.
Though created by the city, all lines must be redrawn under certain federal guidelines with an effort to keep neighbourhoods together, and to create contiguous districts of residents and neighbourhoods with “common concerns and interests.”
Guyanese American Borough President Helen Marshall complained about the myriad problems encountered with new district lines drawn up by the state legislature earlier this year on state districts and congressional districts. She also stated that the borough was undercounted by at least 100,000 people in 2010.
Marshall acknowledged that the commission will have a challenge in Queens, whose population is the second largest and most ethnically diverse of any county in the state. “We expect that any proposed new legislative districts will respect the integrity of our communities and protect the voting rights of our minority populations,” she said.
More than three dozen residents spoke before the commission. The residents pressed for borders that will both preserve neighbourhoods and allow for better, more diverse representation in the council. More than a dozen people from the Guyanese and South Asian communities spoke in favour of uniting Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Woodhaven and Jamaica into one district.
“The Indo-Caribbean people have been split into six assembly districts, and four city council districts,” said Guyanese American advocate Vishnu Mahadeo of the Richmond Hill Economic Develop-ment Council. He said the wilful splitting of places like Richmond Hill has diluted the voting clout of the community, leaving it no representation. There was a loud burst of applause for Mahadeo’s presentation. James Hong of the Asian American Community Coalition on Redistricting and Democracy concurred. He also said his group considers Bayside to be divided, with most of it in the 19th District but the southern portion in the 23rd.
Frank Toner, president of the Rocky Hill Civic Association in Bellerose, also supported Mahadeo’s contention. He said “If you are going to bring a new community into our district, make sure you try and bring in a whole community if possible,” Toner said. James Trikas of Flushing questioned whether or not the commission should be in the business of ethnic or racial gerrymandering, even with the best of intentions. “Should we be segregating people into districts?” he asked. “I thought we were all Americans.”
However, Chinese American Steve Chung, said ethnic electoral districts would not meet the criteria for applying the term segregation. He said: “We would still get up and meet our same neighbours,” Chung said. “Our children would still go to the same schools. We can eat in any restaurant we want. The difference is we can vote for the people we want to represent us.”
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
