County maps ‘not perfect,’ but still ‘fair’

New legislative districts approved along partisan lines

By ANA BORRUTO aborruto@liherald.com

After dozens of hearings, months of public input and several heated exchanges among Nassau County lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, a final district map drawing out borders for the 19 legislative districts for the next 10 years has finally passed.

All 11 Republicans of the majority voted for the map, while seven Democratic minority members voted in opposition. For those on the wrong side of the vote, it was a disappointing — but inevitable — end to community members and Democratic officials who have been vocal over their claims of partisan gerrymandering.

“Tomorrow morning, students in Nassau County are going to wake up to a snow day,” Democratic legislator Josh Lafazan said ahead of the region’s first real snowfall of the season. “This legislative body is going to wake up to a lawsuit.

“Our constituents lose tonight, and nobody wins.”

Before the evening vote, some members of the community gathered to express final pleas for the Nassau County Legislature to not approve the map. They claim the map fails to include five majority-minority districts, it violates state and federal voting laws, neglects to consider racial demographics, and dilutes minority votes in communities such as Lakeview and Freeport.

In fact, dozens of Lakeview residents turned up at a previous public hearing sharing stories of their fight for equality and fair representation.

The current map places Lakeview — a predominantly Black community of more than 6,200 people — in a district with predominantly white communities likeMalverne, Lynbrook, West Hempstead and East Rockaway.

Scottie Coads said the hearts of her Lakeview neighbor are “hurting” because of this decision.

“I almost went to tears when I saw our hard work being put into a district with Lynbrook and Malverne,” Coads said. “Those people don’t even want us there. They don’t even talk to us.”

Doris Hicks Newkirk, president of the Lakeview NAACP and former educator in the Malverne school district, said she knows of young Black students who have been told to “go back where they came from,” and called racial slurs.

Lisa Ortiz, one of the founding members of the Lakeview Civic Association, talked about how the Malverne district became the first in the state to be forced into desegregation — more than a decade after the national Brown v. Board of Education decision.

For more than 60 years, many representatives of Lakeview and the school district fought to have a street name of a Ku Klux Klan leader removed — only recently accomplishing this feat.

Fast forward to today, the redistricting process is another hurdle the Lakeview community is not backing down on.

“When we think about disenfranchis- ing — when you think about gerrymandering — you think about making sure that you are silencing a community that has a very, very loud voice,” Ortiz said.

“That’s exactly what you’re doing.”

County legislature minority leader Kevan Abrahams called out his Republican colleagues for choosing secrecy over transparency during the redistricting process, especially when it came to the legal fees for the analysis provided by Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP.

“We have the power and the authority tonight to do the right thing,” Abrahams said. “Unfortunately, this map is going to go forward, and this body is choosing to vote for a map that is illegal. None of us want this. I’d rather things get worked out, because ultimately, the lawsuit is going to cost taxpayers money.”

But presiding officer Richard Nicolello said numerous changes were made to the map to acknowledge this input. He also admitted not every request was addressed in the final proposal, but in the end, the district lines were considered fair and applicable to state and federal laws.

“Did we make every requested change? No. Is this map perfect? No. But perfection is impossible in redistricting,” Nicolello said. “This map is a fair map. It provides for equal representation for all our residents, and protects community interests as much as possible.” sCOTTie COAds Of Lakeview expresses her anger over countywide district maps at several public hearings before Nassau County lawmakers ahead of them passing a final proposal late last month. For decades, Coads has fought for fair representation in Lakeview, a predominantly Black community placed in a district with Malverne, Lynbrook and East Rockaway.

NAssAU COUNTy LegisLATOR and Democratic minority leader Kevan Abrahams joined his political colleagues voting against a proposed countywide redistricting map last month. The votes weren’t enough, but Abrahams wanted to be on the record for his claims the map represented partisan gerrymandering while violating voting rights protections for minority communities.