In a quick glance, I found some things to quibble with in the Redistricting Commission's Memo, and I’ll bet that, here and there lies a real whopper, but overall, I have to agree with Citizen's Union:
"While stakeholders and community groups may agree or disagree on the decisions that are being made, New Yorkers now know, for the first time, what is behind the thinking of the Commission as it draws these final lines. Such transparency with astounding detail can do much to dispel public cynicism that only partisan politics drives these decisions and to build public confidence that the plan is a fair one that balances many interests, some of which are in conflict with one another."
Skeptical?
Imagine for one minute that LATFOR had to prepare one of these to justify the atrocity that is the City’s State Senate lines.
Could it even be done? Wouldn't the fact that it had to be done be enough cause to smooth out some of the worst atrocities?
This is not a perfect plan by any means, but I ask those complaining the loudest one question:
"Compared to what?"
Colin Campbell: Compared to independent redistricting systems implemented elsewhere
Also Senate one was a blatant partisan gerrymander. NYC one was a bipartisan incumbent-protection gerrymander but one that claims to be otherwise, so in some ways at least, it's a bigger let-down
Gatemouth: Points taken–but it is pretty neat and the rationalizations are mostly pretty good, and I was comparing it to NYS–most non-partisan districting (California a rare exception) is really bi-partisan–look at NJ
Colin Campbell Yeah I know. I just find redistricting to be a somewhat uniquely cynical process. A decade of demographic changes in NYC and not a single incumbent's house is placed in someone else's district. Systemic chopping up emerging communities in order to avoid having an incumbent lose a game of musical chairs. An entire process for 8.2 million people sent back to the drawing board because one potential candidate is allegedly a Bad Man and it might symbolically hurt him to move him from one open seat to another. Etcetera etcetera.
But you're also right. If I ignored all of the process and incumbents and looked at it as a fresh map, is it thaaaaaat bad? Of course not. The districts are reasonably compact. The population variances could be improved but certainly nothing to lose sleep over. Blacks and Latinos, at least, have some new opportunities. Heck, even Russian-Americans have two solidly new opportunities. One could certainly be more egregious.
My overall view though tilts pretty strongly towards the first paragraph. Incumbent-protection redistricting is not only pretty obviously wrong in black-and-white terms, it also affects the ability of communities to select their own representatives and get the best legislators possible. That, in turn, affects everything else. Oh well. http://de.scribd.com/doc/123973910/NYC-Districting-Commission-Memo
Brooklyn College BDS Circle Jerk: a lot of sound and fury, signifying very little. http://www.andybachman.com/2013/02/tweet-tweet.html
New and much improved Elected Official Letter on the issues of BDS and CYA. http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=155699
Reshma does some hedge-clipping. http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/blogs/insider/2013/02/saujanis-campaign-wipes-hedge-fund-history-from-her-wiki-page/
This is the first time I heard the word Thelonious mentioned in connection with a City Council candidate and it didn't concern something like a $177 bagel. http://www.westsiderag.com/2013/02/06/results-biberaj-and-west-side-rag-protect-legacy-of-upper-west-side-legend-thelonious-monk
CECEILIA VISITS GATE’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Ceceilia Berkowitz: I am nothing like Mr. Smith! I plan to win lol. I am quite like Mayor Bloomberg in more than one way. I will be back on twitter tonight for a weekly #askceceilia @ceceilia session. Like Mayor Bloomberg's #askmike @mikebloomberg from last year for the John Gambling show. Good ?s only!
Gatemouth: You go girl. Please go
Ceceilia Berkowitz: Thanks! Find me on twitter if u have ?s. Or, better yet, join our team and help us win!
CECEILIA JDATES THE BLOGOSPHERE:
Highlights:
Chris Bragg: ceceilia Just curious, why all your tweets show being sent from NJ (Newark tonight) when running for NYC mayor?
Ceceilia Berkowitz: no just staying over here for a week because I was attacked in NYC. Called 911 & she may be arrested
[Gate note: Ceceilia's boyfriend is a deli clerk in Jersey, so perhaps there is an alternative explanation. I will note that the last recorded time a Jew enjoyed an orgasm in the City of Newark, his partner was a piece of liver].
Jacob Kornbluh: do you think Arye Deri should be appointed as defense minister of Israel?
Ceceilia Berkowitz: no because he was in jail. I am starting to see what Mindy meyer meant when she said she had no experience w corruption.
[Gate Note: Few politicians would be brave enough to quote Mindy, but Ceceilia's attaining Mindy's 3% showing would be pretty miraculous.]
[Mary Alice Miller Note: Lol! Chris and Jacob have too much time on their hands.] http://nymayor.blogspot.com/2013/02/ceceilia-rocks-mayoral-race-with-late.html#more
I heard a rumor that Reg "Wild Thing" Presley of the Troggs had died…
….but I wanna know for sure! http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/02/05/171165165/reg-presley-who-sang-wild-thing-with-the-troggs-dies
Gate makes Buzzfeed
Orthodox Pundit: Wow, what a scoop. May drive you to national prominence, but am afraid that it may kill you WasPost nomination, since it stipulates that it is only for state bloggers.
Gate: it's a NYS story–she lives in the Heights–in the fall she will go local and fail to vote for Lincoln Restler.
Anyway, I haven’t been able to sleep all night—I’ve been haunted by a nightmare vision that I inadvertently read the computer wrong at the Board of Elections, or (more likely) that the Board made a data entry error. http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/report-despite-campaign-video-lena-dunham-didnt-vote
LenaGate is now the top piece on Gawker.
And just to clarify for the skeptics on the Gawker thread, the procedure at the NYC Board of Elections when a voter botches an absentee vote is to log them as having voted, while voiding the ballot. According to the Board's records, this is not what occurred here. http://gawker.com/5982364/breaking-lena-dunham-reportedly-did-not-vote-in-last-election-but-says-she-did
On Tuesday, someone nominating me in the Washington Post’s competition for best NYS political blog wrote this and posted it on Room 8 (I am so deeply humbled, I had to brag; some of it is even true) : http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_gateway_everythings_coming_up_moses_edition.html#comment-4124008