Proposed Council Districts
Every ten years, the New Rochelle City Council, like other legislative bodies, must redraw its district boundaries in order to conform with the most recent census. To address this responsibility, the Council has proposed a new district map that would take effect in the 2023 municipal election.
The proposal seeks to balance population among districts, ensure fair and effective minority representation, keep most neighborhoods unified, and minimize disruption of long-established patterns. The proposed district adjustments are narrowly targeted to meet these objectives and quite modest in their scope — indeed, for 94% of New Rochelle residents, nothing at all would change. This presentation contains much more information, and this zoomable map illustrates the proposed lines.
Redistricting always entails trade-offs: balancing population may require splitting a neighborhood, empowering minority residents may result in a less compact district shape. The examples go on and on, and there is always room for reasonable people to disagree about how these sometimes competing priorities should be weighted. But I hope most residents will conclude that this proposal overall is fair, and that it meets the relevant tests of law and principle.
The Council will welcome public comments at a hearing on June 14th, after which the plan may be adopted or modified.