1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 SENATOR SKELOS: We will start the
3 meeting.
4 Good afternoon. My name is State
5 Senator Dean Skelos and welcome to the
6 Legislative Task Force on Demographic
7 Research and Reapportionment.
8 I think it's about the tenth hearing
9 throughout the state. My name is Senator
10 Dean Skelos. I am Co-Chair.
11 At the table is Assemblyman William
12 Parment who is Co-Chair; Senator Richard
13 Dollinger; Assemblyman Chris Ortloff to my
14 right, Mr. Vincent Bruy who is standing back
15 there drinking water right now and Mr. Roman
16 Hedges who will also join us today and I
17 mentioned my colleagues, Senator George
18 Maziarz to my right and I know that Senator
19 Nozzolio was kind enough to get me here and
20 he is on his way up also. Bill.
21 ASSEMBLYMAN PARMENT: Yes. Our
22 purpose of course is to take testimony from
23 the public, concerned officials in regard to
24 the Congressional district boundaries for
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1 New York State in the post- 2000 year
2 census.
3 We also will be taking testimony on the
4 Assembly and Senate district lines for the
5 New York State Legislature. We look
6 forward to your testimony.
7 I would also like to recognize one of
8 my colleagues, Katherine Young from the
9 149th District is with us and with that I
10 will pass the mike to Senator Dollinger.
11 SENATOR DOLLINGER: First of all I
12 would like to welcome the Task Force to
13 Rochester. I want to assure my colleague,
14 Senator Skelos, that I have thrown many a
15 verbal bomb in the Senate and if you look
16 back at my friend, Gene Roach who is sitting
17 in the back row, that's where I learned how
18 to make them when I started here in the
19 County Legislature 14 years ago.
20 This has been a fascinating process in
21 the last nine hearings as we've moved
22 through the state and talked about the
23 communities of interest that should be
24 linked together both in Congressional
.10
1 districts as well as the legislative
2 districts here in the state and the State
3 Senate and State Assembly and I think this
4 is an interesting opportunity to listen to
5 people talk about their communities, what is
6 happening in their communities, changes,
7 demographic changes, community-wide changes
8 and how those changes should be reflected in
9 the reapportionment process.
10 I'm glad the Task Force has come here.
11 I want to thank both the chairs for coming
12 to Rochester because I think our community
13 has a unique quality to it as well, one that
14 needs to be reflected in the district lines
15 and in the complexion of this community.
16 So we look forward to that and we look
17 forward to the testimony.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you.
19 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: Mr. Chairman, I
20 will talk the opportunity to welcome our
21 colleague, my former colleague and your
22 colleague, Senator Nozzolio and I notice in
23 the rear of the room by the doorway are also
24 joined by Assemblyman David Kuhn.
.11
1 We are here ladies and gentlemen
2 because the Constitution of the United
3 States says the Congressional districts have
4 to be redrawn every ten years because the
5 Supreme Court in 1964 said, state
6 legislative districts had to be redrawn
7 every ten years and because the Constitution
8 of the United States and the State of New
9 York and the legislature has given this Task
10 Force the responsibility of doing the
11 technical details and making recommendations
12 to the Senate and Assembly about the lines.
13 We are in the middle of a process, in
14 the middle of the beginning of the process.
15 It's vitally important that those who
16 speak and write opinions to this Task Force
17 understand that we have an obligation as I
18 said under the Constitution and under the
19 statutes of this state, to do a very
20 difficult job which is about communities,
21 about empowering communities to make choices
22 about who represents them. There are ways
23 to do it right, there are ways to do it that
24 don't work but more than anything else, this
.12
1 is not about individuals who serve in office
2 today.
3 It's about communities that were here
4 before any of us were born and will be here
5 long after any of us have left public
6 service.
7 So, we invite you to address your
8 remarks to the essential nature of your
9 communities, how you speak as one, where you
10 are, how the legislative lines enable to you
11 to do that better or would hurt your ability
12 to do that.
13 We certainly welcome comments as
14 Senator Skelos has said time and again, in
15 praise of your incumbent members, people who
16 you know and who we know do a tremendous job
17 but I would appreciate it on behalf of my
18 colleagues if you would also attempt to
19 steer your comments towards the nature of
20 your communities and how those communities
21 can best be represented. Thank you.
22 SENATOR SKELOS: With the indulgence
23 of the committee, Senator Nozzolio would
24 like to perhaps welcome us also.
.13
1 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: That is exactly
2 right, Senator Skelos. As the Senior
3 Senator representing Monroe County Region on
4 behalf of Senators Alesi, Maziarz who are
5 also here with us today and myself, we
6 certainly welcome Senator Dollinger and most
7 importantly our deputy majority leader of
8 the New York State Senate, Senator Skelos,
9 Assemblyman Parment, Assemblyman Ortloff and
10 other members of the Task Force to listen to
11 the concerns of Monroe County and the entire
12 western Finger Lakes region.
13 We also are very pleased to have with
14 us a number of other representatives,
15 Assemblyman Kuhn was mentioned, Assemblyman
16 Young was here from the southern tier and
17 it's very pleasing to me to see such
18 interest among our legislators in this
19 important issue and we very much welcome the
20 opportunity to hear from you and thank you
21 for bringing the Task Force here, Senator
22 Skelos.
23 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, Senator.
24 We have a list of approximately 26 people
.14
1 that have asked to speak. I welcome Team
2 31. Once again we have seen them throughout
3 the state.
4 I would ask that so everybody can be
5 heard, if you keep your comments to five
6 minutes, of course nobody will be cut off
7 but we would ask that as a consideration so
8 that we can get to all the speakers.
9 Our first speaker is Ms. Wendy
10 Jacobson. Welcome.
11 MS. JACOBSON: Good afternoon.
12 Western New York has much potential. It's a
13 beautiful scenic region that includes the
14 Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario but people
15 here need good jobs and resources to help
16 them prosper. We need more representation
17 in government, not less.
18 Rochester is on the brink of high-tech
19 advancement. Buffalo having lost much of
20 its manufacturing base is in a period of
21 transition.
22 The southern tier with its rolling
23 hills, farmland and lakes has been
24 economically depressed and has its own set
.15
1 of specific needs.
2 Each region is clearly different and
3 each region needs someone who cares about
4 the needs of these diverse communities.
5 New York City is a very exciting and
6 vibrant place but New York State is so much
7 more than New York City. I would like to
8 see resources spread out more evenly across
9 the state. I request that districts in
10 Western New York remain intact and that
11 districts within New York City region are
12 collapsed as a reduction in representation
13 there would be less traumatic and pose less
14 hardship on citizens who live there.
15 Thank you, very much.
16 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. Any
17 questions?
18 (No response.)
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Assemblyman Brian
20 Kolb.
21 (No response.)
22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Paul Haney,
23 H- A- N- E- Y.
24 (No response.)
.16
1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Tony Bernardo.
2 MR. BERNARDO: Good afternoon. I see
3 some familiar faces.
4 My name is Tony Bernardo and I come
5 here on behalf of Congresswoman Louise
6 Slaughter. I am the second Vice President
7 of UAW Local 1097 and help represent
8 approximately 2,300 UAW members at Delphi
9 Automotive which is the world's largest
10 supplier of automotive parts. I also serve
11 with our President, Paul Shoe on the
12 Executive Board for the Genesee Valley Labor
13 Alliance which now represents about 100,000
14 union members in Monroe, the Finger Lakes
15 region and the southern tier.
16 Delphi Manufacturing facility is
17 located here in the City of Rochester on
18 Lexington Avenue and Delphi Engineering and
19 Research and Development Center is located
20 in Henrietta, New York.
21 The United Auto Workers relationship
22 with Congresswoman Slaughter goes back
23 almost 20 years. From the time Louise was
24 elected as Monroe County Legislature until
.17
1 the time she moved onto the New York State
2 Assembly and for the last 15 years,
3 Congressional representative in the 28th
4 Congressional District.
5 During that time, Louise has been a
6 strong, articulate voice for manufacturing
7 and especially the automotive manufacturing
8 sector here in Monroe County. We have two
9 large plants here in Monroe County from the
10 automotive sector, Valleo and Delphi
11 Automotive and between the two of us, two of
12 our facilities, we have about 2,000
13 suppliers in Monroe County and the Finger
14 Lakes region and her strong voice in that
15 sector is extremely important to us.
16 Congresswoman Slaughter is extremely
17 familiar with our members who are employed
18 at Delphi Automotive. Our management team
19 that runs our plant, our manufacturing
20 processes and often a guest at our retirees
21 UAW luncheon meetings.
22 At this point in time when our nation's
23 unemployment rate is gradually moving
24 upwards and we have lost nationally about
.18
1 615 manufacturing jobs since last year, some
2 of our local large employers, Kodak, Bausch
3 & Lomb, Xerox continue to struggle. Let me
4 emphasize that we need Louise's experience
5 and advocacy at the federal level again as a
6 voice for the manufacturing sector,
7 especially the automotive sector.
8 Louise's efforts in early 1990 put
9 Monroe County Airport on the FAA priority
10 list, transformed our airport into one that
11 has become truly international.
12 Our plant, Delphi, is an international
13 plant. We often have to ship parts all over
14 the world in a matter of hours to Mexico,
15 South America, Austria, Eastern Europe and
16 our industrial outlet heartland. That
17 transformation of the airport was extremely
18 important for our facility. Also we have
19 tours that come into our facility from all
20 over the nation, the big three auto makers,
21 GM, Ford, Chrysler, Harley Davidson, those
22 tours are extremely important to our plant
23 and in bringing new work into our
24 facilities.
.19
1 Congresswoman Slaughter's aggressive
2 efforts to lower air fares must continue and
3 again we need her support and voice.
4 Finally in the last 30 years that I
5 have been involved with the political
6 process as a UAW representative, in my
7 opinion there are three ways that you can
8 judge an elected official. First their
9 vomiting record for the middle class and
10 working poor, give those people a voice,
11 their constituency work for the district
12 that they represent and their accessibility.
13 Congresswoman Slaughter gets high marks
14 on all three areas. Her recent vote not to
15 rescind the new ergonomics standards
16 implemented by the Clinton Administration is
17 an example of that. Although we lost on the
18 issue, Louise again sometimes feels the pain
19 and suffering of those who are injured on
20 the job. Her staff both here and in
21 Rochester and in Washington have an
22 outstanding reputation for answering
23 efficiency questions and resolving tough
24 issues relating to Social Security,
.20
1 Medicare, prescription drugs, Veterans
2 issues and long- term health care for the
3 elderly and again her accessibility, we know
4 and Paul Shoe knows, our President, that the
5 Congresswoman and her staff are sometimes
6 are only a phone call away and that means an
7 awful lot to us.
8 On behalf of the UAW, Paul Shoe our
9 President, Jimmy Burdelone who is the
10 president of the Genesee Valley Labor
11 Alliance, we come here in support of Louise
12 and in keeping her district intact.
13 Unfortunately Jim Burdelone wanted very
14 much to be here but union business took him
15 out of Monroe County but he lends his
16 support to the Congresswoman and I thank you
17 very much for the time and the opportunity
18 to speak to you.
19 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Tony, before you
20 go, one of the things that we heard in
21 hearings in both in Syracuse and in
22 Binghamton was the concept that because we
23 have to lose two Congressional seats, that
24 is we were going to go from 31 to 29, that's
.21
1 our apportionment with respect to the other
2 states, is the question came up about in
3 sort of Western and Upstate New York and the
4 recommendation has been made from many in
5 other parts of Western New York,
6 predominantly from the southern tier, that
7 the thing to do would be to take the
8 communities by putting in essence a ring
9 around the cities, Rochester, Buffalo and
10 Syracuse and in essence putting those
11 communities that surround these cities,
12 because none of them are big enough to
13 contain a Congressional district in and of
14 themselves, but put a ring around those and
15 then build the other districts that have
16 more of a rural or suburban character and I
17 mean, you have talked at length about
18 Louise's relationship with the union but
19 from your point of view, is that a proper
20 way to look at it when you look at the
21 community of interest, that it's more
22 surrounding the cities in Western New York?
23 MR. BERNARDO: From the perspective
24 of the UAW, let me put it this way: There
.22
1 was an article recently in the Buffalo News
2 and I guess I'll answer your question this
3 way, that the linchpin that holds the
4 economy in Western New York together is the
5 automotive manufacturing sector and I think
6 we have a couple people here that would
7 agree with me on Onondaga, Erie, Niagara and
8 Monroe County. We feel we have a strong
9 voice that advocates for us for the
10 manufacturing sector in Monroe County and
11 that's the Congresswoman.
12 So let me just reiterate, we would not
13 want to see any changes made or what you are
14 proposing or just not what you are
15 proposing, what you are discussing.
16 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Well, the reason
17 why I ask that is because in trying to look
18 for a community that would be united in a
19 Congressional district or Senate district or
20 Assembly district, one of the factors might
21 be where people work and there are a lot of
22 people, 2,300 that work at your plant and I
23 assume most of those people reside in the
24 city or in surrounding suburbs so they have
.23
1 a community of interest that they share
2 because of their employment and one of the
3 things that we can do is bring people who
4 share interests, we can bring them together
5 in designing those districts and that's one
6 of the factors we can take into account and
7 what I hear you saying is that because of
8 the location of this plant in the city, most
9 of its workers come from near proximity and
10 that they would be best kept in a
11 Congressional district or Senate district
12 because of that unity of interest, whether
13 it's surrounding the automotive industry or
14 light manufacturing, heavy manufacturing,
15 that is largely concentrated in the upstate
16 cities and that the theory that the
17 Congressional districts should be in central
18 cities and surrounding nearby suburbs, much
19 like the current configuration of the 28th
20 Congressional District, that should be
21 somehow maintained if we could do it. Is
22 that fair?
23 MR. BERNARDO: I would say so, yes.
24 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay.
.24
1 SENATOR SKELOS: If I could just ask
2 a question, my good friend and colleague
3 Senator Dollinger is very good at leading
4 the witness. If I could just ask one
5 question: The Congressional District 28
6 which is Congresswoman Slaughter's district
7 is short 61,000 in population and
8 Congressman LaFalce's district is short
9 81,000 in population. Of course that's one
10 of the problems the upstate area has is the
11 loss of population as compared to the City
12 of New York.
13 How would you pick up that 140,000 in
14 population or the 61,000 in population?
15 MR. BERNARDO: Well, I guess, not to
16 be --
17 SENATOR SKELOS: And it may be an
18 unfair question.
19 MR. BERNARDO: Yes. If, I guess
20 that's something that both Mayor Johnson and
21 Mayor Masiello talked about with the loss of
22 so many young people and I'm sure Senator
23 Maziarz would agree that the loss of so many
24 young people that migrate out of our area,
.25
1 that one of the ways to keep them here is a
2 strong manufacturing base where when they
3 leave the community college, the two- year
4 schools or four- year schools, that they
5 have to have a place to come or high school,
6 they have to have a place to come and find a
7 good paying job, at Kodak, Xerox, or Delphi
8 Automotive to keep them here in our
9 community and prevent that tremendous exitus
10 out of Western New York that we have seen.
11 I believe you are talking about that.
12 Now, how do I specifically answer your
13 question, I really don't, other than the
14 fact that we have to find, as we all agree,
15 it's better paying jobs to keep them here.
16 SENATOR SKELOS: I understand.
17 MR. BERNARDO: Especially our younger
18 generation.
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you.
20 MR. BERNARDO: Thank you so much for
21 your time.
22 SENATOR SKELOS: County Legislator
23 Stephanie Aldersley.
24 MS. ALDERSLEY: Good afternoon,
.26
1 gentlemen and thank you for this opportunity
2 to address redistricting as it affects
3 Congressional representation for the Monroe
4 County area.
5 I am Stephanie Aldersley and I serve as
6 one of 29 county legislators for the County
7 of Monroe. And interesting coincidence that
8 Congressional districts will be reduced to
9 the same number. It's difficult for me to
10 put aside my feelings of friendship and
11 respect for Congresswoman Louise Slaughter,
12 but I will try to do so and to focus on the
13 benefits to Monroe County of having unified
14 Congressional representation.
15 As an elected official, I understand
16 all too well the political ramifications of
17 divided advocacy. I am one of two
18 legislators primarily serving my own
19 municipality which is Irondequoit and it's
20 often very difficult to provide united
21 advocacy for my town.
22 In my own situation, my colleague and I
23 are of different parties so that there is
24 often an issue of who will get credit for an
.27
1 initiative. The result is that frequently a
2 deserving agenda languishes for lack of
3 united support. I am sure that all of you
4 know exactly what I'm talking about. My
5 fear is that Monroe County could meet the
6 same fate if we were to have more than one
7 major Congressional representative.
8 A single representative is most
9 critical for the City of Rochester which
10 remains the economic heart of our region.
11 My own town, Irondequoit, is a suburb of
12 Rochester where at last count 80 percent of
13 employed residents work in the City of
14 Rochester, returning to Irondequoit only for
15 retail trade and as more or less a bedroom
16 community.
17 My town depends heavily on the City of
18 Rochester for its economic survival.
19 As one of the big five cities in New
20 York State, Rochester needs and deserves
21 undivided Congressional representation.
22 With the other large cities in this state,
23 Rochester is an economic engine. Strong
24 Congressional support is vital to keeping
.28
1 the upstate economy strong.
2 Over the last ten years, a unified
3 Monroe County has benefited from strong
4 representation in the US Congress. For
5 example, from 1998 to 2000, Representative
6 Slaughter was able to bring $181 million to
7 the region. I'll just name some of the
8 major projects which I'm sure other speakers
9 will be describing in more detail. Placing
10 the County Airport on the FAA priority list
11 so that the airlines paid instead of the
12 county for a new facility.
13 $99.15 million for the National
14 Technical Institute for the Deaf.
15 $62.7 million for the University of
16 Rochester's Lab for Laser Energetics.
17 $14 million for Rochester's Harbor.
18 $11 million for the CIMS Building at RIT
19 which is a manufacturing research facility.
20 $6 million for the High Tech Incubator.
21 $5 million for RIT's Defense Remanufacturing
22 initiative. $2.5 million for Rochester's
23 Advanced Transportation Managements Systems.
24 $800,000 for the cleanup for Charlotte
.29
1 Beach.
2 $250,000 for MCC, Monroe Community
3 College's virtual campus center and $175,000
4 to repair our local Hochstein Music School's
5 historic performance space.
6 These are just some of the
7 contributions to the Monroe County area
8 which have accrued due to undivided
9 Congressional representation.
10 As a member of the County
11 Transportation Committee, I want to
12 highlight one area in particular which is
13 going to need special] Attention in our
14 community in the near future. Monroe County
15 needs to modernize its transportation
16 infrastructure. We need inter-modal freight
17 facilities and multi-modal transit
18 facilities for the region.
19 Currently we have only over-the-road
20 transit and transport facilities in this
21 county. This will be particularly important
22 economically, as employers look to move
23 people and goods within and outside the
24 county. Only unified advocacy will provide
.30
1 the area with the considerable
2 transportation upgrades which must be added,
3 rail, air and water transportation and
4 public transit.
5 I would say listening to the discussion
6 a little earlier, we often describe our
7 metropolitan region as a nine- county area.
8 So the more that the local Rochester, not
9 just Monroe County but our nine- county
10 economic region being kept together in some
11 way would be very helpful.
12 I would go beyond the concept that
13 Rochester, that the Rochester area needs a
14 single strong Congressional representative,
15 to make the point that each of the upstate
16 cities, Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester
17 needs its own strong single-dedicated
18 Congressional representative. Each of our
19 cities has a different history with unique
20 goals and needs and each deserves its own
21 voice and I thank you again for the
22 opportunity to speak with you today and I
23 would be happy to submit a copy of my
24 testimony.
.31
1 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you.
2 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: Just one
3 question. I think I know but what are the
4 nine counties?
5 MS. ALDERSLEY: I can't rattle them
6 off I don't think but Monroe, of course,
7 Wayne County, Genesee County, Orleans
8 County, Ontario County, Livingston County,
9 how many am I up to? You put me on the
10 spot.
11 SENATOR SKELOS: Okay. Thank you.
12 MS. ALDERSLEY: Thank you.
13 SENATOR SKELOS: Councilwoman Gladys
14 Santiago.
15 MS. SANTIAGO: Good afternoon.
16 Welcome to Rochester. For those who haven't
17 been here before or in the past who have
18 been here. How are you doing, Rick?
19 I'm here this afternoon talking on
20 behalf of Louise Slaughter, a friend, a
21 professional friend, a dear friend and a
22 friend to the community and Rochester and
23 the surrounding areas.
24 I am here to make a plea for putting
.32
1 neighborhoods and communities ahead of
2 political expediency. I am here to
3 encourage you to do what is right.
4 Respecting community integrity is the right
5 thing to do.
6 Because we have a member of the House
7 of Representatives who is intimately
8 familiar with our area and what it needs to
9 grow and thrive. Congresswoman Louise
10 Slaughter has been a great asset to our
11 community.
12 For a decade, the Rochester area has
13 been well served by being primarily
14 represented by one member in the House of
15 Representatives. During those years,
16 Congresswoman Slaughter has worked with our
17 area to ensure that its wishes are heard and
18 its needs are fulfilled.
19 She has brought approximately $200
20 million in federal funding to our district.
21 These are dollars to support the development
22 of good- paying high- tech jobs in
23 cooperation with the University of Rochester
24 and the Rochester Institute of Technology,
.33
1 money to develop significant programs at
2 Monroe Community College for our young
3 adults in the community in general, funding
4 for the Hochstein School of Music and
5 millions to redevelop our harbor and of
6 special importance when it's 95 degrees out
7 like it was yesterday, to clean out
8 Charlotte Beach.
9 And recognizing that Rochester has been
10 among the most expensive communities in the
11 America to fly in and out of, Congresswoman
12 Slaughter has made sure that Jet Blue serves
13 our airport. Without low cost competition,
14 it would be that much harder for families to
15 visit far away relatives and for local
16 businesses to bring jobs to Rochester.
17 So many times, electoral districts cut
18 across community and neighborhood boundaries
19 that have developed through the generations.
20 These natural lines have a cohesiveness and
21 a sense of place and purpose. To cut them
22 in pieces, is to provide Congressional
23 representation that is destined to fail.
24 Let me provide a local example. For
.34
1 the past decade, Maplewood, a vibrant city
2 neighborhood, was presented in the Monroe
3 County Legislature by one legislator. After
4 the County Legislature recently acted to
5 serve the needs of politics rather than the
6 needs of a cohesive neighborhood, Maplewood
7 is now carved up between three legislators.
8 My guess is that Maplewood will not benefit
9 by having lost its champion.
10 My city council colleagues and I come
11 face to face every day with the fact that
12 neighborhoods and regions have natural
13 boundaries. The Rochester area functions as
14 an economic unit that includes the city as
15 its center and the surrounding towns and
16 villages in a multi- county area. Our
17 community is a definable area where
18 thousands of people live, work and play.
19 When business leaders decide where to
20 place a manufacturing unit, a retail
21 facility or other business venture, they
22 look at the cohesiveness of the region that
23 functions and makes sense. Cutting up a
24 viable region that works well violates
.35
1 common sense and will make it harder for our
2 area to work with the federal government to
3 create jobs.
4 Providing the Rochester region with one
5 principal member of the House as it has been
6 in the past decade makes sense, a lot of
7 sense. While Western New York communities
8 have much in common, its three major cities
9 have individual personalities, identities
10 and needs. Rather than set these individual
11 parts up for failure, let us set them for
12 success and vitality. Let's keep them whole
13 and represented by one focused person who
14 really understands the needs of the folks
15 back home and that is Louise Slaughter.
16 Thank you.
17 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Gladys, I just
18 want to talk for a second about the Puerto
19 Rican, Hispanic community in Rochester, a
20 growing part of our community as certainly I
21 know and most of my colleagues may not,
22 largely focused in Northeast Rochester and
23 South Clinton Avenue -- excuse me, the North
24 Clinton area but nonetheless growing
.36
1 rapidly.
2 MS. SANTIAGO: Absolutely.
3 SENATOR DOLLINGER: And one of the
4 things that we can consider of course is the
5 relationship of a community in keeping a
6 community together so that they can use
7 their political persuasiveness assuming that
8 the vote as a cohesive group to have their
9 voice heard and I would just be interested
10 in your reflection on that, both with
11 respect to the Congressional district, the
12 Senate district and the Assembly district.
13 Is it important to keep that community
14 together in the same district so that they
15 have influence over public officials or can
16 see the power of their collective vote?
17 MS. SANTIAGO: Absolutely. The way
18 it is now, it is cohesive. We need to keep
19 it together. We don't want any separation.
20 Louise is accessible to the Latino
21 community. I am as well as Mr. Cruz and the
22 City District Board and you know, if it
23 isn't broken, you know, why bother even
24 tinkering with it but our community at this
.37
1 point, we are really coming out. We are
2 coming out to vote. They have an influence
3 on us. We listen. She listens and I don't
4 really believe and I really am very strong
5 about that, that a separation would benefit
6 anyone but those who have self- interests,
7 self- serving.
8 SENATOR SKELOS: What would you say
9 the population is?
10 MS. SANTIAGO: We are 28,620 as per
11 the census. Those numbers are right here in
12 my mind and growing, by the way.
13 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you.
14 MS. SANTIAGO: The majority being of
15 Puerto Rico decent and Dominicans. Thank
16 you.
17 SENATOR SKELOS: Any other questions?
18 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: May I just
19 follow up on that? You are a city council
20 member.
21 MS. SANTIAGO: Yes, I am.
22 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: Elected at
23 large.
24 MS. SANTIAGO: At large.
.38
1 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: If I could turn
2 your attention to the Assembly district for
3 a minute. One of the things that has always
4 struck me about the Assembly districts in
5 the City of Rochester is the two districts
6 that make up most of the City of Rochester
7 also extend outside the city, one of them in
8 one town, one of them I believe in two towns
9 and picking up on your very well articulated
10 opinion that unity is important, I wonder if
11 I could ask you to comment on whether it
12 would be preferable particularly for the
13 Latino community, if the City of Rochester
14 were, well, you have got too many for one
15 district, you've got to have more than one
16 district but rather than have only 84,000 in
17 one and 82,000 in another, how about
18 126,000, one whole district within the city?
19 Would that be better or worse for you?
20 MS. SANTIAGO: You know, I thought
21 you would ask that. I really looked at you
22 and asked, would this gentleman ask me to
23 put us all. I see that we should not all be
24 concentrated in one area. I think we should
.39
1 spread out and if we have districts that are
2 going to address those needs, well, that's
3 that I would at least perceive it if I was
4 in their shoes, I would want to do that. I
5 concentration would be good power, political
6 power. We are starting to gain some of that
7 right now but my sense is that I would
8 rather be across, you know, across the
9 assemblies. I don't know if it's -- I
10 really would have to study that closely and
11 probably have a few meetings with the
12 assemblymen and people.
13 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: Thanks.
14 SENATOR SKELOS: Any other questions?
15 (No response.)
16 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you very much,
17 ma'am.
18 Supervisor Sandra Frankel, Town of
19 Brighton.
20 MS. FRANKEL: Good afternoon.
21 Chairmen Parment and Skelos and members of
22 the New York State Task Force on Demographic
23 Research and Reapportionment, it is my
24 privilege to be here to talk with each and
.40
1 every one of you about the issue of
2 Congressional and State Legislative
3 redistricting.
4 It's good to see some of you who are
5 friends and colleagues with whom I have
6 worked over the years and to also meet some
7 of you who are new.
8 Today I would like to talk about
9 principles that I believe are important to
10 be incorporated as a strong foundation to
11 ensure the construction of a fair
12 redistricting plan.
13 First, districts, of course, must be of
14 relatively equal population with an
15 acceptable variance of about ten percent
16 reinforcing the concept of one person, one
17 vote based on both the Equal Protection
18 clause and applicable US Supreme Court
19 decisions.
20 Secondly, the district plan should be
21 drawn in compliance with the Voting Rights
22 Act requirements related to adequate
23 minority representation. Racial principles
24 for redistricting have been applied to local
.41
1 jurisdictions as well as states. The United
2 States Supreme Court has repeatedly held in
3 disfavor local multi- member district plans
4 that dilute minority voting strength.
5 Third, no incumbent from either party
6 should be placed in the district with
7 another incumbent and I think each of us who
8 is elected can relate to that concept.
9 Fourth, the district plan shall be
10 based on current legislative districts.
11 Keeping district lines as close as
12 possible to the current lines will help make
13 elected officials accountable.
14 Fifth, and this is the area I would
15 like to concentrate on most, the district
16 plan shall respect neighborhood, town,
17 village and city boundaries and keep
18 communities of interest intact within
19 Congressional and State Legislative
20 districts to the fullest extent possible.
21 The communities of interest
22 redistricting principle states that most
23 local jurisdictions have readily
24 recognizable neighborhoods that are clearly
.42
1 communities of interest for redistricting
2 purposes and that these jurisdictions should
3 be reflected in the plan. Unique local
4 needs and responsiveness to those needs can
5 be addressed most effectively through this
6 approach.
7 The Town of Brighton and its immediate
8 neighbor the City of Rochester, constitute
9 an identifiable community of interest. I
10 have included in your packets a map of the
11 Town of Brighton which you will receive.
12 That map shows the Town of Brighton as a
13 municipality that is crescent shaped with a
14 population of 35,588 people with a border, a
15 boundary that touches the City of Rochester
16 along most of its -- it's the side that
17 abuts the southeastern quadrant of the city.
18 The Town of Brighton with its extensive
19 boundary with the City of Rochester has a
20 deep and long history. Brighton was
21 organized in 1814 and included much of what
22 has become the city. Over the years the
23 city expanded to include portions of what
24 had been Brighton and Brighton developed as
.43
1 an urban suburb. Visible reflections of our
2 historic connections include the Brighton
3 Cemetery, the Brighton Branch of the US Post
4 Office, the Brighton Presbyterian Church,
5 the Brighton Restaurant once an inn on the
6 Erie Canal which is now I- 490 and the
7 original Brighton Town Hall, all now within
8 the municipal boundaries of the City of
9 Rochester.
10 And as much as occasionally talk with
11 our Mayor, Bill Johnson about giving back
12 some of that portion of Brighton, the fact
13 is that we are interconnected in many ways.
14 Prior to 1962 when the United States
15 Supreme Court issued its one- man, one- vote
16 ruling, each county in New York was
17 represented by a single State Senate
18 district.
19 In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s
20 redistricting, Brighton was included with
21 the City of Rochester. For more than 30
22 years therefore Brighton has been in the
23 State Senate district with major portions of
24 the City of Rochester as well.
.44
1 Current connections between the city
2 and Brighton continue the community of
3 interest relationship. The town and city
4 cooperate and share services and work
5 efforts through several inter- municipal
6 agreements, assessment, building inspection
7 and code enforcement, road maintenance,
8 economic development of a shared commercial
9 corridor, Monroe Avenue and purchasing.
10 In addition, people who live in the
11 city and Brighton share recreational areas
12 and parks such as Highland Park, Genesee
13 Valley Park, the Canal Trail and Brighton
14 Town Park. They also use the same
15 hospitals, churches, synagogues and a
16 mosque. Brighton and city residents jointly
17 enjoy organized youth sports such as that
18 provided by Brighton Baseball which hosts
19 the east side city youth softball program
20 and have also benefited from participation
21 in the urban/suburban school exchange
22 program.
23 As you can see, Brighton and the City
24 of Rochester continues to be linked.
.45
1 Likewise, the County of Monroe
2 represents a more expanded community of
3 interest. Monroe County towns work together
4 through the Monroe County Supervisor's
5 Association.
6 In addition, the recently organized
7 Monroe County Council of Governments
8 promotes the mutual interests of our
9 citizens and communities.
10 The elected executives of all
11 municipalities in Monroe County including
12 the County Executive, the Mayors of the City
13 of Rochester and county villages and the
14 Supervisors of Monroe County towns come
15 together on a regular basis to work on
16 economic development and inter-municipal
17 opportunity.
18 County-wide economic development has
19 received focused support from the federal
20 government by virtue of inclusion in the
21 single Congressional district. More than
22 $200 million has been received for
23 education, high-tech business development,
24 defense remanufacturing, transportation,
.46
1 laser research, harbor and beach
2 improvements and historic renovation as you
3 have already heard from prior speakers.
4 Securing lower air fare which is
5 critical to our economic future is also a
6 direct result of our Congressional
7 representative's ability to speak on behalf
8 of the entire county which she represents.
9 As a former school board member and
10 educator, I can also speak to the importance
11 of continuing to have a single Congress
12 person dedicated to our region's educational
13 needs and the needs of our families and
14 children. It is imperative that Monroe
15 County remain self-contained to the greatest
16 extent possible within the single
17 Congressional district and it is also in our
18 mutual municipal interest to remain in the
19 existing State Senate district to the
20 greatest extent possible.
21 Next I would like to note as well that
22 this district obviously should be compact
23 and contiguous, not oddly shaped for
24 political expediency. So I would encourage
.47
1 you to avoid any gerrymandering. It is
2 considerably easier to comply with the
3 neutral redistricting principles of
4 compactness and contiguity in local
5 jurisdictions where municipalities with
6 census boundaries that run for the most part
7 on existing street grids than it is to
8 satisfy those principles at the state level
9 where the large expanses of sparsely
10 populated areas must be taken into account.
11 I recognize that but I also raise the
12 point to ask that you do your best to try
13 and keep cohesive areas together.
14 Finally I ask that districts be drawn
15 in a manner that is fair to all political
16 parties including a number of competitive
17 districts, rather than drawing competitive
18 districts that clearly favor one party. I
19 believe that if these principles are applied
20 in your decision- making process on
21 redistricting, then the voters of our
22 community, the residents of our community,
23 the businesses in our community will
24 benefit, will strengthen and will continue
.48
1 to grow.
2 I thank you very much for your
3 consideration today.
4 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, ma'am.
5 Mayor William A. Johnson, Jr.
6 MAYOR JOHNSON: Thank you, Chairman
7 Skelos and Assemblyman Parment, Assemblyman
8 Ortloff, Mr. Hoppe, Dr. Hedges.
9 I welcome you to the City of Rochester
10 and Senator Dollinger, welcome home. Thank
11 you for providing me with this opportunity
12 to present some comments on the forthcoming
13 reapportionment.
14 I apologize for an redundancies that
15 may occur but that might mean that these
16 points are well worth repetition and worth
17 repeating over and over.
18 I do not envy your task. You cannot
19 propose a win/win solution. Someone is
20 going to lose.
21 Because New York's population has
22 increased less than other states, our
23 Congressional representation will be reduced
24 from 31 to 29 members. Because within New
.49
1 York State the population of downstate has
2 increased while the population of upstate
3 has decreased, upstate representation in the
4 State Senate and Assembly will be diluted.
5 With these givens, I would like to
6 suggest some basic principles that can guide
7 your work in developing recommendations
8 concerning the required reapportionment.
9 First with respect to Congressional
10 districts. Monroe County has been served
11 well because one Congress member presently
12 Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, represents
13 nearly the entire Rochester region. Because
14 she has a single constituency, she has been
15 able to focus solely on the region's needs.
16 She has not been required to divide her
17 attention among several different
18 constituencies and balance her appropriation
19 request among them.
20 This not an academic advantage. The
21 Rochester region has benefited significantly
22 from this single- mindedness. Through the
23 efforts of Congresswoman Slaughter and our
24 Senate Delegation, the region has received
.50
1 $99 million for the National Technical
2 Institute for the Deaf, $63 million for the
3 Laboratory for Laster Energetics at the
4 University of Rochester, $14 million for
5 development of the Port of Rochester, $11
6 million for the Center for Integrated
7 Manufacturing Studies at the Rochester
8 Institute of Technology, $6 million for a
9 high- tech incubator, $5 million for RIT's
10 defense remanufacturing initiative and $2.5
11 million for advanced transportation
12 management systems.
13 This adds up to a little over $200
14 million. Congresswoman Slaughter also was
15 instrumental in improving air service to
16 Rochester. Because she represents only the
17 Rochester region, she did not have to be
18 concerned about also improving air services
19 to Buffalo or Syracuse. These cities are
20 well- served by their own representatives.
21 Separate representation should be a
22 principle that should be continued under any
23 redistricting plan.
24 A similar principle should be applied
.51
1 to the restructuring of the State Senate
2 districts. The City of Rochester has been
3 well- served by being in a single district
4 rather than divided between districts.
5 Like Congresswoman Slaughter, the
6 current incumbent, Senator Dollinger, has
7 been able to concentrate on the interests of
8 the city. He has been able to address the
9 concerns of its residents in a manner that
10 may not have been possible if, for example,
11 the district also included rural areas where
12 the concerns of residents are legitimately
13 different.
14 A single district for the city has
15 ensured that the minority populations within
16 the city remain and franchised. The
17 division of the city in two or more
18 districts could dilute the voting strength
19 of these populations. It is recognized,
20 though, that the new Senate District must
21 include more than the city. Each new
22 district will contain about 311,000 people.
23 Rochester's total population is now only
24 about 219,000.
.52
1 The new district will therefore have to
2 include a portion of one or more towns. It
3 is recommended that towns that are most
4 similar to the city, the inner ring towns,
5 be considered for inclusion. These towns,
6 such as Brighton and Irondequoit, are
7 confronted with many of the same problems
8 faced by the city, such as loss of
9 population, aging infrastructure and
10 scarcity of development sites. We share a
11 commonality of interests.
12 A district that includes both Brighton
13 and the city would mirror the blended
14 district established by the Monroe County
15 Legislature. It would reflect a recognition
16 that in many ways the destinies of our
17 jurisdictions are intertwined.
18 Finally, the principle of commonality
19 of interests should also be applied to the
20 new Assembly districts. The city will be
21 represented by at least two Assembly
22 members. It is essential that the new
23 districts, whether the number is two or
24 more, respect traditional neighborhood
.53
1 boundaries.
2 By following these principles,
3 singularity and commonality of interests,
4 you would help ensure that the city and the
5 Rochester region would continue to have the
6 opportunity for effective representation at
7 both the federal and state levels.
8 I strongly urge that you abide by these
9 principles as you develop your
10 recommendations. Thank you, very much.
11 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, sir. Are
12 there any questions?
13 SENATOR DOLLINGER: No questions.
14 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. County
15 Legislator Lynda Goldstein.
16 MS. GOLDSTEIN: Hi. I'm Lynda Garner
17 Goldstein. I represent Brighton in the
18 County Legislature which happens to be the
19 seat formerly occupied by Senator Dollinger.
20 I appreciate the opportunity to put in
21 my two cents this afternoon. I'm here to
22 speak specifically about the State Senate
23 district. Because Brighton has 35,000
24 residents and is not large enough to be its
.54
1 own State Senate district, it then becomes
2 important to look at how it can be combined
3 in a cogent way with other municipalities
4 that makes the most sense for those of us
5 who live there.
6 Of the communities that surround
7 Brighton, the east side of the city is the
8 one with which it shares the most common
9 interests.
10 Historically, the east side of the city
11 actually was the Town of Brighton until the
12 city annexed it in the 1900s and if you take
13 a look at the history of early Brighton and
14 do a tour, much of that tour will actually
15 be in what is now the east side of the city.
16 For as long as I have been in public
17 office which is over ten years now, I have
18 talked about how the success of Brighton as
19 a community is strongly dependent on the
20 success of the city. Certainly both
21 communities are effected by both economic
22 news that comes from our regional employers
23 but it comes from more than that, however,
24 because I don't believe that Brighton can
.55
1 thrive as a community without a vital City
2 of Rochester to provide Brighton's reason
3 for being.
4 We share cultural and sports activities
5 and institutions. The east side of the city
6 is home to many of them, the Eastman Theater
7 and Auditorium Theater which is where the
8 presentations of the Rochester Broadway
9 Theater League and the Rochester
10 Philharmonic Orchestra happen. There is the
11 Red Wings baseball team, the Rhino soccer
12 team, the Seneca Park Zoo, the Strasenburgh
13 Planetarium, the Rochester Museum and
14 Science Center and the Memorial Art Gallery.
15 In addition to those well- founded
16 institutions, Rochester and Brighton have a
17 common library system and you know, there's
18 a term in the community which is eastsider
19 which is defined mostly as people that live
20 in Brighton and people who live in the City
21 of Rochester on the east side without
22 distinguishing which geographic location
23 they actually reside in and there are many
24 east side institutions including religious
.56
1 institutions and private schools.
2 The City of Rochester was recently
3 devastated by the closing of Genesee
4 Hospital and the impact was felt equally
5 greatly by the residents of Brighton and
6 also, you know, the City of Rochester is an
7 inner ring suburb and as such faces many of
8 the same problems and consequences of urban
9 sprawl and outer growth and development that
10 the city does which is certainly an issue
11 that I hope the State Senate will be looking
12 at sometime in the near future.
13 These common interests, as Supervisor
14 Frankel stated, have led to a number of
15 inter- municipal agreements and joint
16 ventures including Monroe Avenue
17 improvements which is a state highway,
18 building permits and assessments.
19 Now, traditionally the New York State
20 Legislature has acknowledged this natural
21 alliance between Brighton and the city. In
22 the redistricting proposals of the
23 seventies, eighties, and nineties, Brighton
24 was included with all or parts of the City
.57
1 of Rochester in the Assembly and in the
2 Senate.
3 Likewise, the Monroe County Legislature
4 recently recognized this in our most recent
5 redistricting plan and two of the four
6 districts that will be housed in the Town of
7 Brighton are blended with parts of the city
8 and I included maps of those districts with
9 my testimony when I turned it in when I
10 registered.
11 It's very clear that there are a number
12 of compelling reasons to combine Brighton
13 with the city when drawing the State Senate
14 districts and you know, the theme has been
15 echoed repeatedly this afternoon when we
16 talk about communities of interest and they
17 are not just cultural, governmental, but
18 they are also economic as well as tradition
19 and that's my testimony and I thank you for
20 the opportunity to speak with you.
21 SENATOR SKELOS: Any questions?
22 SENATOR DOLLINGER: No questions.
23 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you very much
24 for taking your time to be here.
.58
1 Mr. Michael Leone, Committee for United
2 Monroe County.
3 MR. LEONE: Good afternoon. Nice to
4 see you, Assemblyman Parment. I know you
5 don't remember but I grew up in Fredonia and
6 in 1982 I remember you coming to my house
7 and walking door to door. So good to see
8 you, sir.
9 But now I live in Rochester and I'm
10 here today to advocate for the position that
11 the Greater Rochester area will be best
12 served by continuing to keep one entire
13 Congressional district within Monroe
14 County's borders.
15 As this panel knows, New York is in the
16 unenviable position of having to collapse 31
17 Congressional districts into 29. This means
18 that each district will include about
19 625,000 New Yorkers as opposed to the
20 previous 580,000. What we also know is that
21 based upon census numbers, at least one of
22 the two lost seats will most likely come out
23 of upstate New York.
24 Fortunately the Greater Rochester area
.59
1 has done better than most of its upstate
2 counterparts in retaining its population.
3 Currently, Monroe County has about 730,000
4 residents. Therefore, clearly Monroe County
5 has the ability to continue to host an
6 entire Congressional district within its
7 borders.
8 Moreover, there are some compelling
9 reasons why this panel should recommend that
10 Monroe County maintain an entire district.
11 Now in the five minutes that I have I cannot
12 articulate all the reasons, some people
13 before me have done it better than I will
14 but there are two points I would like to
15 make.
16 First, the City of Rochester and its
17 bordering municipalities have an interwoven
18 destiny. In fact, the city is the economic
19 and cultural engine of our region. This is
20 also true of the other upstate regions.
21 Therefore, it makes little sense to blend
22 these different regions together in a
23 Congressional district when each can have
24 its own undivided advocate.
.60
1 This is important since an effective
2 elected official does more than just make
3 laws, as you know, he or she must fight for
4 those they represent.
5 Now, it's hard enough to get 625,000
6 people to agree on anything but the less
7 connected they are, the greater likelihood
8 of conflict and this will lead to a less
9 effective advocate. Clearly in light of
10 upstate's problems in spite of the recent
11 great economy, we do need strong advocates.
12 What I am articulating also appears to be
13 the same sound reasoning that goes into
14 drawing the upstate Assembly and Senate
15 districts in that municipalities as a
16 general rule are not split up when at all
17 possible.
18 One of the issues I want to talk about
19 was the idea of economic development but
20 there's already been testimony about Jet
21 Blue and the lower air fares and how having
22 one advocate in this area in order to get
23 the necessary landing and takeoff rights has
24 helped to secure that as opposed to it going
.61
1 to Syracuse but there's a second reason I
2 would like to talk to you about.
3 Because of their interwoven destinies,
4 the residents of the City of Rochester and
5 their suburban neighbors have to work
6 together to solve the increased problem of
7 the urbanization of the poor.
8 Now, according to recent numbers, the
9 City of Rochester has 32 percent of Monroe
10 County's population but houses 73 percent of
11 its poor. Of course this is not exclusive
12 to just the Greater Rochester area. This
13 affects most large cities. Moreover, the
14 City of Rochester has only 30 percent of all
15 K through 12 students but 71 percent of the
16 students eligible for the free or reduced
17 lunch program and 79 percent of non- white
18 students.
19 Now, in order to prosper as a region,
20 this issue must be addressed and a critical
21 step is to allow us to maintain a district
22 completely within the Greater Rochester
23 region and including the entire City of
24 Rochester so that we can have a person who
.62
1 can concentrate on how the city and suburbs
2 need to work together on issues such as
3 poverty.
4 I thank you for your attention. I know
5 that there are other speakers and I would
6 love to talk to you about a bunch of other
7 issues but thank you for this opportunity
8 and enjoy your day.
9 SENATOR SKELOS: Any questions?
10 (No response.)
11 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you for being
12 here today.
13 Mr. Bruce Popper, Executive Vice
14 President 1199 Upstate.
15 ASSEMBLYMAN PARMENT: Mr. Chairman, I
16 would like to recognize that we have been
17 joined by Assemblyman Oaks.
18 MR. POPPER: Good afternoon. My name
19 is Bruce Popper and I am the Executive Vice
20 President of Local 1199 Upstate, Service
21 Employees International Union (SEIU). I
22 also serve as the First Vice President of
23 the Rochester Labor Council and locally I
24 have been a member of the Board of Directors
.63
1 of the Rochester Health Commission since its
2 inception in 1995.
3 I am speaking here today on behalf of
4 Local 1199 and the SEIU, New York State
5 Council.
6 Local 1199 Upstate is a union composed
7 exclusively of health care employees. Our
8 members work in hospitals, nursing homes,
9 clinics and at home health agencies from
10 Malone in the North Country all the way over
11 to Dunkirk on the shores of Lake Erie. We
12 represent over 16,000 people and we are
13 growing. This year alone 1,400 additional
14 health care workers have chosen 1199 SEIU in
15 Upstate New York. The union maintains
16 offices in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.
17 We are deeply committed to maintaining
18 quality health care services in the
19 communities where our members work. We are
20 equally committed to providing the tools
21 that enable them to do their jobs, tools
22 such as safe staffing levels, modern
23 equipment and adequate supplies. As a
24 result, we are necessarily involved in
.64
1 politics, seeing that health care workers'
2 voices are heard by state and federal
3 officials.
4 Each of the metropolitan areas in which
5 our members live have distinct health care
6 systems. There are differences in these so-
7 called health care markets, especially in
8 the acute care sector, the hospital side of
9 the industry. Rochester's health care
10 system especially has a unique history.
11 It is our union's view that health care
12 workers and health care providers in the
13 Rochester area are advantaged by being
14 represented by officials who can develop the
15 expertise and familiarity with our health
16 care system, representatives who can focus
17 on the Rochester market.
18 It is particularly important in
19 determining Congressional district
20 boundaries that this area not be divided up
21 into multiple jurisdictions. That would
22 work against the continuing task of making
23 Rochester's health care the best that it can
24 be.
.65
1 I therefore urge you in your
2 deliberation on Congressional boundaries to
3 consider health care system markets as one
4 of the major factors in revising the
5 Congressional district lines in Upstate New
6 York.
7 Thank you.
8 SENATOR SKELOS: No questions. Thank
9 you for being here.
10 ASSEMBLYMAN PARMENT: One question.
11 In that regard, the health service area in
12 Rochester is served within Monroe County?
13 MR. POPPER: Yes. Well, the
14 concentration is in Monroe County. We have
15 a reduced number of hospitals today as was
16 noted earlier but all the hospital
17 facilities but one lie within the city and
18 the one that lies outside is in the inner
19 suburb of Greece, New York and then the
20 referral patterns go out from there.
21 Kaleida in Western New York and Buffalo
22 has a similar configuration. Their hospital
23 concentrates, with the exception of suburban
24 over in Amherst in the city but their
.66
1 referral patterns go well outside, spider
2 outside the central cities. Each of those
3 has different dynamics, the same thing, the
4 dominant system in Syracuse is the health
5 alliance of Central New York. The hospitals
6 in the city are reaching out to outpatient,
7 long- term care facilities beyond that,
8 tertiary referral coming up and down the
9 interstate, 390 in this case, 90 in Western
10 New York, 81 in Syracuse.
11 ASSEMBLYMAN PARMENT: Thank you.
12 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. Ms.
13 Jennifer Harvey of Congressman LaFalce's
14 office.
15 MS. HARVEY: Good afternoon,
16 gentleman. This is going to be very short,
17 very brief. I am here today, my name is
18 Jennifer Skoog- Harvey. I'm a village
19 resident over in Brockport, Western Monroe
20 County and I'm here today on behalf of
21 Congressman John LaFalce.
22 Congressman LaFalce has submitted to
23 you for your consideration a written
24 testimony which I hope you all have and I
.67
1 have additional copies here if you do not
2 have that with you which I would like to
3 approach and pass out.
4 I just hope that you will review that
5 testimony on behalf of Congressman LaFalce
6 and I thank you, very much.
7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Eugene Welch,
8 Esq.
9 MR. WELCH: Good afternoon,
10 gentlemen. My name is Gene Welch and I
11 thank you very much for allowing us to have
12 this public input and giving so much of your
13 valuable time. I live in Greece, New York
14 and at the moment I'm represented in
15 Congress by a very sharp woman, Louise
16 Slaughter.
17 I am an attorney in private practice
18 with a bipartisan law firm. As Senator Mike
19 Nozzolio and Mike Dollinger know, we have
20 very vigorous republicans and democrats in
21 our firm. I represent municipalities and
22 individuals all over Upstate New York in
23 litigation in federal and state courts in
24 Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, urban and rural
.68
1 counties but one of the things I want to
2 talk to you today is about my prior
3 experience as the attorney in charge of the
4 State Attorney General's Rochester Regional
5 Office and I stress regional office.
6 Now, my responsibilities included rural
7 and urban counties from the southern tier
8 all the way up to the lake, the cities of
9 Bath, Corning, Elmira, Canandaigua, Geneva,
10 Rochester, a diverse region with diverse and
11 sometimes conflicting interests, like the
12 salt mine and we'll talk more about that in
13 a minute.
14 Before that I was an Assistant US
15 Attorney, a federal prosector, once again
16 with regional responsibilities to enforce
17 the federal laws in the southern tier as
18 well as at the border crossings and in the
19 cities and in the rural areas.
20 Currently in my volunteer community
21 activity these days I serve as the Canal
22 Development Subcommittee of the Greece
23 Chamber of Commerce. I chair that committee
24 and for those of you from out of town,
.69
1 Greece is a town immediately adjacent to
2 Rochester on the west. You have heard a lot
3 from the eastsiders today. We are on the
4 west, a town of almost 100,000 people and we
5 have about four miles of very beautiful
6 canal waterfront and we in Greece want to
7 develop that canal waterfront in a balanced
8 fashion and to do that we are going to need
9 some of those federal dollars that are going
10 to be coming down the canal for this
11 federally historic landmark trail but we are
12 going to be in direct competition with many
13 other towns across the state including those
14 in Erie, Niagara, Orleans and Wayne
15 Counties, even in Assemblyman Oaks' counties
16 and I put the question this way:
17 How can one Congressional
18 representative who must serve multiple
19 counties, do our bidding in Greece or Monroe
20 County?
21 Does he sacrifice Erie County for
22 Monroe County?
23 Does she fight for Greece instead of
24 Lockport, our neighbor to the west?
.70
1 It does remind me of what several
2 others have mentioned about this situation
3 with Congresswoman Slaughter and Jet Blue.
4 You know, it cost us $400 or $500 easily to
5 fly down to New York City and Congresswoman
6 Slaughter was able to use her good offices
7 to fight to get the landing slots for Jet
8 Blue so that they could service Rochester to
9 JFK.
10 Now, when you rewrite these districts,
11 if you put her in a district where she's got
12 to serve Buffalo or Syracuse or excuse me,
13 Buffalo and Rochester or Rochester and
14 Syracuse, how could she fight for that
15 advantage really that we got with Jet Blue
16 here in Rochester? I can now visit my
17 daughter in Brooklyn for $98 instead of
18 $498. It's just an amazing difference.
19 But let me return to the days of
20 running the State Attorney General's
21 Regional Office. You may remember, some of
22 you like Senator Nozzolio I'm sure will
23 remember quite vividly that the Akzo salt
24 mine sprung a leak, a major water leak into
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1 the salt mine in Livingston County and that
2 was during my administration with the
3 Attorney General's Office.
4 The neighbors to the mine in Livingston
5 County, they were just clamoring for their
6 government, their government, the DEC and
7 the Attorney General's Office to jump on the
8 back of the mine with both feet and get
9 relief for the neighbors whose houses and
10 family farms, they were subsiding into the
11 ground. The roads and bridges were
12 collapsing. Wells were running dry. But
13 the towns and municipalities who relied on
14 that salt mine for less expensive salt, it
15 was easily accessible, as you know we get
16 the snowstorms, our salt piles are low, we
17 have to access that quick, ready access to
18 the salt mines, they were clamoring easy,
19 easy, don't jump on their back with both
20 feet and drive them out of business, then we
21 won't have an easily accessible, affordable
22 source of salt.
23 Once again we found ourselves in a very
24 difficult conflict. Now, we've got John
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1 LaFalce serving Monroe County. We have got
2 Louise Slaughter serving Monroe County.
3 We've got Tom Reynolds serving Monroe
4 County. We have got Amo Houghton serving
5 many areas nearby here and they are all
6 wonderful, dedicated public servants who try
7 every day to represent all the constituents
8 but let's be realistic.
9 When you redraw these lines, please
10 don't ask them to live with these
11 conflicting regional interests for the next
12 ten years.
13 Now, let's talk a little about that
14 canal. Let's just assume for a minute that
15 the canal has limited funding for
16 development along the canal. Let's assume
17 that. That's quite an assumption, isn't it?
18 So, who does the Congressional
19 representative who serves a wide region with
20 multiple canal towns and counties, who does
21 he or she work for to get that limited
22 funding? She or he cannot do a vigorous job
23 for both Erie County and Monroe County or
24 Monroe County and Wayne County.
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1 How about the Army Corp of Engineers?
2 They've got a limited budget for the Lake
3 Ontario Harbor improvements. If you put one
4 representative in place for the ports of
5 Rochester and join that Congressional
6 district with some of the other places that
7 have ports like Sodus and Oswego or Oak
8 Orchard, Olcott and Youngstown on the west,
9 that puts that Congress person in an
10 intolerable conflict, possibly denying the
11 citizens and all of those ports adequate
12 Congressional representation.
13 Urban interests versus rural and
14 agricultural interests. They are difficult
15 for one representative to balance and serve
16 if it's not really impossible to do that.
17 By continuing this split of Monroe
18 County into multiple Congressional districts
19 that we have now, you will most certainly
20 dilute the attention of each of these
21 members of Congress or worse yet, you'll
22 force them to ignore the interests of the
23 less populated areas with the interest of
24 those areas with more voters.
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1 So please, when you do this, try to
2 create districts for each common interest
3 such as Erie County only, Monroe County
4 only, agricultural counties only, a
5 commonality of interest.
6 Having served myself in a regional
7 government capacity and I'm now working on a
8 community project in competition with other
9 communities served by regional governmental
10 representatives and litigating all over
11 Upstate New York, I can tell you that it
12 would be a benefit to the citizens we all
13 serve and we all serve the citizens, to
14 reapportion these seats to allow these
15 representatives to serve one master, one
16 community of interest whose interest can be
17 served by that single representative without
18 the conflict with other metropolitan areas.
19 Thanks for letting me speak today and
20 for having the hearing. Thanks very much.
21 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, very
22 much.
23 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: I just have one
24 question if you could. I understand --
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1 MR. WELCH: How to do it?
2 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: Yes. Just let
3 me do it, it will be fine. No. I
4 understand you seem to be addressing the
5 importance of not having Rochester and
6 Syracuse in the same district or Rochester
7 and Buffalo in the same district. As a
8 practical matter, you have worked in the
9 area, that would be very difficult to do
10 given the population centers in the cities.
11 There's a whole lot of people in the back
12 here with T shirts on that have made the
13 point in previous hearings that the real
14 conflict of interest is when a member has to
15 represent an urban center and a rural
16 district.
17 I wonder if you could just take 30
18 seconds to comment on that line of
19 reasoning?
20 MR. WELCH: Well, to me it is one of
21 the things that makes this job so very, very
22 difficult and it may be that we need to go
23 with some sort of plan similar to what I
24 think Rick Dollinger was mentioning earlier
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1 in the hearing where you start and draw your
2 circles around these urban centers and you
3 set up a Congressional district for the more
4 rural, agricultural areas. It's going to be
5 a difficult task because I would dare say
6 half the people in Monroe County would say
7 the Town of Greece is agricultural or rural
8 but in fact it's more urban than
9 agricultural and you are going to have to be
10 Solomon like that but yes, I do believe that
11 there's a need to cordon off these common
12 interest areas, be that agricultural, rural,
13 urban, industrial, those sorts of things.
14 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: As you look at
15 the districts as they are now, would you say
16 that Congressman Reynolds' district was
17 essentially a rural district?
18 MR. WELCH: I can only speak to what
19 comes through here in this vicinity and my
20 belief is that it's generally rural but I
21 don't know what he has over in the western
22 frontier. I can't answer that question for
23 you, I'm sorry.
24 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: And Congressman
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1 Slaughter's district, notwithstanding the
2 suburbs on the eastern part of the county is
3 essentially or primarily an urban district?
4 MR. WELCH: Pretty much, yes.
5 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: You don't think
6 she has a difficulty in representing the
7 urban towns and the city?
8 MR. WELCH: I think that there's
9 always going to be some of that but to me
10 it's not going to be as difficult as when
11 you deal with these big federal issues where
12 you have the limited money and somebody
13 needs to advocate for Syracuse and somebody
14 needs to advocate for Rochester and at the
15 moment she's been able to do that but I
16 think we are asking an impossible task of
17 these folks who have to serve Erie County
18 and Niagara County and Monroe County at the
19 same time. Who are they going to fight for
20 when you've got limited dollars?
21 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: Thank you.
22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Bolgen Vargas.
23 Is Mr. Vargas here?
24 (No response.)
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1 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Mason, City
2 Council, City of Auburn.
3 MR. MASON: Good afternoon, Mr.
4 Chairman and members of the Task Force and a
5 special hello to Senator Nozzolio who
6 represents --
7 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: I think we met in
8 Binghamton.
9 MR. MASON: Syracuse, yes. I was at
10 the hearing back at the beginning of May in
11 Syracuse and I'm going to ask to shift your
12 attention a little bit away from Monroe
13 County for just the next couple of minutes
14 to talk about the City of Auburn in which
15 I'm a member of the City Council and as I
16 was saying, Senator Nozzolio represents the
17 City of Auburn as well as the entire County
18 of Cayuga but I bring with me today a couple
19 more items of information for you.
20 One is the City Council and the City of
21 Auburn unanimously passed a resolution
22 requesting or putting ourselves on record
23 that we would like for the City of Auburn to
24 be included all in one Congressional
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1 district for the next decade during this and
2 ask for your consideration during this
3 redistricting process.
4 For the last decade, the City of Auburn
5 has been cut into three different
6 Congressional districts and it's been a
7 very, very difficult situation and very
8 confusing situation for many of the
9 residents of the City of Auburn.
10 We have been well represented by our
11 representatives but in particular by one of
12 our current representatives. For the other
13 two, we are really just a small part of
14 their districts and don't really have any
15 regional ties to the 31st or 27th
16 Congressional District.
17 The 25th Congressional District which
18 encompasses most of Central New York is the
19 district in which we feel as though we have
20 the most in common with and in the City of
21 Auburn, we are Central New York and we are
22 the northern Finger Lakes and many of our --
23 much of our work in the area of economic
24 development and tourism promotion and
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1 development and human services delivery and
2 stuff has to do with those two regions, the
3 Central New York region and the Finger Lakes
4 region.
5 I brought also with me a map of Cayuga
6 County and I think I handed these in before,
7 when I first got here so I think maybe they
8 were distributed to you but I handed you out
9 a map of Cayuga County that shows kind of
10 the breakdown of where Cayuga County and
11 Auburn fits into the regions of Upstate New
12 York and in the Finger Lakes region in
13 particular, much of our lifestyle and much
14 of our travel, the way that we live in the
15 Upstate Finger Lakes region of New York is
16 on an east to west direction and if you take
17 a look at the State of New York and the
18 Central New York and Finger Lakes region,
19 there is a southern tier, then there's kind
20 of a southern Finger Lakes region, then
21 there's a northern Finger Lakes region and
22 then there's a Lake Ontario region and much
23 of the travel at all levels of the state in
24 those regions happens on an east to west
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1 basis and I feel as though and the City of
2 Auburn feels as though we would be best
3 served in Congressional districts and Senate
4 districts and Assembly districts that
5 encompass our regions of interest, being the
6 Central New York region and the northern
7 Finger Lakes region.
8 I thank you for your time and I just
9 want to let the Senator know that we look
10 forward to seeing you next week. We know he
11 is going to be in town for the annual
12 baseball night at our Auburn double days
13 game next Tuesday so we look forward to
14 seeing you, Senator.
15 MR. BRUY: With the Committee's
16 indulgence, Mr. Chairman, if I may, thank
17 you, Chuck. It's very good to see you, as I
18 represent the City of Auburn and also parts
19 of Monroe County, it's very interesting to
20 hear the Mayor of Rochester, community
21 leaders in Rochester, county legislators in
22 Rochester with a population over 200,000
23 people say that they want one Congressman.
24 The City of Auburn has three Congressmen
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1 right now with 33,000 people. The City of
2 Auburn has more Congressmen than many
3 states.
4 MR. MASON: Three times as many as
5 many states.
6 MR. BRUY: And I'm not sure whether
7 it's Purine Street or one of the other
8 streets in Auburn where those three
9 Congressional districts meet.
10 MR. MASON: Pirine.
11 MR. BRUY: Pirine and you are making
12 the same argument basically though that was
13 made here about the consolidation of those
14 districts and I think that two heads may be
15 better than one but you certainly make a
16 good point that community of interest needs
17 to be rectified and identified.
18 MR. MASON: Well, the person that
19 works in the 25th Congressional District,
20 Auburn office who works for Congressman
21 Walsh, she's got one of the most difficult
22 tasks in that it's so confusing for the
23 people of the City of Auburn because of the
24 fact that our obvious ties are to Central
.83
1 New York and a lot of people jump to the
2 conclusion that our 25 Congressional
3 representative is our Congressman for the
4 City of Auburn and she has one of the most
5 difficult tasks that people contact her
6 office because she is in Auburn but many
7 times their Congressman is one of the other
8 two Congressmen and so she has had a very
9 difficult job over the years. It's just
10 been a very confusing situation for the
11 citizens of Auburn but just to sum up, I
12 really feel as though the entire city and we
13 have been on record with a resolution and
14 our county government is on record with a
15 resolution with their desire for the entire
16 county to be included in a single
17 Congressional district but we are best
18 served by a district that would cover the
19 Central New York region and northern Finger
20 Lakes region.
21 MR. BRUY: I certainly appreciate you
22 coming to make this testimony, traveling
23 over an hour to do so. Also for the record,
24 to indicate you are city counselor of the
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1 City of Auburn as well as the democratic
2 county chairman for the County of Cayuga and
3 I certainly in this bipartisan, nonpartisan
4 spirit, appreciate you bringing this
5 information and concern to the Task Force.
6 MR. MASON: Yes, sir.
7 MR. BRUY: Thank you, Chuck.
8 MR. MASON: Thank you, Senator.
9 Thank you.
10 SENATOR SKELOS: Ms. Judy Wright,
11 Chair of the Cayuga County Tourist Board.
12 MS. WRIGHT: Good afternoon. I'm
13 pleased to be given an opportunity to come
14 and speak today because as we just talked
15 about, Auburn does have representation in
16 three Congressional districts and when that
17 happened ten years ago, I found it mind
18 boggling and to this day I always question,
19 who is my Congressman and sometimes I always
20 have to call Susan Dwyer and ask her if I
21 really am in that district.
22 MR. BRUY: You never have to ask that
23 question about who your State Senator is,
24 though, do you?
.85
1 MS. WRIGHT: No. I do know who my
2 senator is.
3 MR. BRUY: That's good.
4 MS. WRIGHT: I would like to also
5 echo the comments that were just made of
6 asking that you not divide Auburn again if
7 at all possible for Congressional districts
8 and keep it as a whole.
9 I think it would also help on the
10 county level as well because having worked
11 with cooperative extension in Cayuga County
12 with many citizens there, some people didn't
13 know who their representation was and it was
14 very confusing when it came time to seek
15 funding.
16 I'm in front of you today representing
17 the tourism office and tourism in Cayuga
18 County is finally taking off. We are very
19 excited about it. We have a lot of things
20 happening and that's because recent funding
21 has just come in through the use of a bed
22 tax.
23 Now, we have some paid staff on boards
24 and we are actually starting to do some
.86
1 wonderful planning and tourism has increased
2 and it's interesting because our tourism
3 region is running again along the Thruway
4 corridor and so we are looking at the
5 northern end of the Finger Lakes and this
6 brings me to the point of concern, back to
7 the Congressional representation that we do
8 tend to go off to the southern tier but also
9 in our Assembly representation.
10 I believe our Assembly district runs
11 from Lake Ontario all the way down into the
12 southern tier through Cortland and into
13 Norwich which is Chenago County and that's a
14 very long, wide, narrow district for one
15 person to cover. So, if there is an
16 opportunity, I would like to encourage
17 looking at perhaps bringing that more into
18 a, not an elongated north/south region but
19 perhaps bringing it more condensed and going
20 back to the east/west corridor if possible.
21 Again, I do believe that
22 Congressionally our interests in Cayuga
23 County as it relates to economic
24 development, also in agricultural, do fit
.87
1 well with Congressman Walsh's office and in
2 his district of Central New York and
3 gravitating more towards the Syracuse area.
4 I was quite intrigued with a question
5 earlier about the three different cities
6 using them more or less as a pinpoint and
7 then developing the regions out from them
8 for the Congressional districts. Not having
9 a chance to ask them questions, that does
10 intrigue me. It certainly I think would
11 answer the concern that I have of having the
12 City of Auburn and Cayuga County divided
13 into three Congressional districts.
14 That's all my comments. I would be
15 happy to entertain any questions.
16 SENATOR SKELOS: Any questions?
17 Thank you.
18 MS. WRIGHT: Thank you.
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. G. Thomas
20 Tranter, Director of Local State Government
21 Affairs, Corning.
22 MR. TRANTER: Thank you very much and
23 since you introduced me, I will just start
24 by thanking all of you for holding these
.88
1 hearings across the state and giving us an
2 opportunity for input and comment and I
3 would like to introduce my team; only
4 kidding.
5 As you know, Corning is a worldwide
6 headquarters, is 90 miles down the road in
7 Corning, New York and we have three
8 manufacturing locations in this area, those
9 being Monroe Park Flowtonics in Henrietta,
10 Rochester Flowtonics and Canal Ponds in
11 Fairport.
12 In the Empire State we have about 8,500
13 employees with another 31,000 at locations
14 throughout the United States and the world
15 as a whole. As a company, we do about
16 seven and a half billion and our stock is
17 trading today at $13.60, a great buying
18 opportunity I might add.
19 SENATOR SKELOS: That's not
20 considered inside information?
21 MR. TRANTER: No, it's not. What I'm
22 really here to talk about today is not so
23 much the composition of the Senate or
24 Assembly districts, while they are of
.89
1 critical importance, I do really want to
2 focus my comments on what we believe is of
3 paramount importance to those of us in the
4 southern tier and that's our 31st
5 Congressional District and we are asking
6 that you try to maintain that in somewhat of
7 a similar format.
8 Consider for a moment what that format
9 is. The district covers all or parts of ten
10 counties running from Lake Erie on the west,
11 along the Pennsylvania border, through the
12 Finger Lakes to the Chemung County border on
13 the east. There are no large cities in the
14 district and our major population centers
15 are Jamestown, Olean, Corning, Elmira and
16 suburban Ithaca.
17 As such, the district is distinctly
18 rural and homogenous.
19 Our Congressman for the past 15 years
20 as all of you know has been Amo Houghton,
21 the foreman chairman and CEO of our company
22 and we all believe he has done an excellent
23 job. Under this leadership our residents
24 have shown a unique ability to identify and
.90
1 pursue common goals.
2 As a group of smaller communities with
3 a common rural bond, we have joined together
4 to focus on many common goals that probably
5 would not be possible if we were part of
6 larger metropolitan areas like Buffalo,
7 Rochester or Syracuse.
8 As we understand the current situation
9 on reapportionment, New York State will lose
10 two Congressional seats and the remaining 29
11 seats will ideally have about 650,000
12 persons. Thus, a major restructuring of the
13 boundaries of the current Congressional
14 districts is obviously inevitable and I
15 don't envy your task.
16 Accepting that premise, we recognize
17 that the future composition of what is now
18 the 31st District will indeed change. It is
19 our hope, however, that the boundaries of
20 our district will be expanded to meet the
21 increased population targets rather than
22 having the district dismembered with
23 portions simply being added to more urban
24 districts. There is no doubt in our mind
.91
1 that if such a dismantling were to occur, we
2 would lose a great deal of our regional
3 similarities, momentum and identity.
4 I urge therefore to take whatever
5 action is necessary to ensure that this does
6 not happen. Again I thank you for your time
7 this afternoon and would be happy to answer
8 any questions you might have.
9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: The difficulty we
10 face is that we need to add 75,000 or 80,000
11 people to this district and because of the
12 nature of Western New York, if we are going
13 to avoid the cities as you suggest that we
14 should create a rural district, we have one
15 of two choices, either to move the district
16 further east or move it north and given the
17 fact that we have to find 85,000 people
18 without going near urban populations, we've
19 got to move it either a long ways east, a
20 significant amount east or a significant
21 amount north because as you suggested, we
22 should avoid the major population centers.
23 You may have had a chance to think
24 about this since I posed the question to a
.92
1 number of people in Binghamton. If you were
2 sitting in these shoes, which way would you
3 do it?
4 MR. TRANTER: I would favor putting
5 Tioga County and Tompkins County because
6 again they are very similar characteristics.
7 That would eradicate the problem that was
8 mentioned previously about Auburn having
9 three different Congressmen and also would
10 eradicate the problem of Ithaca having three
11 different Congressmen and with Ithaca and
12 Tompkins County being again kind of
13 homogenous with the southern tier and the
14 Finger Lakes and Tioga County having Owego
15 as a smaller city, I think you would
16 continue to have that homogenous district
17 throughout the southern tier.
18 So that's what I would be an advocate
19 for.
20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Okay and the
21 interesting thing, Mr. Tranter, this gives
22 you as I think you may have heard at the
23 Binghamton hearing, this gives you a picture
24 of our dilemma because there were those from
.93
1 Ithaca, including Cornell University, who
2 came forward and said, we like three
3 Congress people representing our community.
4 I mean, given their druthers they would
5 rather have, I guess they are on the flip
6 side of the people in Auburn. They would
7 like to have as many Congress people around
8 because of the ability to attract members
9 from both parties. It just gives you an
10 idea that sometimes the simple approach of
11 just tacking on couple of counties runs us
12 into other communities that are expressing
13 other preferences that are contrary. Those
14 are the difficulties that the Task Force
15 faces.
16 MR. TRANTER: Best of luck. Thank
17 you.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: Honorable Alan
19 Lewis, Mayor of the City of Corning.
20 MR. LEWIS: Good afternoon, Chairman
21 Skelos, Assemblyman Parment and
22 distinguished members of this legislative
23 hearing.
24 My name is Alan D. Lewis, Sr. I am the
.94
1 proud Mayor of the City of Corning. I am
2 here today to thank you for listening to my
3 comments and giving them consideration as
4 you deliberate about the future geographic
5 alignment of the 31st Congressional
6 District.
7 If you have never visited the City of
8 Corning and the southern tier of New York
9 State, you are missing some of the most
10 wonderful scenery across our great country.
11 We take great pride in our heritage and our
12 accomplishments throughout the 31st
13 Congressional District and I'm here today to
14 appeal to this committee and state that we
15 must always be heard with a strong voice in
16 Washington that understands upstate rural
17 America.
18 Our accomplishments and successes are
19 because of strong representation by
20 Congressman Houghton and others before him
21 that understood or more rural needs
22 throughout the current district alignment.
23 We have been blessed with the presence
24 of Congressman Amory Houghton, Jr. For many
.95
1 years in Washington. Without his clear
2 knowledge and appreciation of the 31st
3 Congressional District and its rural issues
4 and his unselfish and untiring commitment to
5 the constituents of the 31st Congressional
6 District, I cannot imagine how forgotten or
7 left out our rural area may have been.
8 Most recently with the designation of
9 Route 17 as Interstate 86 and the impending
10 I- 99 designation of Route 15 south from
11 Pennsylvania, we are located at the
12 threshold of two major interstate highways.
13 Studies have shown that economic
14 development opportunities are at our
15 doorstep and we must have a strong voice in
16 Washington that understands our regional
17 needs to capitalize on those opportunities.
18 Should this process result in a
19 decision to consolidate the 31st District
20 into a more larger metropolitan area, I
21 believe in all my heart it would reverse our
22 vision and path of prosperity and our rural
23 needs and our rural issues also would be of
24 much less priority compared to the needs of
.96
1 larger metropolitan areas.
2 This scenario will lead to rural
3 Upstate New York being on a slippery slope
4 of decline and it will lose its
5 attractiveness towards business growth and
6 retention as well as disenfranchising those
7 people now residing in and those interested
8 in relocating to the 31st District.
9 An example of a real need in the City
10 of Corning, as we speak, is replacing our
11 100 year old reservoir that serves our
12 residences, our businesses and our
13 industries. The replacement cost of the
14 reservoir is anticipated at $3.3 million and
15 unless federal and state funds are secured,
16 the cost to our city of 10,900 residents
17 would result in a 30 percent plus increase
18 in real property taxes.
19 Should the 31st Congressional District
20 realignment involve a larger metropolitan
21 area, our new voice in Washington would work
22 harder to solve fiscal demands impacting
23 areas of critical mass with little or no
24 attention to needs like our city reservoir
.97
1 towards rural communities.
2 It is with great respect that I as
3 Mayor of the City of Corning bring to this
4 body copies of a resolution introduced at
5 our regularly scheduled city council meeting
6 on September 5th, 2000 unanimously
7 supporting the current 31st Congressional
8 District geographical alignment and at this
9 time I would like to introduce that
10 resolution along with my testimony as part
11 of this millennium project hearing process.
12 In the interest of time I will not read
13 the resolution but I will introduce it into
14 your record. Thank you very much. If you
15 have any questions, I will answer them.
16 SENATOR SKELOS: The resolution will
17 be part of the record. Any questions?
18 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just one. Mr.
19 Mayor, again thank you for coming. One of
20 the things that I think is absolutely clear
21 we cannot do, is keep the district lines of
22 the 31st District together. We are 80,000
23 people short. We have to go find those
24 people and I think you heard me ask Mr.
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1 Tranter and I've asked others, I mean, as I
2 understand your testimony today, the basic
3 message would be to create a rural
4 Congressional district including the
5 southern tier that would have small cities
6 but no big cities in it.
7 MR. LEWIS: Absolutely. I think it's
8 paramount that the person that represents us
9 clearly appreciates and understands rural
10 needs. They differ from metropolitan and
11 urban needs greatly and I think that's been
12 proven, our successes as I mentioned have
13 been proven by coming from Houghton clearly
14 being from a resident of the City of Corning
15 and serving that area and clear to Jamestown
16 and the like, very well because he clearly
17 appreciates and understands our needs.
18 But I totally agree with Mr. Tranter.
19 I think that's an opportunity, although it
20 certainly doesn't seem like it's popular
21 with Tompkins County but part of Tompkins
22 County now I believe is part of the 31st
23 Congressional District, making the remainder
24 of it a part of it along with Tioga County
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1 seems to make great sense.
2 SENATOR DOLLINGER: But just for the
3 record, you see the community of interest
4 that you have described in the southern tier
5 running on an east/west access rather than
6 running on a north/south.
7 MR. LEWIS: Yes, I do.
8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Thank you.
9 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you very much.
10 Nice seeing you.
11 The next witness is Mr. Carl Hayden.
12 (No response.)
13 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Nelson Van Den
14 Blink.
15 MS. VAN DEN BLINK: Understandable
16 mistake. Mr. Chairman and other members of
17 the committee, thank you for giving us an
18 opportunity to explain why it is important
19 to us to have our 31st Congressional
20 District preserved.
21 SENATOR SKELOS: Excuse me. Perhaps
22 I didn't hear your name.
23 MS. VAN DEN BLINK: I am Nelson Van
24 Den Blink. I'm the person on your list.
.100
1 SENATOR SKELOS: Okay.
2 MS. VAN DEN BLINK: The 31st is not
3 just a governmental jurisdiction, it is a
4 region in its own right, comprising much of
5 what is the southern tier of our state.
6 Even our major highway, Route 17 which is
7 now being transformed into I- 86 runs east
8 and west. The upgrading of that artery is
9 essential for the continued development of
10 our local economy.
11 Without it, our part of the southern
12 tier would languish as we have no improved
13 direct link to the communities north and
14 south of us. How much worse will our
15 political situation be if we are sliced up
16 and attached in bits and pieces to much
17 larger urban centers to the north of us with
18 which historically we have had little in
19 common?
20 People sometimes wonder why communities
21 are so jealous of their own local government
22 units and resist efforts to consolidate. I
23 believe that it is because in this
24 increasingly impersonal world, we are hungry
.101
1 for a sense of belonging, for our opinions
2 to matter, and for those in authority to
3 listen to our concerns and take our
4 priorities into account.
5 Over the years we in the 31st District
6 have been represented by exceptional
7 Congressmen.
8 I grew up in Elmira but spent almost 30
9 years of my adult life away from the area.
10 I am a democrat and when I came back to the
11 Hilliard Corporation to succeed my father
12 who years before had been the republican
13 mayor of Elmira, Stan Lundine was our
14 democratic representative in Congress. We
15 have not forgotten his fine record. When
16 Stan became lieutenant governor, Amo
17 Houghton became our Congressman. We could
18 not ask for a more outstanding
19 representative.
20 These men from across the political
21 spectrum of our districts have understood
22 and responded to our needs and concerns and
23 ways that people living far from our
24 experience and history as rural as small
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1 townspeople, would be hard pressed to do.
2 We have been extremely fortunate and we
3 are understandably afraid that if our
4 district is carved up, we will lose more
5 than our own Congressman, we will lose our
6 voice. We are not trying to preserve a seat
7 for a particular political party. We are
8 hoping to maintain our ability to be heard.
9 Please take seriously our pleas for the
10 continued existence of the 31st District.
11 Thank you.
12 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, very
13 much.
14 ASSEMBLYMAN PARMENT: Yes. Could you
15 describe the nature of your company?
16 MS. VAN DEN BLINK: We are a small
17 manufacturing company, 350 employees. We
18 have been in business since 1905 in the same
19 location.
20 ASSEMBLYMAN PARMENT: Thank you.
21 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, very
22 much.
23 Ms. Catherine Carlson.
24 MS. CARLSON: Thank you, gentlemen
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1 for allowing me to speak.
2 I'm here today to urge you to keep
3 Monroe County whole. We need a single
4 advocate in Washington speaking out for a
5 unified Monroe County. We need one voice
6 for the suburbs and the county and the towns
7 north and south, for the natural boundaries
8 of our areas, a single voice means unified
9 representation and greater funding
10 initiatives.
11 If our district is sliced apart forcing
12 communities to compete, we risk our growing
13 prosperity and regional integrity.
14 Ten years ago, before the last
15 redistricting, the City of Rochester was
16 represented by three different members of
17 Congress. No one spoke with a clear voice
18 for the good of our region. I urge you not
19 to let that happen again.
20 It is proven that when a single
21 advocate works for an entire region such as
22 our representative Louise Slaughter worked
23 with Jet Blue, working with them to help
24 this areas bring an airline in here that
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1 would be a reasonable price for businesses
2 as well as for individuals, it has made
3 quite a difference. I just feel that we are
4 very fortunate to have such a strong person
5 representing us and that she has done a fine
6 job. I would hope that you would not change
7 the structure.
8 Thank you.
9 SENATOR SKELOS: Any questions?
10 (No response.)
11 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, very
12 much.
13 Ms. Lisa LaTrovato.
14 (No response.)
15 SENATOR SKELOS: Ms. Nanette Levin.
16 MS. LEVIN: Good afternoon. I'd like
17 to thank the Task Force for taking the time
18 to examine this issue and the energy to
19 provide a recommendation that reflects a
20 fair and adequately researched solution to
21 our redistricting challenge. Hopefully your
22 findings will produce a decision that
23 ensures an adequate voice for those driving
24 the growth in the New York State economy.
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1 I am a small business owner and I
2 reside in Yates County and I represent a big
3 area with a quiet voice. I hope you will
4 hear, contemplate and investigate my
5 comments as you weight alternatives on a
6 decision that may have a profound impact on
7 the future of growth in New York State.
8 It's easy to focus on population
9 centers when considering issues that impact
10 our state and our nation. Naturally, one
11 might conclude that metropolitan areas
12 represent bigger economic growth potential
13 and a better gage on the interests and needs
14 of the populous. Things aren't always as
15 they seem.
16 Rural America outpaced urban centers in
17 population growth by a considerable margin
18 between 1950 and 1999, with an 89 percent
19 increase in rural areas versus 72 percent in
20 the urban markets and I have sources for the
21 data included in my written testimony if you
22 need to reference that.
23 Job growth has been even more
24 significant when you consider the rural
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1 areas that have been reclassified as metro.
2 From 1969 to 1997, these counties boasted a
3 136 percent increase in employment compared
4 with 55 percent in the rural areas and 59
5 percent in the metro areas. That's a
6 telling example of how rural communities
7 fail to be recognized for their economic
8 contribution, not to mention overlooked when
9 it comes to government policy decisions and
10 representation.
11 Of course, it's difficult to measure in
12 New York State to any extent because 19 of
13 the 62 rural areas have been reclassified to
14 metro since 1950. Even though new census
15 figures indicate that metro areas saw faster
16 population growth than their rural
17 counterparts, this pattern applies primarily
18 to downstate.
19 For example, Rochester had 11,863
20 people leave the area, representing a 5.1
21 percent population decline.
22 Buffalo and Syracuse the numbers are
23 even more dramatic with residency decreases
24 of 35,475 people or 10.8 percent and 16,554
.107
1 or 10.1 percent respectively. The 31st
2 District lost only 4,584 people, or less
3 than one percent of the population.
4 There is a built-in bias towards rural
5 communities and I'm glad to hear all of you
6 being receptive to some other opinions.
7 Just given the fact that our numbers are not
8 as large as the urban areas. This is
9 evidenced by the fact as well that all the
10 hearings are being held in metro areas and
11 those of us who are in the 31st District
12 need to drive a minimum for the most part of
13 two hours round trip just to be here, which
14 constitutes a hardship for some of us.
15 Consequently I hope you'll weigh
16 heavily some of the testimony of the people
17 from the 31st District who have made
18 sacrifices just to be here today.
19 The needs of growing communities are
20 very different than those of established
21 cities, yet if historical data is any
22 indication, these are the areas that
23 represent the most potential for growth and
24 prosperity in our state.
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1 Even though statistics indicate that
2 only eight percent of the population lives
3 in rural New York, a whopping 20 percent of
4 the employed work there. Non- farm jobs
5 have been increasing faster in rural areas
6 than in metropolitan areas. According to
7 the US Department of Labor, between 1975 and
8 1990, non- farm employment rose 41 percent
9 in rural areas with metropolitan county
10 showing a mere 32 percent increase.
11 I would like to quote the Buffalo
12 branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of New
13 York because I think they have an
14 interesting comment relative to our rural
15 communities.
16 In New York State and across the
17 nation, the rural economy is proving to be
18 an area of growth, not stagnation, and the
19 future even holds more promise of an
20 increasingly vital rural America.
21 I'd like to end on a slightly personal
22 note. I am, as I stated, a small business
23 owner and one of the 98 percent of the
24 companies in this state who employ fewer
.109
1 than 100 people. Many of these companies
2 are in rural counties. It's challenging
3 given some of the state and federal
4 legislative decisions that are still on the
5 books, but it's certainly doable. As an
6 appointed delegate to the 1995 White House
7 Conference on Small Business, I learned how
8 frustrating while at the same time how
9 rewarding influencing public policy can be.
10 I've also come to recognize how
11 important it is for each of us to have a
12 voice and we do in the 31st District.
13 Please think about how sad it would be to
14 take the voice away from me and the hundreds
15 of thousands of people who live in a
16 district that encompasses a huge
17 geographical area, yet lacks sheer
18 population numbers to backup the significant
19 economic figures they represent.
20 I want to thank you all for taking the
21 time and the energy to look at this issue
22 and I appreciate it.
23 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. Any
24 questions?
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1 (No response.)
2 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, very
3 much.
4 Jack Richter.
5 MR. RICHTER: Good afternoon,
6 honorable members of the Task Force. I can
7 tell you as a small town supervisor I don't
8 envy your responsibilities here but I
9 certainly do appreciate this opportunity.
10 I'm not here to talk about the
11 Congressional districts, I'm here to talk
12 about specifically the Town of Victor as it
13 relates to the Assembly districts.
14 The last redistricting took the Town of
15 Victor from the 135th into the 129th if I've
16 got that right, yes and what I'm saying to
17 you here is, that as the supervisor in the
18 Town of Victor for six years, I believe it's
19 in the best interest of the town for me and
20 the Town of Victor not to be the odd man
21 out. By that I mean, with 16 towns in
22 Ontario County and two cities, I serve on
23 the Board of Supervisors with 21 other
24 supervisors.
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1 I'm the only member of the Board of
2 Supervisors not in the 129th. I don't know
3 that the numbers will fit. I know your
4 responsibilities and the criteria you must
5 use for these decisions does have to fit
6 certain criteria and I don't know the
7 numbers and I'm not going to give you the
8 statistics which would prove otherwise but
9 I'm asking for a personal request that you
10 consider switching Ontario County, the only
11 town -- excuse me, switching the Town of
12 Victor, the only town in Ontario County from
13 the 131st Assembly District back into the
14 129th with no criticism or it's not an
15 individual representation issue, it's just
16 by location and county unity.
17 Thank you.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: Any questions?
19 (No response.)
20 SENATOR SKELOS: The next witness is
21 Sister Beth LeValley, President of the
22 Greater Rochester Community of Churches.
23 (No response.)
24 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Nathan J.
.112
1 Robfogel, Esq.
2 MR. ROBFOGEL: May name is Nathan
3 Robfogel and I reside in the City of
4 Rochester and up until June 30th of this
5 year I served as a vice president and more
6 recently as senior counselor to the
7 president of RIT, currently senior counsel
8 to the law firm of Harter, Secrest and Emery
9 and I speak here only as an individual.
10 Since I was a college student, I became
11 very interested in politics and majored in
12 history with a decided emphasis on American
13 history. The Empire State has lost one-
14 third of the size of its Congressional
15 delegation. Perhaps there was a time when
16 it was reasonable to have Monroe County
17 divided in half, although I never believed
18 it was advisable in terms of protecting the
19 core of Monroe County, even though we were
20 fortunate enough to have above average and
21 dedicated Congressional representatives
22 during that period of time dating back to
23 when Kenneth B. Keating presented me with a
24 copy of the American Creed upon my
.113
1 graduation from Monroe High School in 1952.
2 Much has happened in the last 50 years
3 that has changed the dynamics, political and
4 otherwise. The vitality of the Greater
5 Rochester Metropolitan area and the decrease
6 in size of our Congressional delegation
7 makes it essential that we continue to have
8 a district, the hub of which is Rochester
9 and Monroe County.
10 From the vantage point of my experience
11 in higher education as a trustee of both
12 MCC, Monroe Community College and RIT and my
13 recently completed five years in a full-
14 time capacity at RIT, I am very aware of
15 what my member of Congress has achieved in
16 terms of economic development, especially in
17 terms of higher education, which plays such
18 a critical role in our community.
19 I am also aware of the role that
20 Representative Slaughter has played in the
21 field of transportation, especially her
22 concern about air travel and our airport.
23 While it is important that the upstate
24 cities cooperate and collaborate, each city
.114
1 has its own particular strengths,
2 weaknesses, needs and focus. Our community
3 is not populous enough to entitle us to more
4 than one resident member of Congress.
5 Perhaps an argument could be made on
6 the basis of partisan politics to once again
7 divide or otherwise fragment Monroe County.
8 I dissent from any such view. It may have
9 been a debatable matter when there were over
10 40 in our delegation, and I'm not unaware of
11 the of the effort and ability of long-
12 serving members of Congress such as Barbara
13 Conable and Frank Horton, but today we in
14 the Greater Rochester Metropolitan area and
15 the community of Monroe County deserve and
16 need the focus and full-time energy to which
17 we have grown accustomed and require.
18 Thank you.
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you. Any
20 questions?
21 (No response.)
22 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Theodore
23 Bennett.
24 MR. BENNETT: I'm speaking to the
.115
1 preservation of the 31st Congressional
2 District.
3 I am Ted Bennett and I'm Chemung County
4 Legislator, Minority Leader and also
5 Chairman of the New York I- 86 coalition as
6 you know which promotes the conversion of
7 Route 17 to an interstate.
8 Mr. Chairman and members of the
9 committee, I appreciate the chance to speak
10 this afternoon.
11 For the past 27 years as a county
12 legislator I have worked with Stan Lundine
13 throughout his career as a Congressman and
14 Amo Houghton, our present Congressman.
15 I never felt that it has been an
16 advantage to be a democrat or to not have
17 been a republican in dealing with either
18 Congressmen. After the election, it is the
19 person, not the party.
20 In our district we have had exceptional
21 representation. Rural communities and small
22 urban centers have the same problems as
23 larger urban communities. An example would
24 be infrastructure which includes sewer
.116
1 facilities, water facilities, roads and
2 bridges.
3 However, it would be difficult for our
4 rural areas and cities such as Elmira,
5 Corning, Hornell and Jamestown to compete
6 separately with Buffalo, Rochester or
7 Syracuse but together as a district such as
8 the 31st speaking with one voice, have been
9 able to with the cooperation of these larger
10 urban centers, to maintain our favorable
11 position within the state.
12 Speaking to Interstate I-86, it
13 certainly was an advantage and is an
14 advantage that all of the counties involved
15 were within two Congressional districts,
16 bordering the entire southern portion of the
17 state. Certainly it was an advantage to
18 Senator D'Amato, Senator Moynihan,
19 Congressman Houghton and Congressman Hinchey
20 when they convinced Congress to designate 17
21 as an interstate upgrade.
22 I-86 compliments and joins all of our
23 interstates throughout all our other
24 interstates throughout that state. One has
.117
1 only to evaluate the advantages along these
2 interstates economically and otherwise to
3 understand what 86 will contribute to the
4 entire state.
5 It is unfortunate that redistricting
6 has come at this critical stage in
7 completing this interstate and it certainly
8 is to the advantage of the completion of
9 this project that we keep the district
10 intact.
11 I would urge the chairman and committee
12 to preserve the 31st District and gives
13 these counties along I-86 a chance to
14 progress economically as other counties
15 along the existing interstates.
16 And anticipating the Senator's question
17 if he asks the same one to me as he did to
18 Tom Tranter, I have been involved in three
19 reapportionments, one in 1980 which was
20 pretty complicated for all counties in the
21 state, including Chemung County and also in
22 1990 which was a little easier and of course
23 this one is going to be complicated.
24 So, I at least I have a small feeling
.118
1 for what you're up against and in my mind,
2 if you are talking about adding to a
3 district and keeping that district intact,
4 the 31st is probably one of the less
5 complicated. If you want to draw a straight
6 line and add a county or two, you can bring
7 us within the numbers.
8 So, this is my feeling and I appreciate
9 your time and if you have any questions.
10 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Just one. Mr.
11 Bennett, I appreciate your offer to
12 basically add a couple of counties. The
13 problem and this is one that we face is that
14 when we do that, we take them from someone
15 else and that we suddenly this Task Force
16 reached a conclusion that there were certain
17 communities of interest for the conventional
18 district that in 1990 paired up with
19 demographic and other factors and those were
20 the district lines that were established.
21 We are now a decade later. There have
22 been demographic changes and we have fewer
23 seats to apportion. So that's why, as we
24 discovered in the city, we take from one
.119
1 area and because we are trying to create a
2 community of interest one place and other
3 communities of interest think they are being
4 impinged upon.
5 That's the dilemma that we face.
6 MR. BENNETT: Well, I wouldn't have
7 brought it up if you hadn't asked me how we
8 should do it.
9 SENATOR DOLLINGER: We are looking
10 for a magic wand that someone could wave to
11 make this job easier.
12 MR. BENNETT: Well, at one of our I-
13 86 committee meetings I suggested to Senator
14 Kuhl on how to raise the money, a bond issue
15 or increasing the gas tax and he got a
16 little upset with me. He said, just tell me
17 what you want, I'll figure out how to do it.
18 So, I always hesitate to tell you how to do
19 it but since you asked.
20 SENATOR DOLLINGER: I would suggest
21 you won't get it unless you ask. How you do
22 it is another story.
23 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you.
24 MR. BENNETT: You are welcome.
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1 SENATOR SKELOS: Assemblyman Brian
2 Kolb.
3 (No response.)
4 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Paul Haney.
5 (No response.)
6 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. Bolgen Vargas.
7 MR. HANEY: My name is Paul Haney. I
8 apologize for not being here when you called
9 the name earlier.
10 Honorable members of the Task Force, my
11 name is Paul E. Haney. I reside at 424
12 Broadway in the City of Rochester.
13 I am both a former city councilman and
14 a county director of finance here in Monroe
15 County, although both were so long ago as to
16 be virtually irrelevant.
17 Believe it or not when I was on the
18 city council, I had hair.
19 As you approach your most difficult
20 job, I would like to offer only two
21 thoughts:
22 The first is I strongly feel that all
23 of the City of Rochester should be in one
24 Congressional district and one Congressional
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1 district should be entirely within Monroe
2 County. As I understand it, a Congressional
3 district will consist of about 654,000
4 persons.
5 There are over 700,000 persons in
6 Monroe County and over 200,000 in the City
7 of Rochester. The county's population
8 clearly justifies having one seat entirely
9 in the county.
10 In addition, it facilitates democratic
11 government to keep the communities together
12 in single districts. Rochester
13 traditionally, until 1992, was split into as
14 many as three Congressional districts and I
15 can empathize totally with the people from
16 the City of Auburn. It was very confusing
17 to citizens as to who represented them and
18 it was detrimental to the city because it
19 was difficult to get any of the
20 representatives to focus on the city's needs
21 and concerns.
22 Back in the seventies and eighties when
23 I was on the city council, I used to do
24 lobbying for the city. Barbara Conable,
.122
1 Frank Horton and John LaFalce were all very
2 good people. Barbara Conable is probably
3 one of the most fascinating people I have
4 ever had the opportunity to sit and talk to.
5 They cared about the City of Rochester and
6 about Monroe County but their districts were
7 so divergent that it was very difficult to
8 get them to focus on our somewhat unique
9 urban problems when only between 10 and 20
10 percent of their district was in the City of
11 Rochester.
12 Obviously that is much less likely to
13 occur and has been much less likely to occur
14 for the last eight years when we had one
15 representative in the Congress and we can
16 constitute, in effect the city can
17 constitute at least a third of that
18 district.
19 Furthermore, while you have the
20 difficult task of accommodating the loss of
21 two Congressional seats into a redistricting
22 plan, Monroe County has not been a major
23 contributor to that problem. Unfortunately,
24 some of the areas of the state have suffered
.123
1 significant population losses. However,
2 while the 28th District appears by numbers
3 to be about 61,800 citizens short, adding
4 additional Monroe county territory to the
5 district can easily accommodate that
6 shortfall.
7 On the other hand, it appears that the
8 29th, 30th and 31st Districts are
9 collectively short by about 251,000 people
10 short of maintaining the three seats. That
11 is unfortunate.
12 However, I would sincerely suggest that
13 the impact of that problem should not be a
14 burden for Monroe County and the City of
15 Rochester.
16 My second thought: As to State
17 Legislative seats, I would only urge that
18 the districts be as reasonably compact as
19 possible and that the carving up of the City
20 of Rochester be minimalist as much as
21 possible.
22 As I understand it, someone long ago
23 told me that there was a provision in law,
24 maybe it's even in the State Constitution,
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1 that prohibits the carving up of towns.
2 Therefore, traditionally the legislative
3 districts have been balanced in population
4 by the carving up of the cities of the state
5 into slices to balance the population in
6 adjoining state legislative districts. The
7 result is that if you look at a map of the
8 City of Rochester and its state legislative
9 districts, the lines one might suggest are
10 irrational. As one tries to carve enough
11 niches of people here and there to balance
12 the populations of five and six districts in
13 surrounding areas.
14 Now, if legislatively in fact you can't
15 split a town, that in effect means you're
16 going to have to do this carving of the
17 cities but I would urge to do it in a
18 fashion that to as great an extent as
19 possible, preserves the natural communities
20 and the natural boundaries that exist in
21 this city and the other cities of the state.
22 With that I thank you very much for the
23 opportunity of addressing you today.
24 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: I wonder if you
.125
1 could, in the interest of time perhaps it
2 would be easier for you to submit it in
3 writing but give us an idea of what are the
4 natural boundaries of the communities within
5 the city? I can look at the amp and see the
6 affect you are talking about but with the
7 exception of Rick Dollinger perhaps and Dr.
8 Hedges who has done it before, I'm not sure
9 that I certainly don't know where they are.
10 MR. HANEY: Right. Off the top of my
11 head, I can't answer that question. There
12 certainly are people in the city who could.
13 Traditionally the boundaries in the city
14 have been looked at purely in terms of
15 geographical factors, the river running
16 north and south, Main Street running east
17 and west, et cetera, et cetera.
18 However, it's my personal opinion that
19 those kind of geographical boundaries do not
20 any longer define the natural communities in
21 the city. The African/American community is
22 located northeast and southwest of downtown
23 Rochester but they represent a natural
24 community.
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1 This Hispanic community is a bit more
2 divergent but it's basically on the north
3 side of the city.
4 So, I would suggest that that
5 information certainly can be provided but
6 the traditional method of going east and
7 west on Main Street and north and south on
8 the river and running up and down Monroe
9 Avenue or something does not really define
10 the natural communities in the city.
11 One has to look at the economic and the
12 various demographic patterns in the city and
13 certainly that can be provided.
14 ASSEMBLYMAN ORTLOFF: Thank you.
15 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you, very
16 much.
17 Mr. Bolgen Vargas.
18 (No response.)
19 SENATOR SKELOS: Is Mr. Vargas here?
20 Mr. Carl Hayden.
21 (No response.)
22 SENATOR SKELOS: Ms. Lisa LaTrovato.
23 (No response.)
24 SENATOR SKELOS: Sister Beth
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1 LeValley.
2 (No response.)
3 SENATOR SKELOS: Does anybody else
4 wish to be heard at this time?
5 (No response.)
6 SENATOR SKELOS: If not, I will
7 entertain a motion to adjourn.
8 SENATOR DOLLINGER: Motion to adjourn
9 by Senator Dollinger and second, no
10 objection. The meeting is adjourned. Thank
11 you very much.
12 (WHEREUPON, PROCEEDINGS CONCLUDED)
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