The Three R's

Amen (4.00 / 1)

Perhaps you should create a html tag that people can put on their blogs to show their support for this?

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by: Roatti @ Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 11:07:20 AM CST

C'mon, the districts lines are quite simple, really (4.00 / 3)

For instance, the district at the top of the gerrymandered districts page is the Assembly 119th [PDF].  What's not "compact and contiguous" about this?

From New York State Law, Article 8, Title 1, Section 121 (Assembly districts):

119. One hundred nineteenth district. In the county of Onondaga, the towns of De Witt, Onondaga, the Onondaga Indian Reservation, Salina, and that part of the city of Syracuse bounded by a line described as follows: Beginning at a point where the De Witt/Syracuse town/city line meets Headson Drive, thence westerly along said drive to the southern lane of Erie Boulevard East, thence westerly along said boulevard to Smith Street, thence southerly along said street to Polk Street, thence westerly along said street to Lime Street, thence northerly along said street to the southern lane of Erie Boulevard East, thence westerly along said boulevard to Seeley Road, thence northerly along said road to Canal Street, thence westerly along said street to Peat Street, thence southerly along said street to the northern lane of Erie Boulevard East, thence westerly along said boulevard to Teall Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to I-690, thence westerly along said interstate to North Crouse Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to the northern lane of I-690, thence westerly along said interstate to Almond Street, thence southerly along said street to East Water Street, thence easterly along said street to Forman Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to East Fayette Street, thence westerly along said street to South State Street, thence southerly along said street to East Onondaga Street, thence southwesterly along said street to Montgomery Street, thence southerly along said street to Harrison Street, thence westerly along said street to South Warren Street, thence southerly along said street to South Salina Street, thence southerly along said street to Temple Street, thence westerly along said street to Midland Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to West Onondaga Street, thence northerly along said street to Seymour Street, thence westerly along said street to South West Street, thence southerly along said street to Shonnard Street, thence westerly along said street to Niagara Street, thence northerly along said street to Gifford Street, thence easterly along said street to Wyoming Street, thence northerly along said street to Otisco Street, thence westerly along said street to Niagara Street, thence northerly along said street to Marcellus Street, thence westerly along said street to Oswego Street, thence southerly along said street to Otisco Street, thence westerly along said street to Seneca Street, thence northerly along said street to West Fayette Street, thence westerly along said street to South Geddes Street, thence southerly along said street to Seymour Street, thence westerly along said street to Harbor Brook, thence southerly along said brook to Delaware Street, thence along said street to South Geddes Street, thence along said street to Roland Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Bradley Street, thence southerly along said street to Elliott Street, thence westerly along said street to South Geddes Street, thence southerly along said street to West Onondaga Street, thence westerly along said street to Arthur Street, thence southerly along said street to Grant Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to South Geddes Street, thence southerly along said street to Stolp Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Stinard Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to Grant Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Roberts Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to Bellevue Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Clairmonte Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Ruskin Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Summit Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Glenwood Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Craddock Street, thence southerly along said street to Elmwood Avenue, thence southwesterly along said avenue to Edgewood Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Lynch Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to South Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to the northwestern corner of St. Agnes Cemetery, thence southeasterly along the border of said cemetery to Griffin Street, thence easterly along said street to Valley Drive, thence southerly along said drive to Atlantic Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Empire Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Ballantyne Road, thence easterly along said road to Girard Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Pacific Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Coral Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to Ballantyne Road, thence easterly along said road to Midland Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to West Glen Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to South Salina Street, thence southerly along said street to West Seneca Turnpike, thence easterly along said turnpike to Seneca Drive, thence northerly along said drive to Orlando Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to North Monticello Drive, thence northerly along said drive to East Glen Avenue, thence westerly along said avenue to Stevens Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to East Florence Avenue, thence westerly along said avenue to South Salina Street, thence northerly along said street to Fillmore Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to Menlo Drive, thence northerly along said drive to Bennington Drive, thence westerly along said drive to South Salina Street, thence northerly along said street to Hobart Avenue, thence easterly along said avenue to a line extended easterly from said avenue to I-81, thence along said line extended to I-81, thence northerly along said interstate to East Colvin Street, thence easterly along said street to CSX Railroad, thence southerly along said railroad to East Colvin Street Service Road, thence easterly along said service road to Benedict Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Jericho Drive, thence along said drive to Penta Drive, thence easterly along said drive to Moore Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to East Colvin Street Service Road, thence northeasterly along said service road to East Colvin Street, thence easterly along said street to Lorraine Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Boise Drive, thence easterly along said drive to Harriette Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to East Colvin Street, thence easterly along said street to Comstock Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to the northeast corner of Oakwood Cemetery, thence westerly along the border of said cemetery to I-81, thence northerly along said interstate to Van Buren Street, thence westerly along said street to South McBride Street, thence northerly along said street to East Taylor Street, thence easterly along said street to Renwick Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to Monroe Street, thence westerly along said street to Almond Street, thence northerly along said street to Madison Street, thence easterly along said street to Irving Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to East Genesee Street, thence easterly along said street to University Avenue, thence northerly along said avenue to Ashworth Place, thence easterly along said place to Pine Street, thence southerly along said street to East Genesee Street, thence easterly along said street to South Beech Street, thence southeasterly along said street to Madison Street at the northeastern border of Thornden Park, thence southerly along said park border to the southern border of said park just north of Clarendon Street, thence westerly along said park border to Ackerman Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Clarendon Street, thence easterly along said street to Westcott Street, thence southerly along said street to Euclid Avenue, thence westerly along said avenue to Maryland Avenue, thence southerly along said avenue to Westminster Avenue, thence along said avenue to Kensington Road, thence westerly along said road to Kensington Place, thence southerly along said place to Broad Street, thence easterly along said street to Nottingham Road, thence southerly along said road to the intersection of Spaid Avenue and the DeWitt/Syracuse town/city line, thence northeasterly along said town/city line to Headson Drive, the point of beginning.

What's so hard about that?  You just begin where it says, then 139 (by my count) steps later, you simply find yourself back at "the point of beginning".  Almost Zen-like in its simplicity and cyclical nature.

P.S.  Sorry about the long post, it just didn't have the same impact abbreviated.

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by: Rescate @ Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 18:56:13 PM CST

You rock! (0.00 / 0)

Point taken.

We've got some work ahead of us.

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by: NYBri @ Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 21:02:51 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Other obscene fractals... (4.00 / 2)

Senate 34th Too bad for Guy Velella for taking bribes
Senate 22nd (Marty Golden's district)
Senate 49th Too bad for Nancy Larraine Hoffman for switching parties.

And of course, we mustn't forget about the Congressional Map, "Incumbent Safety First!" (so much for that...)
NY-28 The Noodle That Saved Tom Reynolds
NY-22 The ultimate incumbent protection gerrymander: An arm extends west to take in Binghamton, then north to Ithaca.  The cities of Kingston, Newburgh and Middleton all border this district, which reaches across the Hudson to take in Poughkeepsie.

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by: Scott in NJ @ Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 23:26:00 PM CST

[ Parent ]

i really think we are indeed going to (0.00 / 0)

have a contest. i want to give a prize for whoever finds the absolutely craziest district and then a prize for who can identify random freaky districts that we'll post.

it'll be good fun and will perhaps serve to show just how freakin' insane some of these districts are.

p.s. so glad to see ya here, scott!

TODAY is day one. It always is.

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by: phillip anderson @ Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 23:38:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Those are some really great examples (4.00 / 2)

It looks like in some of those districts, there are parts where you have to take a deep breath and walk sideways to get through the "pinch points".

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by: Rescate @ Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 23:48:16 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Rural districts... (0.00 / 0)

are much easier to define. The 107th district's description is much cleaner...

107. One hundred seventh district. In the county of Broome, all of the towns of Binghamton, Chenango, Colesville, Conklin, Dickinson, Fenton, Kirkwood, Sanford and Windsor; in the county of Chenango, all of the towns of Coventry, Greene, Guilford, New Berlin, Norwich, Oxford and Smithville; all of the city of Norwich; in the county of Delaware, all of the towns of Andes, Bovina, Colchester, Delhi, Deposit, Hamden, Hancock, Kortright, Masonville, Meredith, Middletown, Roxbury, Stamford, Tompkins and Walton; in the county of Ulster, all of the towns of Denning, Hardenburgh and Rochester.

Of course, the result looks like a deformed seahourse...

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by: Kelk @ Thu Dec 07, 2006 at 08:12:44 AM CST

[ Parent ]

That's atrocious (4.00 / 1)

One would think it would be easy to create compact shapes for rural districts, but they managed to mess that up as well.  I used to live next to the Town of Rochester in Ulster County, which is part of that 107th district.  I can safely say that it doesn't have much in common with the Town of New Berlin in Chenango county, and absolutely nothing in common with the Town of Binghamton in Broome County, all part of that same district.  These people are not well represented.

Google Maps says it would take 125 miles and 3 hours to travel from Accord in the Town of Rochester to New Berlin.

I guess what struck me about the 119th is the precision with which the city of Syracuse is divided up.  Street by street, block by block, the fine-tuning is incredible.

OK, so they want to make sure to get a bunch of Syracuse Democrats in both districts, to offset the rural Republicans.  That's lame just by itself.  But it wasn't enough to just slice across the city in some straightforward manner; no, they had to create these yin-yang districts that wrap around each other, just to make double-plus sure to carve up the votes they need.  Anything to get re-elected.

Of course, Syracuse doesn't stand alone in its distinction of being sliced and diced at the block level.  And, I'm sure there are other rural examples like your "deformed seahorse".  It seems like a major change is needed, since these guys have proven unable to fix things incrementally, and have indeed only made things worse.

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by: Rescate @ Thu Dec 07, 2006 at 10:56:22 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm not sure (4.00 / 1)

why we pay all those legislators when it's mainly "3 men in a room" who do the legislating.  Now they think they deserve a raise!

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by: Unstable Isotope @ Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 21:29:40 PM CST

Time for change (4.00 / 2)

I couldn't agree more with what was said.  Rule changes are a necessity, especially in the Assembly where there was not a single "No" vote on a bill all of last year.  Everything is controlled by Shelly and you never see a meaningful piece of legislation come from the Minority, even though many of their ideas are morphed into Majority bills.  Many times they have trouble even getting their names on bills as Co-sponsors.  The rank and file members literally have no say, and I am sure much of what I said also would apply to the Senate as well.  The two Majorities simply have too much power.

The districts are down right funny.  Some look like they were drawn by a 4 year old with an Etch A Sketch.  The two Assembly Dem seats in Syracuse (Christensen and Magnarelli) wrap around each other a few times, Hooker's district has parts of 7 counties and Kolb's and Finch's districts are intertwined and look like they are impossible to drive from one end to another.  Valesky's district is even crazier that the Senate one shown above. 

It is simply time for some serious change in the legislature.  This isn't a Republican-Democrat thing either. The Majorities have too much power.  Hopefully, Spitzer can force some change, since it is obvious Joe and Shelly will not do it on their own.

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by: Tim Sherwood @ Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 21:39:01 PM CST

Great group (4.00 / 1)

I was going to join the organization, but then saw this from their by-laws:

3. MEMBERSHIP – Membership in CBGNY will consist of all citizens of New York State eligible to vote (not necessarily registered) who choose to join through completion of an application and payment of dues. Current state elected officials and/or announced candidates for state elected office are ineligible for membership. Any current member who is appointed to such an office or announces such candidacy will be removed as a member. Other requirements and the dues structure for membership shall be established by the Executive Committee subject to ratification by the membership.

Election 2008 is not that far in the future, right Brian and Judith?

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by: Kelk @ Thu Dec 07, 2006 at 08:08:24 AM CST

I can't join either.... (0.00 / 0)

....which is a healthy thing...heh.

We've got some work ahead of us.

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by: NYBri @ Thu Dec 07, 2006 at 10:33:13 AM CST

[ Parent ]