BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has signed reapportionment Local Law Intro #1 amending Common Council district lines in the City Charter.
The mayor said he "thoroughly reviewed all written comments submitted online (200) and heard from members of the public (26) that chose to speak at the hearing mandated by the City’s charter."
The Citizen’s Commission on Reapportionment comprised of nine members met five times and then submitted their proposal to the Common Council for review.
On June 28 the Common Council submitted a local law amending the district lines in the City Charter and hosted a public hearing the same day. The mayor's office said the Common Council submitted an amendment to the proposed map on July 12 and then unanimously passed the map on July 19.
Citizens chanted “vote them out” in Common Council chambers on July 19 after they unanimously passed the map. One by one city residents spoke out saying there was a lack of transparency in the creation of the new map. Residents said the map ensures lawmakers will remain in their elected seats and does not provide equity and racial equality for districts.
“It's democracy and people have a right to their opinion and to express their opinion. It is the land that we live in,” said Darius Pridgen, Common Council president & Ellicott District Council Member.
Pridgen insisted the map had to be approved under City Charter and denied any gerrymandering.
The mayor's office released the following statement Monday:
"All comments submitted online, as well as a transcript of the public hearing at the Burchfield Penny Art Gallery, are available on the City’s website at buffalony.gov/publiccomment. To encourage public engagement, the City’s website was set up to allow public comment over a week before the public hearing. Taking into account the comments, less than one-tenth of a percentage of the City’s total population weighed in. There was not overwhelming opposition as erroneously described by some and this number of comments does not represent a ‘significant’ amount of Buffalo’s Population.
"Many of the comments stated that the Council’s approved map is worse for minority voting power. There are seven majority minority districts in the Council’s approved map (Ellicott, Fillmore, Lovejoy, Masten, Niagara, North, and University) as compared to only six in the alternative map. Any claim that the Council’s map reduces the likelihood of minority voting power or weakens voting rights is absolutely false."
The final redistricting plan will now be sent to the Erie County and New York State Board of Elections.
