Closing Bell: Mapping Stalled Sites
Councilman Brad Lander’s office has just launched a site that maps stalled construction projects in Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, and Kensington. Clicking on the site’s map gives lots of details about each of the developments, and you can leave comments about their progress (or lack thereof). Stalled Development [Official…
Councilman Brad Lander’s office has just launched a site that maps stalled construction projects in Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, and Kensington. Clicking on the site’s map gives lots of details about each of the developments, and you can leave comments about their progress (or lack thereof).
Stalled Development [Official Site]
“This site is awesome.
Let’s hope it will give the public a little more voice in these nagging issues.
Good work Councilman Lander!”
Well his PR is blowing up all over the net. Question for CM Lander, while this is a great thing, when is it being rolled out outside your district? Brooklyn has been a warzone for years, especially outside of the ol’ 39th.
Do tell?
I agree with apolitico. There is a fair amount of geographic and neighborhood contiguity for trhese districts, not too much carving. Basically follows the F from Carroll Gardens to Kensington, with a little piece of Borough park. Since drawing district lines requires close adherence to 1 person 1 vote, districts need to be close to identical in population, which will require some arbitrary slicing and dicing. Now, if you want to see some serious partisan gerrymandering, look at the State Senate districts.
This site is awesome.
Let’s hope it will give the public a little more voice in these nagging issues.
Good work Councilman Lander!
Nice work by Councilman Lander in just 6 weeks in office.
Posted by: apolitico at February 10, 2010 5:40 PM
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
You’re gonna get splooge on your Obama shirt from all that politically pre-mature ejaculation.
The gerrymandering in this case had to do at least in part with a desire to carve out a Latino-majority district, now represented by Sara Gonzalez, linking Sunset Park, Red Hook, and Gowanus. One result is that Lander, and DeBlasio before him, end up with a sizeable Orthodox constituency in Borough Park.
Actually, I think a driving force in these district lines was to ensure that neighborhoods were not carved up — that Windsor Terrace and Kensington, etc., had a single strong voice in the Council. And, by the same token, that Sunset Park was not carved up in 3-4 different pieces.
It can be frustrating when a neighborhood with distinct concerns loses its political voice because it’s carved up like some kind of avant-garde pizza.
Now, of course, Park Slope remains divided between the 33rd district (Levin most of the North) and Lander (a little North, and all of the Center and South Slope). But that’s probably better than having the Slope divided among, say, three different councilmembers.
Boro Park also remains divided (between the 39th and 44th district), but same thing, better divided two ways than three.
Anyway, neat web site. Nice work by Councilman Lander in just 6 weeks in office.
It wasn’t me it was Wikipedia actually!
The map shows Councilman Brad Lander’s district, which has very obviously been “gerrymandered” or RE-districted over the years, in this case for race.
i HAVE no clue what you just said
*rob*
Gerrymandering is a form of boundary delimitation (redistricting) in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral purposes, thereby producing a contorted or unusual shape. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that noun can also refer to the process.
Gerrymandering may be used to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party, or may be used to help or hinder a particular group of constituents, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.
When used to allege that a given party is gaining a disproportionate power, the term gerrymandering has negative connotations. However, a gerrymander may also be used for purposes that some perceive as positive, notably in US federal voting district boundaries which produce a proportion of constituencies with an African-American or other minority in the majority (these are thus called “minority-majority districts”).