Politics & Government

After Uproar, Jeffries Hails Revised District Lines

Draft released of new Central Brooklyn district includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Assemblyman's Prospect Heights

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, D-Fort Greene, hailed a revised draft of a proposed Congressional district released late Monday night reuniting the neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill with the rest of Central Brooklyn.

"The residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill let their voices be heard," Jeffries said in a statement Tuesday. "[Federal Magistrate] Judge [Roanne] Mann clearly acknowledged that keeping communities of interest together is paramount to a fair and just redistricting process and the court should be commended."

The revision buoyed Jeffries' candidacy for the seat held by Rep. Edolphus "Ed" Towns, D-Brooklyn, since the new lines will be roughly contiguous with the old 10th Congressional District.

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However, Towns' Cypress Hills home will still be excluded from much of the district he currently represents—that is, if the lines hold.

Towns, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the redistricting process on Tuesday.

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Last Thursday, Jeffries joined other African and Caribbean-American elected officials in Downtown Brooklyn, calling on Mann to back away from plans to roll the three neighborhoods into a district that stretched all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

At the event, Jeffries framed the issue not as a case of personal electoral maneuvering but as an effort to defend a stronghold of black and Latino political power.

"This is a victory for the residents of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill who will benefit from the preservation of historically African-American, Central Brooklyn neighborhoods within the same Congressional district," Jeffries said.

The judicial panel in charge of Congressional redistricting hopes to have a map finalized by March 20, when the petitioning period for House candidates is scheduled to begin.

The primary for Congressional races will be held in June.


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