Guyanese community leaders from the greater Richmond Hill, New York area came out last week at a public hearing hosted by the New York City District Commission to present their views on the redrawing of electoral boundaries.
The leaders made an impassioned plea to keep the greater Richmond Hill community united as a single City Council district for elections to be held next November. Currently, the area is divided into four districts making it virtually impossible for a Guyanese or another minority to get elected from the area because of the gerrymandering of votes.
New York City is required by law to redraw electoral boundaries for its 51-seat council after every census, which is conducted decennially. The latest census was concluded in 2010.  The Supreme Court has ruled that redrawing of boundaries must keep communities united and not divided to weaken their voting power. Though created by the city, all lines must be redrawn under certain federal guidelines with an effort to keep neighbourhoods together, and to create contiguous districts of residents and neighbourhoods with “common concerns and interests”.

Richmond Hill Guyanese rallying to keep the community united for a city legislative seat

The electoral boundary lines are being redrawn as mandated by the results of the 2010 U.S. Census. The Richmond Hill area is undercounted, because many Guyanese and other immigrants were afraid to return census forms. The area has approximately 100,000 Guyanese, a similar number of Trinidadians, and some 50,000 South Asians, mostly Punjabis.
The city’s District Commission is charged with redrawing City Council district lines, and has been holding a series of hearings around the city to gather information from the public. Guyanese-Americans, other Caribbean people, and South Asians held a meeting early in the month to plan an action strategy.  The group has been on a public awareness campaign to focus attention on a seat for the community.
At the district public hearing, a large group of Guyanese, other West Indians and South Asians showed up wearing t-shirts and carrying placards calling on the commission to not divide the community as they did after the censuses in 1990 and 2000.
The Guyanese community leaders, including Vishnu Mahadeo, Albert Baldeo, Chuck Mohan, Kawal Totaram, made their case for a City Council seat in front of the City District Commission on Tuesday evening. Guyanese American Queens Borough President Helen Marshall complained that the borough was undercounted by at least 100,000 people in 2010.
Marshall acknowledged that the commission will have a challenge in Queens, but she said she hopes that any proposed new legislative districts will respect the integrity of the communities and protect the voting rights of minority populations. The speakers at the hearing pressed for borders that will both preserve neighbourhoods and allow for better, more diverse representation in the council. More than a dozen people from the Guyanese and South Asian communities spoke in favour of uniting Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Woodhaven, and Jamaica into one district.
Vishnu Mahadeo’s views reflected those of the other speakers.  “The Indo-Caribbean people have been split into six assembly districts, and four City Council districts,” said Mahadeo of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Council. He said the wilful splitting of places like Richmond Hill has diluted the voting clout of the community, leaving it no representation. There was a loud burst of applause for Mahadeo’s presentation. Several Chinese American advocates also called for the uniting of Asian communities.