The last time Roslyn voters went to the polls to elect a county legislator, they re-elected Wayne Wink to represent the 11th District.
But under the newly drawn county map, Roslyn voters have been split into four districts sought by eight candidates in the upcoming November election none of whom is named Wink.
The new map places Roslyn Estates in the 9th District, Roslyn Harbor in the new 11th District, the Village of Roslyn in the 16th District and the Village of East Hills in the 18th District. Roslyn Heights has been divided between two districts – the 9th and the 16th.
“Districting is not a pretty process, and any time you make one change, it causes a problem someplace else because you’re limited by geography and population, and never in equal amounts,” said Frank Moroney, the Republican chair of the county Legislature’s temporary redistricting commission. “So when you try to keep these condensed communities together, you have to split some of these communities up. It’s the nature of districting.”
The redistricted map was approved in a 10-9 vote by the Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature in March, drawing criticism from Democrats and residents in attendance at public hearings.
At the time, Wink criticized the splitting of Roslyn into four districts, saying the move would limit the community’s political influence.
Faced with a run against a fellow Democratic incumbent, Wink announced he would run for the Democratic nomination for county comptroller rather than re-election as a county legislator. He later withdrew from that race to take on Leslie Gross as the Town or North Hempstead clerk after Gross was dropped by the Democrats and announced her run as a Republican.
Nassau County Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs said Wednesday the districts were redrawn in a move “designed by the Republicans, passed by the Republicans and drawn so as to keep the Republicans in the majority,” adding that keeping communities together in the new districts was not of primary concern.
Jacobs also echoed Wink’s comments, saying the new districts would get confusing for Roslyn residents and limit the community’s representation in the Legislature.
“What I would suggest is if people in Roslyn are unhappy with the result, they ought to ask themselves who did it and why it was done,” Jacobs said. “The answer to those two questions is the Republicans, to keep themselves in power. The next logical question is what do we do about it, and the answer is to vote democratic.”
Village of East Hills Mayor Michael Koblenz, whose village is located in the 18th district contested by Democrat Dave Gugerty and Republican Donald Mackenzie, said Tuesday he is concerned his village’s interests may not be a priority to his village’s new legislator because the district also covers Brookville, Old Brookville, Upper Brookville, Muttontown, Lattingtown, Mill Neck, Cove Neck and Centre Island.
“I wasn’t happy about it, because for one thing, if you look at the map, we’re a speck, where before we had a representative who had our district or our area,” Koblenz said. “Now, it looks like we’re a little dot on that district and there are other areas that have more of a majority in our redistrict. I don’t know whether it’s going to work out because I don’t really know who our representative is come November.”
But Delia De-Riggi Whitton, a Democrat who currently represents the 18th District but is running for re-election in the newly-redrawn 11th District, said in an e-mail that even though Roslyn was split amongst four legislators, the community may have even more representation in the legislature moving forward.
DeRiggi-Whitton said that even though the map has divided some Nassau communities, her job as a legislator does not involve juggling interests but rather is designed to serve multiple communities. The 11th District also serves Manorhaven, Sea Cliff, Glen Cove and Flower Hill.
“I have never seen it come up that the local interests are in competition with one another,” she said. “The job is to serve multiple communities. The communities we represent all use the same Nassau County resources and services.”
Republican candidate John DiMascio, who is contesting DeRiggi-Whitton for the 11th district, said the four legislators representing Roslyn would have to work together to do what’s best for the overall community in addition to serving the county.
“It’s going to take some consensus building, certainly,” he said.
The new legislators would not be the only ones building consensus, officials said.
Roslyn Estates Mayor Jeffrey Schwartzberg, whose village is located within the 9th District, said he would be working alongside village mayors he doesn’t know too well under the new map. The 9th district includes Manhasset villages Munsey Park, Plandome and Plandome Manor, as well as parts of Williston Park, Mineola and New Hyde Park.
Schwartzberg added that he hasn’t met either of the district’s candidates, Republican incumbent Richard Nicolello and Democrat Dolores Sedacca,
“I’m very open-minded that hopefully things will work,” Schwartzberg said. “To me, it’s no different than the consolidation of the police department. Somebody thought it would be a good idea and they decided to do it and it’s worked out okay so far.”
But Schwartzberg added he welcomes the changes to the legislative map, saying he understands the political nature of the redistricting and is willing to adapt to the changes.
“There’s a bit of concern being disconnected from the rest of the Roslyns [villages], but we’ve worked very well with Wayne Wink and in whoever runs District 9, I look forward to working with regardless of their political affiliation,”
“I have no complaints and continue to have no complaints,” he added. “As long as we have someone listening and helping us, that’s great. “I just hope we’re not left in the dark.”
In addition to serving the Village of Roslyn, the 16th District moves east all the way to the Suffolk County line, serving Old Westbury, and all or part of Jericho, Syosset, Hicksville and Plainview. The district is being contested by Democratic incumbent Judy Jacobs and Republican challenger Louis Imbroto.
