First of two experts testifies in New Rochelle redistricting case

By LEN MANIACE
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: June 4, 2004)

A Queens College sociology professor defended his redistricting plan for the New Rochelle City Council in federal court yesterday.

Andrew Beveridge said the plan restored blacks to a majority in the council's District 3 and was in compliance with a federal judge's orders.

"I think the new lines would make it a more effective black district," Beveridge told a White Plains courtroom presided over by U.S. District Judge Charles Brieant.

It was Brieant who ordered the city in December to redraw the City Council's district lines after ruling that the redistricting plan used for November's city elections diluted black representation in District 3.

That suit against the city was brought by the New Rochelle Voter Rights Defense Fund, an organization set up by the city's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and later joined by the city's Republican Party.

The voter rights group and the city earlier this year agreed on a revised redistricting plan that restored District 3 to a 50.2 percent black population, up from 46 percent under the map used in the November elections.

The New Rochelle Republican Party is continuing the case, charging that the most recent plan is an attempt by Democrats, who are a 6-1 council majority, to ensure their overwhelming hold on that panel.

The Republicans charge that the new plan is illegal, that it unnecessarily divides the neighboring District 5, and that they have a better way to redraw the map. That plan was developed by Republican Councilman Michael Boyle earlier this year and Republicans say it comes closer to Brieant's recommendation that District 3 have a 54 percent black population.

Yesterday, Republican attorney John Ciampoli asked Beveridge, who is a frequent consultant in similar redistricting cases, if the sociology professor has reviewed Boyle's proposal.

Beveridge said he had been shown the map and implied that it would endanger the newly created Hispanic opportunity district, council District 4.

"I looked at the map, and it was clear that it contained numerous changes in District 4," Beveridge said.

Outside the courtroom, Ciampoli said that Boyle's plan did not weaken the Latino presence in District 4 and that Beveridge could not dispute that point since he had not studied the plan.

The debate continued outside the courthouse, with the lawyer for Councilman Robert Lopez of District 4 later saying that Boyle's plan was flawed because many of the Hispanic residents in that proposed district are not citizens or not of voting age.

"That district is white and would eliminate the possibility of electing a Hispanic," said Robert Goodstein, Lopez's lawyer.

The hearing resumes June 21, when the Republicans' redistricting expert, David Schaefer, is expected to testify.