Jumaane Williams Makes Bid to Add More of Our Area to 45th
Councilman Jumaane Williams is no stranger to this blog, but he’s covered only a small portion of the neighborhood until now. Thanks to redistricting, Jumaane’s 45th District may end up including much more of West Midwood, the area in the southwestern-most part of the neighborhood (here’s a general and helpful map. Note that the neighborhood also includes several streets below Avenue H).
Williams is making an effort to absorb West Midwood into his 45th District, an area that includes parts of Victorian Flatbush.
At the moment, the proposed redistricting plan keeps most of West Midwood in Mathieu Eugene’s 40th District with about five other Victorian Flatbush neighborhoods. Talking points distributed last night by email to West Midwood residents by Williams’ Chief of Staff Rance E. Huff suggest moving West Midwood to the 45th, joining parts of Midwood Park and Fiske Terrace.
A public Districting Commission hearing for all of Brooklyn is taking place tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Medgar Evars College in the Founder Auditorium.
Area redistricting as currently proposed.
As the Yankees were playing the Orioles in extra innings, Williams was making personal calls to several West Midwood residents.
In a late night neighborhood email about a phone call she recieved, Carol Grau called Jumaane “hard working, ambitious and very well regarded.”
“I received a call as well,” responded neighbor Ronald G. Russo. “I agree that Jumaane is hard working, interested and ambitious — as evidenced by his late night call to some of us personally during the Yankee game!”
Ronald believes that Jumaane would be a strong advocate for West Midwood.
“That is the purpose of the hearing tomorrow night: to argue that we would be better represented,” continued Ronald, “that we have more in common with population of Victorian Flatbush than we do with the folks across Coney Island Avenue to the west, Borough Park.”
Despite the confusion, there does not appear to be a proposal that would place West Midwood into a district with Borough Park.
While Williams already represents a small strip of West Midwood south of Avenue H, he also already represents “Fiske Terrace, some of South Midwood and about two-thirds of Midwood Park,” as he described over the phone last night.
Williams’ Chief of Staff Rance E. Huff wrote that absorbing West Midwood would be a step toward fixing the “unfinished quilt” of Victorian Flatbush, a phrase most often evoked when discussing historical districts in the area.
“Although our neighbors and I share common interests in making our community better, we are often separated by our representation in City government, which makes it difficult to achieve civic-minded goals,” wrote Huff. “As currently drawn now, many neighborhoods in Victorian Flatbush are located in separate Council Districts. As representatives of the neighborhood of West Midwood, we strongly urge the members of the Commission to hear the collective voices of the our community and ensure that all the residents of West Midwood join their Victorian Flatbush neighbors in residing in the 45th Council District.”
Of course, that doesn’t include the rest of Victorian Flatbush – the entire area north of Foster.
Some of the southern areas of West Midwood are currently split by district from the majority of the neighborhood on the border of Avenue H. If the neighborhood joined the 45th, the area would be united in that way. However, the talking points make no mention of this, only of unity in greater Victorian Flatbush.
Carl Hum, the Executive Director of the Redistricting Commission, recently told the Times that while the initial redistricting map was an earnest attempt, he was open to changes.
“It was a map to start the conversation,” he said. “We didn’t get everything right.”
No one from Councilman Eugene’s District 44 office has been available for comment yet due to today’s general session of City Council.
Photo: Current.com