New Lines for Legislative Districts Across Suffolk

The Suffolk County Legislature voted 11-5 in favor of new district lines for the next ten years, finalizing a restructured map that added and took away small chunks from districts around the county.

Newsday reports many voters in the area were upset by the addition of Election District 91, a party of Wheatley Heights, to Legislator Lou D'Amaro's (D–North Babylon) District 17. D'Amaro, however, was happier to see much of his coverage area put back together.

"I think it worked out fine though, especially putting districts like North Babylon back together," he said to Patch. "We didn't use it a political tool to pit each other against each other. We were working pretty bipartisanly here."

The party lines did not seem to matter as two Republicans joined a Democratic majority in approving the new maps and a Democrat voted against the measure on June 19. Legislators poured over maps for the past few months trying to keep each district within an 80,000 population limit.

The 16th District, which represents parts of Deer Park, shifted eastwards, as Legislator Steve Stern said he expected.

"Although much of the district will remain the same, if I am given the privilege to represent the new district, I will look forward to that opportunity, particularly because a portion of the new communities are in the Town of Islip, along the SagtikosCommack Road Corridor," he said to Patch. "This area will be especially important in the coming years as we go forward to balance economic development with infrastructure needs, traffic concerns, environmental protection, open space preservation and quality of life for area residents."

D'Amaro said he would be looking forward to working his area as a whole community now in the future. He also said that, as a whole, he did not expect the changes to have profound effects come election time.

"I don't really expect much change in voting outcomes because they weren't many radical changes," D'Amaro said. "When you're dealing with a small divination in populations, the changes are not going to show much."