Not like the rest of The Rock: Staten Island's redistricting fight centers on North Shore
A Congressional redistricting fight has residents of Staten Island’s North Shore wrestling with an existential debate over whether they have more in common with residents in Lower Manhattan than their neighbors south of the Expressway.
Last month, a state Supreme Court judge ruled Black and Latino voters are disenfranchised by the current boundaries of the 11th congressional district — which includes all of Staten Island and a portion of south Brooklyn. A majority of those residents of color live on the North Shore. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit have proposed changing the district lines to combine Staten Island with Lower Manhattan because of demographic shifts that make the populations more similar.
The case, which is currently under appeal, highlights just how different the North Shore is from the rest of Staten Island. Instead of the leafy, car-centric suburban streets and single-family dwellings, the densely populated North Shore is a mix of older homes, large apartment buildings and NYCHA complexes tightly packed on city streets where more residents walk or rely on buses to get around.
“I feel like the North Shore is culturally more connected to literally any other part of New York City,” said Janos Marton, 43, a resident of the St. George neighborhood.
https://gothamist.com/news/not-like-the-rest-of-the-rock-staten-islands-redistricting-fight-centers-on-north-shore
