On Tuesday, June 28th, the Buffalo Common Council hosted their only scheduled public hearing on reapportionment.
For over two-and-a-half hours the Council heard from Buffalo residents from across the city of Buffalo about how the process wasn’t open, transparent, or in keeping with the basic principles of co-governance or the spirit of democracy.
In short, the plan under consideration by the Council was unanimously rejected by the members of the public who spoke and who sent public comments to Council staff throughout the week. Instead of taking the time allotted per the City Charter — the end of July — to reconsider their proposed map and to enter into a participatory mapping process with their constituents, the Council instead tried to rush an invalid and potentially illegal vote on Friday, July 1st at 10am.
That vote was postponed 37 minutes into a press conference hosted by Our City Action Buffalo, after the Buffalo News Editorial Board sided with “the critics” of the Council’s proposed plan, and after hearing from constituents that their actions were egregious and unacceptable. Since that time, OCAB members and supporters have spoken with all nine councilmen and engaged and/or reengaged with thousands of city residents.
The resulting map is one that everyone can be proud of – reaffirming a commitment to contiguity, preservation of neighborhoods, prioritization of equity, and re-establishing democracy as paramount. “After reviewing all the testimony from the Council’s public hearing, our team got to work revising our alternative plan to incorporate what we learned. As we began building people’s suggestions into our neighborhood-based map, we quickly saw that Our City’s residents know best when it comes to redistricting,” said Dr. Russell Weaver, quantitative geographer and Director of Research at Cornell ILR Buffalo Co-Lab.
Implementing the changes resulted in numerous improvements to our original plan, including on the criteria that are most important to us: neighborhood preservation, equity, and compactness.” “The people have been awakened. For so long we thought that change was not possible. And now people know that even though we lost that general election on a sham write-in, we are not going back to brunch. We’re not leaving, said former Democratic nominee for mayor of Buffalo India Walton. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to continue to fight until we get justice.” “This is a moment of respect. Respectfully, we bring our revised alternative plan.
Respectfully, the Common Council should have responded. Everybody in the city has responded but our elected representatives,” said OCAB ally and supporter Jim Anderson.
“After the 5/14 massacre, we sang kumbaya, we love one another and we are all going to work together. And to have this egregious plan on the heels of that tragic day is unspeakable. We can do better. But we have to do better together,” said Ellicott district resident Althea Davis.
“We are stronger when we are together. And the Council’s map divides and breaks up neighborhoods,” said Ellicott district resident Jessie Fisher. “It takes communities of interest and separates them. It takes voting interests and separates them. It doesn’t do anything to help neighborhoods help themselves. It does nothing to empower residents.”
maps that show city’s common council plan vs our city action proposed plan
OCAB is also recommending that the Council deeply consider revamping their structure. OCAB proposes that the Council president be duly elected by all residents of the city of Buffalo, as was once the case. The organization is also recommending a return of at least one at-large seat to promote greater democratic representation in the city of Buffalo. It also reflects the fact that Buffalo’s population has increased for the first time in 70 years per the 2020 Census data.
OCAB has filed their first map and petition (with over 750 signatures) with the Buffalo Clerk’s office. OCAB also filed their revised alternative plan with the Clerk’s office immediately following their press conference prior to the Legislation Committee at 2pm. OCAB has issued several unanswered calls for the Common Council to reach out and engage directly with them on next steps in the reapportionment and redistricting processes. It issued the same call again today.
OCAB’s redistricting website (www.ourcityactionbuffalo.com/redistricting) will be updated with the revised alternative map and other pertinent information tomorrow, Wednesday, July 6th. We’ve included the updated plan in this email, along with photos from today’s press conference (photo credit: Our City Action Buffalo). Comparisons of all proposed maps can be found here.
