redistricting – Sandy Rosenberg

Redistricting and the next Speaker

March 30, 2022 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

Redistricting is an inherently political matter.

When you draw the lines, should you take into account where incumbents live?

Should a voter be able to cast a ballot for one member of the House of Delegates or three members?

Should districts cross the boundary lines between Baltimore City and Baltimore County?

Should a conservative neighborhood be included in a predominantly liberal district?

The answers to these questions have consequences.

During today’s floor debate, a delegate from a Baltimore County neighborhood said that his community would be “without representation.”

The incumbent Congressman for his district is Kweisi Mfume.

I wish that redistricting could be done in a bipartisan way.

However, the bill before us today will help determine who is the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The choice will be between Hakeem Jeffries or Kevin McCarthy.

I’m for the Democrat.

A More Diverse Community

January 27, 2022 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

We debated the redistricting map for the state legislature on the floor of the House of Delegates today.

One of the issues we debated was whether people are better served by a district with three delegates or one delegate.

This is what I said:

You’ve heard me talk about Pimlico Race Track once or twice on this floor.

Well, last night I went to a meeting of the community compact for the neighborhoods surrounding the race track that will be very greatly affected by the future use of that site, and there’s a big difference in the demographics — in the race, in the religion — of the people on one side of the track and the people on the other side of the track.

Our City Council districts are single member. The line between the two districts is the backstretch of the track.

To represent a bigger area means you have a more diverse community that you answer to, that we answer to, as legislators, and that is a very good thing. I will proudly vote for this resolution.

Diversity: A Continued Strength

October 15, 2021October 15, 2021 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

The neighborhoods I represent are determined by the lines drawn during redistricting by the Governor and the General Assembly.

A group of community leaders in the 41^st District submitted the following statement to a public hearing of the Legislative Redistricting Advisory

Commission this past Tuesday.

Testimony of 41st District Community Leaders

Submitted to the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission

Chairman Aro and Members of the Commission:

The 41st District has been a diverse community of Baltimoreans for twenty years.

That diversity has been a continued strength of the district and allowed for all communities within it to be heard and represented in Annapolis.

We come before you as representatives of a wide range of communities within the 41st District.

There can be no understating the importance of representing a plurality of opinions in a healthy democracy. State legislative districts are some of the most basic building blocks of our representative democracy. They can ensure that every community has a say in the way our government functions.

The redistricting process should foster this diversity of views. Our state senator and delegates have done a stellar job of representing the diversity within the 41st District and brought us together when needed to benefit our neighborhoods and the whole district.

Our legislators have brought substantial benefits to our district – from the once in a generation revitalization of the Pimlico Race Course. to renovations at the Mary Rodman Recreation Center. (A listing of neighborhood projects will be provided in the near future.)

We urge the Commission to add the necessary population to the 41st District that would maintain its diversity.

Anita Catchcart Allendale Community Association

Betty Cherniak Glen Neighborhood Improvement Association

Mary Page Michel Roland Park

Jay Newman Poplar Hill Association

Cynthia Shaw Lyndhurst Improvement Association

Shirlene Littejohn Uplands Homeowners Association

Sandy Johnson Fallstaff Improvement Association

Community association names are provided for identification purposes only and should not be read as an endorsement of this testimony. October 12, 2021

Three is better than one.

March 3, 2021 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

It was a preview of coming attractions.

The bill on the House floor dealt with the election of county commissioners.

My Republican colleagues started talking about single-member districts.

It was relevant to the bill before us.

It will also be relevant when we draw the map for new legislative districts for the General Assembly next year.

The Republican strategy will be to create single-member districts where their candidates have a better chance to win.

My district is the norm. It has three members.

We serve 120,000 residents.

If we were in single-member districts, each would have a population of only 40,000.

We wouldn’t be working for diverse communities. We wouldn’t have a broader perspective on the impact of the decisions we make in Annapolis.

Pimlico is an example.

Neighborhoods on all sides of the track are in the 41^st District. From the outset, I involved all of them.

Everything I’ve learned over the years taught me to do that.

But a smaller, single member district makes that cooperation less likely.

October 17 – It's Not True

October 17, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | 1 Comment

“I don’t think the number of Democrats or Republicans who would be elected to Congress is the issue.”

I forget who said that at today’s hearing. It doesn’t matter.

It’s not true.

Redistricting is all about politics.

The lines on the maps drawn by Republicans in states where they control the executive and legislative branches look just like those on Governor O’Malley’s map and serve the same purpose – to gain seats in the U.S. Congress.

“One Congressman cannot represent both Cumberland in Western Maryland and Gaithersburg in Montgomery County,” said another witness today.

That’s not true either.

I wasn’t happy with the court-drawn 41st district in 2002. I went from being a shoo-in to winning my primary by 245 votes.

But now I love my district and the challenge of representing my African-American and Orthodox Jewish constituents, as well as every other person I have the honor of serving.

A Congressional district has six times the population of mine.