county reapportionment commission

Civil rights, government watchdog groups, and others are contemplating their next steps after Onondaga County’s new legislative district map was quietly signed into law right before the new year. They’re not happy with how the process began and ended.

Onondaga County lawmakers for a second time Tuesday approved GOP-drawn legislative district maps that could influence representation for the next decade. The vote was close, 9 to 8, with two republicans joining democrats in voting no.

It’ll be a busy day in Onondaga County legislature chambers Tuesday, where lawmakers are expected to take up two very controversial issues. The proposed aquarium project for Syracuse’s Inner Harbor and the final redistricting maps are both on the agenda.

Onondaga County’s controversial redistricting process is about to take another step forward with amended maps set to be released sometime Friday. The County Executive vetoed the original draft due to concerns about potential litigation.

For most of the past several weeks, we’ve heard how the controversial redistricting process has unfolded in Onondaga County. But many might not know the City of Syracuse is redrawing council district lines using a decidedly more independent and deliberate approach.

Onondaga County’s redistricting process is now back in the hands of county lawmakers after the county executive vetoed the maps they approved a little over a week ago. Ryan McMahon expressed after a public hearing last week that he had concerns about how the proposed map diluted the African American population in the current 16th district.

It appears Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon is leaning towards making some changes to the proposed redistricting map approved by lawmakers last week. He plans to take into consideration the comments from about two dozen people who weighed in Friday at a final public hearing.

Friday marks what will likely be the final public hearing in what many democrats have called a partisan, political, and broken process of redrawing Onondaga County’s legislative district lines. Despite the outcry, one political expert says it’s not clear if the results would have been dramatically different.

Democratic Onondaga County Legislator Vernon Williams Junior is calling on County Executive Ryan McMahon to veto what he calls “racially gerrymandered redistricting maps.” There’s one more public hearing before the plan is accepted or rejected.

Onondaga County lawmakers are expected to vote Friday on maps drawn by the GOP-led redistricting commission that could influence the outcome of legislative races for the next decade. All of the roughly two dozen speakers at Wednesday’s public hearing called the process flawed and partisan, and urged lawmakers to reject the maps and start the process over.