Panelists to Include Adriano Espaillat, New York State Senator (D-31 SD); Hakeem Jeffries, New State Assembly Member (D‑57); and Foster Maer, Esq., Associate General Counsel for the Latino Justice & Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund.

WHY: Metropolitan College of New York’s popular Urban Dialogue Series will next explore “The Status of Redistricting in New York State: Past, Present and Future” with a special panel on Tuesday, September 27, 2011. This discussion will explore the political and legal impact of reapportionment on the system, fiscal federalism and intergovernmental relations. It will address how and why the redistricting of state and congressional legislative districts will change New York’s political landscape during the next ten years. The featured panelists will also offer their perspectives on:

  • Gerrymandering
  • The 1965 Voting Rights Act
  • The Justice Department’s review process
  • New York’s projected loss of two congressional seats
  • The potential value of an independent commission

WHO: The panelists for the discussion will include:

  • Adriano Espaillat, New York State Senator (D-31 SD): Mr. Espaillat represents the areas of the Upper West Side, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and Riverdale. Prior to his election to the New York State Senate in 2010, he served in the State Assembly for 16 years.
  • Hakeem Jeffries, New State Assembly Member (D-57): Mr. Jeffries represents the areas of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant.  He was featured in the critically acclaimed documentary Gerrymandering.  In addition, Assembly Member Jeffries also sponsored and championed legislation to end prison-based gerrymandering, which was signed into law in 2010.  With its passage, New York became the second state in the country to count incarcerated individuals in their home communities, rather than in the counties where they are incarcerated, for purposes of legislative reapportionment.
  • Foster Maer, Esq., Associate General Counsel for the Latino Justice & Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund: The Latino Justice & Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund is a national civil rights organization that pursues impact legislation, including legal challenges, to proposed legislative district plans that are not in compliance with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

WHAT:            This “Urban Dialogue” is hosted by Humphrey A. Crookendale, Dean of the School of Management, MCNY, and Manny Tirado, Professor of American Government and Public Policy, MCNY.  “Urban Dialogues” is a forum in which scholars, legislators, policy makers, students and citizens exchange ideas and discuss issues and trends that affect New York City and other urban centers across the nation. Topics cover a spectrum of ideas, theories and viewpoints that inform and/or influence urban policy.

WHEN: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: Metropolitan College of New York

431 Canal St., 11th Floor Conference Center
New York, NY 10013

The event is open to the public. Seating is limited.

For more information on MCNY, visit www.mcny.edu or call 800.33.THINK.