Committee of Kingston Common Council endorses ward boundary shifts (video)

KINGSTON, N.Y. — A Common Council committee has endorsed a redistricting plan that will move about 700 city residents from one ward to another.

The council’s Redistricting Committee — comprising Thomas Hoffay, Robert Senor, D-Ward 8, and Debbie Brown, R-Ward 9 — voted unanimously on Thursday in favor of the plan, which has generated no controversy.

The plan was drafted at a committee meeting last month and underwent no changes on Thursday, said Senor, the committee’s chairman.

Senor said ward boundary shifts affecting about 700 people are planned to ensure each of the city’s nine wards will have roughly the same population. Each ward is represented by one member of the Common Council.

The committee’s recommendation must be approved by the full Common Council for the redistricting plan to become law.

The committee’s plan shifts 132 people from Ward 5 to Ward 3. According to 2010 U.S. Census data, 2,857 people live in Ward 5, while 2,447 live in Ward 3.

The people who would be affected by the move live on Elizabeth and Warren streets, South Washington Avenue and parts of  Washington and Greenkill avenues.

The committee also approved moving 261 people from Ward 8 to Ward 7 and 200 from Ward 7 to Ward 8.



Those who would be shifted from Ward 8 to Ward 7 live on Maple, Hanratty, Jarold, DeWitt and Murray streets. Those who would be shifted from Ward 7 to Ward 8 live on Third and Fourth avenues and Kingston Street.

According to the 2010 Census, there are 2,624 people living in Ward 7 and 2,560 in Ward 8.

The plan also moves 114 people in the Abbey Street area from Ward 6 to Ward 7. Ward 6 has 2,755 residents, according to the Census.