Upper East Side No Longer Sliced Up By New Council Maps

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Upper East Side's City Council districts would be kept largely the same under a new set of maps released on Thursday, nearly three months after a proposal to divide the neighborhood into three separate districts sparked strong pushback.

The new maps, which were approved in a 13-1 vote by the city's districting commission, contain only minor changes to the bounds of the Upper East Side's two Council districts.

Notably, they scrap the controversial change that would have lumped more than 50 East Side blocks and Roosevelt Island into a district based mostly in Queens. Local leaders including City Councilmembers Julie Menin and Keith Powers vocally objected to that proposal, saying it risked diluting Upper East Siders' political voices.

The latest proposal, which must now be approved by the City Council, largely preserves the shapes of the Upper East Side's two longtime districts: District 5, centered in Yorkville and now represented by Menin, and Powers's District 4, which runs along Central Park before dipping down into Midtown.

Below 79th Street, the western boundary of Menin's district would shift one block west to Third Avenue under the new maps. District 5 would also gain a few blocks in Carnegie Hill above East 91st street that are now part of District 4.

Explore the new districts in the interactive map below from the Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center, and use the slider at the top to compare them to the existing district lines.

Hunter College, whose campus would have straddled two districts under the initial map, now remains entirely within its existing District 4 under the new plan.

And neighborhood landmarks like the East River Esplanade, John Jay Park, and schools like P.S. 158 and P.S. 183 will stay under the purview of Manhattan-based lawmakers instead of being shifted over to a Queens-based district.

After being inundated with thousands of public comments, the commission had dropped the sliced-up East Side districts by September, but a revised set of maps was unexpectedly rejected by commission members last month — reportedly amid meddling from Mayor Eric Adams's administration.

The latest maps, finally approved on Thursday, contained only minor changes from the September plan, which had faced opposition in part from Staten Island lawmakers who feared the borough's power might be diluted.

"I thank the Districting Commission for their work, as well as advocates supporting the needs of their communities," Powers said in an email to constituents following the release of Thursday's maps.

The City Council now has three weeks to approve the maps or reject them, which would send them back to the commission to create a final version by December, Gotham Gazette reported.

The Council redistricting happens every 10 years to reflect population changes in the recent census. It isn't to be confused with the other redistricting process covering state legislative and congressional districts, which wrapped up this summer after a chaotic few months of legal battles and a court-ordered redrawing.

The new districts will take effect in 2023, when elections will be held for all 51 City Council seats.

Previous coverage:

• Scrap Sliced-Up Upper East Side District Maps, Councilwoman Says
  
• Divided-Up Upper East Side Council Districts Face Mounting Criticism
• Upper East Side Sliced Up In Newly Redrawn Council District Maps