1 2 --------------------------------------------------X 3 CITY OF NEW YORK 2022-2023 DISTRICTING COMMISSION 4 PUBLIC MEETING 5 TO DISCUSS AND VOTE ON THE PROPOSED DISTRICTING 6 PLAN 7 --------------------------------------------------X 8 31-10 Thomson Avenue 9 Long Island City, New York 10 DATE: June 6, 2022 TIME: 6:15 p.m. 11 12 13 PUBLIC MEETING in the above-referenced 14 matter, held at the above-mentioned time and 15 location, before Sabrina Brown Stewart, a Notary 16 Public of the State of New York. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 LH REPORTING SERVICES, INC. Computer-Aided Transcription (718)526-7100 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S: 3 4 DENNIS M. WALCOTT, CHAIR 5 JOSEPH MALIGNO 6 GRACE PYUN 7 ALI RASOULINEJAD 8 KEVIN JOHN HANRATTY 9 HON. MARILYN D. GO 10 DR. DARRIN K. PORCHER 11 LISA SORIN 12 MAF MISBAH UDDIN 13 MONSIGNOR KEVIN SULLIVAN 14 KRISTEN JOHNSON 15 MARC WURZEL 16 JOSHUA SCHNEPS 17 MARIA MATEO 18 KAI-KI WONG 19 GREGORY W. KIRSCHENBAUM 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 2 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Roll call for the 3 public meeting of June 6th. 4 Collado? 5 (No response.) 6 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Go? 7 HON. GO: Present. 8 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Hanratty? 9 MR. HANRATTY: Here. 10 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Mateo? 11 MS. MATEO: Present. 12 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Schneps? 13 MR. SCHNEPS: Here. 14 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Sorin? 15 MS. SORIN: Present. 16 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Sullivan? 17 MR. SULLIVAN: Here. 18 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Wong? 19 MR. WONG: Here. 20 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Uddin? 21 MR. UDDIN: Present. 22 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Schnall? 23 (No response.) 24 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Johnson? 25 MS. JOHNSON: Here. 4 1 2 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Kirschenbaum? 3 MR. KIRSCHENBAUM: Here. 4 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Wurzel? 5 MR. WURZEL: Present. 6 MR. RASOULINEJAD: And Porcher? 7 MR. PORCHER: Present. 8 CHAIR WALCOTT: And I'm here as well. 9 MR. RASOULINEJAD: Walcott. Excuse me. 10 CHAIR WALCOTT: No. No. No. It's for 11 the record. For the record. 12 So, first, it's an honor again to be 13 with all of you. And thank you for the roll 14 call. 15 Any old business? Let me just give a 16 couple of housekeeping items first. And as 17 our esteemed executive director is not with 18 us today because he wasn't feeling well, but 19 he's fine, he wanted to be extra safe and 20 cautious, so he decided to stay home. 21 I'm not sure John has joined us yet 22 virtually, but that's why John is not here. 23 So, we'll have a presentation from the team. 24 Also, I just want to reinforce the point, as 25 in past meetings, we have translation 5 1 2 services as well. So, I want to be very 3 clear about that. And in addition to that, I 4 want to take this opportunity to compliment 5 the staff. 6 We have staffed up really fast and they 7 are fantastic. I just got to give them a lot 8 of props for that. They've done a masterful 9 job. They are very seamless in the way they 10 work with communication to those 11 commissioners but also getting all the 12 complex pieces together. And I want to take 13 this opportunity to thank them for their 14 excellent work and for all that they've done 15 to get us to this particular point. 16 And with that being said, Joseph, you 17 want to lead us off or -- 18 MR. MALIGNO: Yes, sure. 19 CHAIR WALCOTT: 'Cause I don't think 20 John is on. And Marc is also on virtual as 21 well. So, Marc Wurzel is on virtual. 22 So, Marc, welcome to you as well. 23 MR. WURZEL: Thank you. 24 CHAIR WALCOTT: Of course. You're 25 welcome. 6 1 2 MR. MALIGNO: So, I'll just use the mic 3 over here. 4 So, unless anybody -- like Chair 5 Walcott said, unless anybody have old 6 business, moving forward to the next item on 7 the agenda, which would be the new business. 8 Initially speaking, we were going to be 9 voting today on a proposed map that we are 10 going to be submitting to the public tomorrow 11 and made available, which would then in 12 turn -- hold on one second. Which would then 13 in turn trigger the period when public 14 hearings would happen. 15 However, after the tremendous 16 involvement we had with the public and the 17 turnout we had at our preliminary hearing we 18 did on May 26th and the request for more, we 19 are going to be pushing back the submission 20 of the maps and installing four more public 21 hearings for the public, to give an 22 opportunity for them to have an input. 23 It is going to be four more hearings in 24 the remaining four boroughs. So, the first 25 one that we had on the 26th was in Manhattan. 7 1 2 So, the next four will be in Queens, Bronx, 3 Brooklyn and Staten Island. 4 The preliminary dates right now for 5 those hearings are June 27th, June 28th, 6 July 6th and July 7th. We will update 7 everyone on times and locations for those 8 days. As time goes on, we are currently 9 trying to lock those down. 10 So, with that, Mr. Chair. 11 CHAIR WALCOTT: So, if I could ask 12 either you or Grace to explain how we have 13 the flexibility to do that. I think that's 14 important both for the commissioners and the 15 public to know why. 16 And in addition to that, the meeting 17 requirements as far as public notifications, 18 so, same time we want to do it and we're 19 going to do it, we have the requirements of 20 meeting notifications. Thus, that's why the 21 meetings are more towards the end of the 22 month and the beginning of July instead of, 23 say, next week or the following week. 24 MR. MALIGNO: Correct. So, that latter 25 part of what you're referring to, I can 8 1 2 address and then I'll have Grace address the 3 former part of it. 4 But yes, so, we have to abide by the 5 public notice requirements. And in order for 6 us to do that, we need about a safety net of 7 a two-week time frame, that is why they're 8 later on in the month. Otherwise, if we 9 didn't have the notice period that we need, 10 we would have had the hearings much earlier 11 in the month. 12 So, that is why we are doing things the 13 way we are doing them, because we do have to 14 give the public adequate time and notice, so 15 that they would get prepared for these 16 meetings. So, that is why they are later in 17 the month and also next month. All right? 18 And on that, I'm going to turn the mic 19 over to Grace. 20 MS. PYUN: Yeah, sure. 21 So, the Charter does lay out certain 22 time frames for the Commission to act, such 23 as, you know, submitting the final plan, 24 holding public meetings. But under the law, 25 those time frames provided by the Charter are 9 1 2 directory and not mandatory. 3 And so, we are able to give reasonable 4 extensions of those timelines in order to, 5 you know, accomplish the Commission's 6 purpose, you know, as long as it doesn't 7 unduly burden the time frames going into the 8 City Council Elections of 2023. So, we do 9 have some wiggle room there. 10 CHAIR WALCOTT: Questions from the 11 commissioners? 12 (No response.) 13 CHAIR WALCOTT: So, if there aren't any 14 questions, one other thing, again, just going 15 back to an earlier point, that if we can get 16 back to Joseph and his team with any 17 potential conflicts around these dates and do 18 it as quickly as possible. 19 'Cause I've already looked at the dates 20 and I will be telling one of daughters she 21 will not be seeing me one evening. So, I'm 22 making sure that we try to prioritize these 23 dates and do it as quickly as possible. So, 24 if you could check your calendars, that would 25 be very helpful. 10 1 2 Any other new business to discuss? 3 (No response.) 4 CHAIR WALCOTT: If not, then can we 5 have a discussion on the staffing? Because I 6 think we said that informally before the 7 start of the meeting, that we can introduce 8 our staff. I think that would be helpful to 9 (inaudible). 10 MR. MALIGNO: So, yes. 11 So, in addition to our new staff, I 12 just want to introduce Eddie Mortis 13 (phonetic) who is our director of 14 communications. 15 Eddie is going to be the point person 16 for all media releases and press junctures 17 for the Commission moving forward. He would 18 be the point of contact for all the 19 commissioners, as well as the general public, 20 for any press or media-related needs. So, 21 that's what we got moving forward now. 22 CHAIR WALCOTT: And community outreach. 23 MR. MALIGNO: Oh, yes. Thank you. 24 So, as far as community outreach goes, 25 we just had Miranda Goodwin-Raab start today. 11 1 2 She's in the back of the room. She is one of 3 the members of our community outreach that we 4 have moving forward. It's her and we are 5 still trying to -- we're still onboarding 6 more people. We have more room to grow and 7 we are trying to do that as quick as 8 possible. 9 CHAIR WALCOTT: And if I could just 10 say -- we haven't talked about this at all 11 before, but for the commissioners who are 12 from the respective boroughs where we will be 13 meeting for the public input, if you have 14 ideas of locations that would be accessible, 15 an ability for us to try to secure as quickly 16 as possible, then you can go to Joseph with 17 that information ASAP. 18 And that way, I think that will help 19 staff as well in processing the locations and 20 then locking that down, especially based on 21 the public notification requirement. 22 MR. MALIGNO: Absolutely. I would 23 encourage if you have this location that you 24 think is good in your respective boroughs for 25 us to hold these hearings, please let me 12 1 2 know. 3 I just want to remind everybody, in 4 addition to these preliminary hearings, we're 5 going to be having a second round after the 6 first map comes out. So, there is plenty of 7 opportunity to spread the wealth throughout 8 the boroughs, wherever you feel would be a 9 good location for us to hold one of these 10 hearings or public meetings. 11 So, please, I welcome the information. 12 CHAIR WALCOTT: John, are you on? 13 (No response.) 14 CHAIR WALCOTT: John is not on. 15 Questions? 16 (No response.) 17 CHAIR WALCOTT: Any other new business 18 or any other old business? 19 (No response.) 20 CHAIR WALCOTT: I mean, I hate to say 21 this, but if there aren't any other items to 22 discuss, then we can entertain a motion to 23 move to adjourn. 24 MR. UDDIN: So moved. 25 CHAIR WALCOTT: Motion to adjourn. 13 1 2 Is there a second? 3 DR. PORCHER: Second. 4 CHAIR WALCOTT: There's a second. 5 All those in favor? 6 (Chorus of ayes.) 7 CHAIR WALCOTT: Those opposed? 8 (No response.) 9 CHAIR WALCOTT: We are adjourned. 10 So, next thing you will be hearing from 11 us, statements to the public, will be on 12 public engagement or, I'll say it properly, 13 the public session, and you will be appearing 14 and it will be posted also on the website as 15 quickly as possible. 16 So, thank you very much. The meeting 17 is adjourned. 18 (TIME NOTED: 6:25 p.m.) 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 14 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T E 3 4 STATE OF NEW YORK) 5 :SS 6 COUNTY OF QUEENS) 7 8 I, Sabrina Brown Stewart, a shorthand 9 reporter within and for the State of New York, do 10 hereby certify that the within is a true and 11 accurate transcript of the statement taken on 12 June 6, 2022. 13 I further certify that I am not related to 14 any of the parties to this action by blood or by 15 marriage, and that I am in no way interested in the 16 outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my 18 hand this 13th day of June 2022. 19 20 21 _signature_ 22 23 24 25