Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

The City Districting Commission released an initial draft of the City Council district map at a City Hall meeting today. The map is based on census data and also adjusted for City prison populations. The new map is available online and a hard copy will soon be available to the public in main library branches throughout the five boroughs, according to a statement released by the Commission.

Commission members were presented with the preliminary draft, on which the next cycle of hearings will be based. The next step is for members of the public to present testimony based on this first drawing. Chairman Benito Romano said many more views still need to be presented given the districting’s significance in coming years. The Commission encourages members of the public to come forward and express their views on the preliminary draft.

The dates for the second round of public hearings are listed below, while times and locations will be updated on the Commission’s website.

Tuesday, October 2nd
Thursday, October 4th
Tuesday, October 9th
Wednesday, October 10th
Thursday, October 11th

—Alissa Fleck

The New York City Public Library could face devastating cuts if Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed $37 million reduction in library funding is adopted. In addition to jobs lost through attrition, 736 additional library jobs could be eliminated, according to Susan Singer, a library manager at the Bloomingdale branch, on West 100th Street.

“It would be the worst cut in our history,” Singer said during a July 17 meeting of Community 7’s youth, education and libraries committee.

Six-day service is also under threat. West Side branches have already cut down on hours and instituted a hiring freeze. If the proposed changes go through, the surviving libraries would only open four days a week, according to Singer. Free programs for children would also be eliminated.

In response to the crisis, the library has instituted a fundraising and letter-writing campaign. To date, nearly 100,000 letters of support have been collected.