Legislative changes possible in Valley Stream

Nassau County’s Legislative districts would change drastically in Valley Stream if a plan by the Republican majority is enacted.

The village would be split into three separate districts. The west side of the village would be in the new 19th district, the central portion would be part of the 3rd District and the eastern end of Valley Stream would belong to the 7th District.

Fran Becker, who currently represents most of the village as the 6th District Legislator, would no longer represent any portion of the Valley Stream.

Instead, his areas of the village would be picked up by John Ciotti of the 3rd District and Howard Kopel of the 7th District should they be re-elected.

In North Valley Stream, the Alden Terrace neighborhood would become part of the new 19th District, while the rest would remain in Ciotti’s district. South Valley Stream would lose Kopel as its legislator, and join the new district.

History of the legislature

The Nassau County Legislature was formed on May 24, 1994, after U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt had ruled in 1993 that the county’s longstanding Board of Supervisors was unconstitutional because it violated the Constitution’s one-person, one vote rule. A 19-district Legislature was created to replace the Board of Supervisors. The Legislature’s first election took place in November 1995, and legislators took office for the first time on Jan. 1, 1996.

The county charter mandates that the Legislature’s lines be redrawn every 10 years to ensure that the population of legislative districts remains roughly equal, at 70,000, and that minority residents are fairly represented. Legislative lines were last redrawn in 2003 by a Democratically controlled Legislature.

At the time, the Legislature’s Republican minority challenged the redrawn lines in court, saying the new districts were oddly shaped and divided communities in order to provide Democrats with a political advantage in future elections.