Addabbo: ‘Forest Hills Should Not Have Four State Senators’

At Thursday night’s meeting of the Forest Hills Community and Civic, local politicians Joe Addabbo and Andrew Hevesi gave residents a primer on the state of Albany —specifically a look at upcoming redistricting.

Among all the issues that were raised, the one that touched home for most residents was a reality that Forest Hills has faced for decades: too many state senators in one relatively small town.

“The 11375 zip code has four state senators,” Addabbo said. “I think that’s quite unfair for the residents. Many people may not now who their state senator is. … Forest Hills should not have four state senators.”

Addabbo himself covers much of the southern portion of Forest Hills, with state Sen. Toby Stavisky covering most of the town north of Queens Bouelvard. But state senators Shirley Huntley and Malcolm Smith also have small slivers of Forest Hills gerrymandered into their districts.

Addabbo said he believed Forest Hills should be under the purview of, at most, two and possibly one state senator. He added that he would be thrilled to continue his representation of the area as part of his district.

Hevesi, who covers almost all of the 11375 zip code, said the fact that four state senators cover an area that he is responsible for by himself in the state Assembly, can sometimes make his job a challenge.

“I am the Assemblyman for Forest Hills, I have four senators. I usually just call Joe [Addabbo],” Hevesi joked. “But [independent redistricting is] the perfect idea; we shouldn’t be drawing our own lines.”

The issue has definitely been weighing on the minds of some local residents, who've been dealing with it for years.

“We may have four state senators,” said Forest Hills Civic President Barbara Stuchinksi, “but we all know just two of them work [for Forest Hills].” Stuchinski then praised both Addabbo and Stavisky and Assemblyman Hevesi for their dedication to the area.

State Sen. Addabbo and Assemblyman Hevesi both expressed their support for an independent redistricting pane — an issue Gov. Andrew Cuomo campaigned on — with Addabbo worrying that with next year’s elections rapidly approaching, a redistricting fight was more likely to end up in court.