Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

it is so sad that the  Republicans/NNTPers-Teapartiers are so filled with jealous hatred because THEY lost control of the county legislature and of Metroplex 8 years ago ...... and they lost it because people were sick and tired of the 40+ years of decline/economic ruin that the Republicans brought to Schenectady County.

They get so desperate when confronted with their own failure as a party and as leaders of government ---- this explains why they had to resort to illegally and unconstitutionally gerrymandering the State Senate districts in the desperate attempt to hold on to what little  power they have left in the state.

Quoted from senders

is gerrymandering also the same as the high yield DSS? because there is more than one way to skin a vote......

Quoted from TakingItBack

DVR gerrymanders wherever there is food.

Quoted Text

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander ( /ˈdʒɛriˌmændər/); however, that word can also refer to the process.

Gerrymandering may be used to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party, or may be used to help or hinder a particular demographic, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.

When used to allege that a given party is gaining disproportionate power, the term gerrymandering has negative connotations. However, a gerrymander may also be used for purposes that some perceive as positive, such as in US federal voting district boundaries that produce a majority of constituents representative of African-American or other racial minorities (these are thus called "minority-majority districts").
  

[edit] Difference from malapportionment

Gerrymandering should not be confused with malapportionment, whereby the number of eligible voters per elected representative can vary widely without relation to how the boundaries are drawn. Nevertheless the ~mander suffix has been applied to particular malapportionments, such as the "Playmander" in South Australia and the "Bjelkemander" in Queensland. Sometimes political representatives use both gerrymandering and malapportionment to try to maintain power.

[edit] Etymology


First printed in March 1812, this political cartoon was drawn in reaction to the state senate electoral districts drawn by the Massachusetts legislature to favour the Democratic-Republican Party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists. The caricature satirises the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts as a vulture. Federalist newspapers editors and others at the time likened the district shape to a salamander, and the word gerrymander was a blend of that word and Governor Gerry's last name.
The word gerrymander (originally written Gerry-mander) was used for the first time in the Boston Gazette on March 26, 1812. The word was created in reaction to a redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under the then-governor Elbridge Gerry (pronounced /ˈɡɛri/; 1744–1814). In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander. The exact author of the term gerrymander may never be definitively established. It is widely believed by historians that Federalist newspaper editors Nathan Hale, Benjamin and John Russell were the instigators, but the historical record gives no definitive evidence as to who created or uttered the word for the first time.[1] The term was a portmanteau of the governor's last name and the word salamander.

Appearing with the term, and helping to spread and sustain its popularity, was a political cartoon depicting a strange animal with claws, wings and a dragon-like head satirising the map of the odd-shaped district. This cartoon was most likely drawn by Elkanah Tisdale, an early 19th century painter, designer, and engraver who was living in Boston at the time.[2]

Tisdale also had the engraving skills to cut the woodblocks that printed the original cartoon.[3] These woodblocks survive and are preserved in the Library of Congress.[4] The word gerrymander was reprinted numerous times in Federalist newspapers in Massachusetts, New England, and nationwide during the remainder of 1812.[5] This suggests some organised activity of the Federalists to disparage Governor Gerry in particular and the growing Democratic-Republican party in general. Gerrymandering soon began to be used to describe not only the original Massachusetts example but also other cases of district-shape manipulation for partisan gain in other states. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, institutionalisation of the word became complete with its first appearance in a dictionary (184 and first appearance in an encyclopedia (186.[6]

Although the letter g of the eponymous Gerry is pronounced /ɡ/ as in go, the word gerrymander is most commonly pronounced /ˈdʒɛrimændər/, with a /dʒ/ as in gentle.

[edit] Voting systems

Gerrymandering is used most often in favor of ruling incumbents[7] or a specific political party. Societies whose legislatures use a single-winner voting system are the most likely to have political parties that gerrymander for advantage.[citation needed] Most notably, gerrymandering is particularly effective in non-proportional systems that tend towards fewer parties, such as first past the post.

Most democracies have partly proportional electoral systems, where several political parties are proportionally represented in the national parliaments, in proportion to the total numbers of votes of the parties in the regional or national elections. In these more or less proportional representation systems, gerrymandering has little or less significance.

Some countries, such as the UK and Canada, authorize non-partisan organizations to set constituency boundaries in an attempt to prevent gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is most common in countries where elected politicians are responsible for defining constituency boundaries. They have obvious self interest in determining boundaries to their and their party's interest.


[edit] Packing and cracking

The two aims of gerrymandering are to maximize the effect of supporters' votes and to minimize the effect of opponents' votes. One strategy, packing, is to concentrate as many voters of one type into a single electoral district to reduce their influence in other districts. In some cases this may be done to obtain representation for a community of common interest, rather than to dilute that interest over several districts to a point of ineffectiveness. A second strategy, cracking, involves spreading out voters of a particular type among many districts in order to deny them a sufficiently large voting bloc in any particular district. The strategies are typically combined, creating a few "forfeit" seats for packed voters of one type in order to secure even greater representation for voters of another type.

Gerrymandering is effective because of the wasted vote effect. By packing opposition voters into districts they will already win (increasing excess votes for winners) and by cracking the remainder among districts where they are moved into the minority (increasing votes for eventual losers), the number of wasted votes among the opposition can be maximized. Similarly, with supporters holding narrow margins in the unpacked districts, the number of wasted votes among supporters is minimized.

While the wasted vote effect is strongest when a party wins by narrow margins across multiple districts, gerrymandering narrow margins can be risky when voters are less predictable. To minimize the risk of demographic or political shifts swinging a district to the opposition, politicians can instead create more packed districts, leading to more comfortable margins in unpacked ones.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The DOT building was a great improvement to the dilapidated old buildings that once stood on the site --- if it is true that the DOT offices will be moving out  (and for now this is just a rumor) than another tenant will be found for the building and life will go on.   Change happens -- so grow up and get over it.

Quoted Text

The Department of Transportation will move the regional office that oversees its operations in the Capital Region from downtown Schenectady to its Wolf Road headquarters, according to a departmental communication.

The move is part of a larger “re-stacking” that state officials are pushing to address what officials at the Office of General Services estimate is a 25 percent vacancy rate in state-owned buildings.

“This move will save the Department of Transportation approximately $1.4 million dollars annually in rent and utilities that we have been paying to maintain independent offices in Schenectady,” the communication, forwarded over by a reader, says. “An exact date for this move has not yet been identified, but current indications are that it will be during late March.”

The savings, however, must be roundabout: the state owns 328 State Street in Schenectady, where the offices are located. In some instances, state officials have said, they are consolidating employees within state-owned offices and then filling the resultant spaces with more employees of leased offices.

The re-stack will also result in the Division of Criminal Justice Services decamping from the tower at Stuyvesant Plaza to the Alfred E. Smith Building, and the re-location of 600 Department of Health employees from buildings in Troy.

It’s unclear how many employees will be affected by this move. The announcement, by the DOT, is below.


As discussed in the January 20, 2012 IntraDOT announcement, Governor Cuomo has directed State Agencies to identify cost reduction opportunities by reducing vacant office space in State-owned/leased buildings. OGS has recently completed surveys of both 50 Wolf Road and Region 1’s space at 328 State Street in Schenectady and determined that it is in the State’s best interest to move employees working at 328 State Street in Schenectady into vacant space at the Department’s Main Office at 50 Wolf Road. This move will save the Department of Transportation approximately $1.4 million dollars annually in rent and utilities that we have been paying to maintain independent offices in Schenectady.

An exact date for this move has not yet been identified, but current indications are that it will be during late March. Notification at this point will allow the maximum time possible for employees who may have child or elder care, transportation, or other issues to begin making arrangements to address these concerns. Employees whose official station is 328 State Street, Schenectady, will be receiving formal, written notification of their relocation in the next few days.

This move comes at a time when the Department is faced with the challenge of delivering an Accelerated Capital Program, with lettings scheduled for April, May, and June. It will be important for employees in both locations to concentrate on the work they are performing to meet these letting deadlines. A small, highly focused team made up of staff from Main Office Facilities Management and other Main Office program areas directly required to implement this move will immediately begin working with OGS staff to design the restacking of 50 Wolf Road. A small, highly focused team from Region One will be put together to work with Region One employees, providing guidance to them on preparing for the move and to assist them in making the move.

Additional IntraDOT announcements will be made as the plan is developed. With everyone working together as a team to accomplish this important cost-saving measure, disruptions to day-to-day operations should be minimized, and the transition should go as smoothly as it did when the Main Office moved to Wolf Road from the State Office Campus, and when Region 1 moved from Holland Avenue to downtown Schenectady.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

    than another tenant will be found for the building and life will go on.  

Quoted from 147

McNut is gonna WISH the Republicans had won, so they'd have SOMEONE to blame this colossal failure on.

Quoted from 147

the state owns 328 State Street in Schenectady, where the offices are located.

We all know how well the state finds new tenants for the buildings they own ... it's easier to tear it down and sell.  Otherwise, it's a nice building, but without a lucrative taxpayer handout for the parking garage places they'll need to provide, they'll never get another tenant in that building.

Wonder when the Lottery is gonna pull out and move to Albany