The 34th Senate District, represented by Senator Jeff Klein, is more Bronx.
The district, which had been a 60% to 40% split between Bronx County and Westchester County respectively, will be adding Bronx communities, some of which Klein said he once represented as an assemblyman. Redistricting, which happens in response to the census every 10 years, will take effect after the 2012 elections, a Klein spokesman said.
The new district’s makeup will now include a large piece of Pelham Parkway South and Allerton Avenue west of Williamsbridge Road.
“It keeps more communities together, and I think the district is better designed than even my previous district.” Klein said, adding that he will now represent all of Pelham Parkway and Riverdale, while in the past he has had only parts of both communities.
The areas that Klein has previously represented in the borough will by and large remain intact except for some notable exceptions, including an area west of Bronxdale Avenue in lower Morris Park and Van Nest.
The district will include all of Pelham Parkway and surrounding blocks going north from the parkway to Allerton Avenue, and as far west as Bronx Park East.
“I basically took in almost everything I represented in the Bronx and added to it,” Klein said. “The district went from 40% in Westchester to 20% in Westchester.”
Klein will now represent Pelham, and part of Mount Vernon, in Westchester County, a Klein spokesman said.
The Pelham Parkway South community near White Plains Road, which used to be home to Klein’s Assembly district office on Lydig Avenue, is proud to have him back representing the community, said Edith Blitzer, president of the Pelham Parkway South Neighborhood Association.
“I am very pleased that Pelham Parkway South is back in the arms of Senator Jeff Klein because he is a person who holds to his word,” Blitzer said. “He is very good for any community he represents, and we are very happy to have him back.”
The 34th Senate district will also include homeowner communities in Clason Point and part of Castle Hill, a Klein spokesman said.
There is currently litigation regarding all of the senate district lines that could possibly shift the lines before the changes take effect, the Klein spokesman stated.
