North Hempstead is one of the Long Island towns that has adopted Council Districts. Because of her experience in North Hempstead, Councilwoman Maria-Christina Poons (D) supports Council Districts for Huntington. “No doubt about it, Council Districts work better.” Appointed in April 2007 and elected in November 2007, Councilwoman Poons says that with Councilmanic Districts, constituents have told her that they find their respective Town Board representatives are far more responsive. As a result, she says that “taxpayers have much better access to the government.”
Town Council Districts make the government more responsive because “we know who our Town Council person is.” In words that all citizens would like, she states that “work gets done much faster.” Asked if anyone would want to go back to the at-large system, she said, “No, who would want that? This system is better for the people and the Town.” A Democrat, she says this is not a political issue, “In this case, party affiliation does not matter since Council Districts have proven to be better for everyone.”
