News & Updates

This Is Really Scary Stuff

By Michael Smith, on Jun 16, 2013

What happens when Washington, DC bureaucrats, never elected by us, institute regulations that our locally elected Washington, DC officials never approve? This is exactly what is happening under the direction of the Obama White House.  A Wall Street Journal editorial from last week draws a comparison between a “startling new legal theory” from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the punishments being heaped upon Westchester County in the Affordable Housing Settlement.

The EEOC alleged last week that certain employers discriminated against minorities by using background checks for pre-employment purposes. What these employers were screening for was: “murder, assault and battery, rape, child abuse, spousal abuse (domestic violence), manufacturing of drugs, distribution of drugs, and weapons violations”.  If the EEOC feels that screening for these offenses are discriminatory, then what exactly can employers screen for?  Do you want to frequent the business that, as a matter of practice, hires murderers, child abusers and rapists?

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The Obama administration has stated that statistics alone evidence discrimination. US HUD has told us that certain Westchester communities discriminate against minorities because their populations do not cross some artificial statistical line drawn by Washington, DC bureaucrats.  County Executive Astorino and many county legislators have said loudly and clearly that ethnicity distributions in Westchester municipalities are a function of economics, not a function of the zoning codes.

Westchester citizens need to understand the Obama administration's theory of “disparate impact”. This is scary stuff that they will personally be dealing with if they elect any politician who agrees with Washington, DC on this issue.

If you want to elect someone this November who believes that the zoning in your community is racist, your choice is very clear. If you agree with Washington DC’s belief that private businesses should be mandated to hire murderers, rapists and child abusers, your choice is very clear. If, on the other hand, you are sick and tired of having social experiments forced down your throat, your choice is also very clear: four more years for County Executive Rob Astorino.

It Simply Makes No Cents

By Michael Smith, on Jun 9, 2013

Many people in Westchester County are well aware of the conditions of the affordable housing settlement signed by former County Executive Andy Spano. In a nutshell, the county is obligated to assist in the creation of 750 affordable housing units at a cost of approximately $51 million within a seven-year period. Students of this agreement know there are more detailed twists, turns and covenants, but let's just focus on this 750 unit aspect for now.

Within the past month, Federal Housing Monitor James Johnson sent a chilling letter to the 31 targeted communities who are party to the formal housing settlement. The “intent" of the personalized letter to each of the communities was to assess their progress in the benchmarking of a formal housing needs established by the “Rutgers’s” analysis, a report card so to speak.  That dated study estimates that the unmet affordable housing need within Westchester County is approximately 10,600 units. The study, which by the way has never been accepted by any legislative or executive branch within Westchester County, allocates those 10,600 units to various Westchester communities.

Cents

The largest community in my legislative district is Mount Pleasant. The “Rutgers’s” study allocates 960 affordable housing units to be built in Mount Pleasant.

Westchester County (450 square miles, approximately one million population) and its governmental resources (annual budget $1.7 billion; approximately 5,000 employees) is required to build 750 units in seven years. Mount Pleasant (33 square miles, of which 5 square miles is water; approximately 43,000 population) and its governmental resources (annual budget $41 million) is allocated to build 960 units.

Can you see where I am going with this?

Affordable housing is a good thing. If real estate developers are economically incented to build affordable housing, rest assured they will.

When the federal government starts with outlandish demands like this, can anyone honestly believe that they are not intentionally looking for Westchester County to fail? It makes no sense, it simply makes no cents.

You Have a Decision to Make

By Michael Smith, on Jun 3, 2013

The Westchester County budget approximates $1.7 billion per year.  There are 17 Westchester County legislators each responsible for approximately 60,000 individuals in their legislative district.

Depending on who's telling the story, Playland Amusement Park loses up to $5 million a year of taxpayer’s hard earned dollars. Some will even tell you that if you eliminate all the amusement park debt service, Playland actually made $100,000 profit last year. (Question for you: if you didn't have to pay your mortgage, how much more money would you have in your pocket at the end of the year?)

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Legislators are supposedly elected to provide oversight and strategic direction for the county. It is not unreasonable to think that they need information to provide oversight. A professional legislative branch should be able to negotiate and compromise with the executive branch to properly determine what data is legitimately to be reported on a periodic basis. When the legislative branch tonight tried to embarrass the executive branch by creating a law mandating weekly reporting, it was properly rejected by nine legislators.

One legislator said that she needed to know the number of picnic tables rented each week at Playland.  Seriously?

Westchester County voters, you will have a choice this November to elect individuals who are either going to focus on the how the county spends $1.7 billion per year or reelect individuals who believe an important job is to track the number of picnic tables rented at Playland.

The choice is simple don't you think?                                                                                      

 

Memorial Day 2013 Parades

By Michael Smith, on May 25, 2013
On Monday, Memorial Day 2013, there are numerous local parades honoring the brave men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country: 1) Valhalla: 9:30AM; parade begins on Westlake Drive, goes down Columbus Avenue and Cedar Street, and ends in the village with a ceremony near the gazebo. 2) Pleasantville: 9:30AM @ Bedford Road School; a brief ceremony will be held at the World War I monument at 10:00AM, parade goes down Bedford Road to Memorial Plaza. 3) Thornwood: 11:00AM @ the intersection of Commerce Street and Manhattan Avenue; parade goes down Commerce Street, en

Will HUDgate be the next Obama scandal?

By Michael Smith, on May 19, 2013

Some say that things come in threes, others say that when it rains it pours. Right about now, I'm tending to believe the latter as opposed to the former.

Over the past couple of weeks, three major scandals have rocked the Obama administration: the truth about Benghazi with the tragic loss of US lives, spying on the Associated Press reporters, and the IRS abusing special interest groups with beliefs that are contrary to the current administration.

The fourth scandal, which we will term HUDgate for now, reflects the curious and otherwise unexplainable behavior of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. As part of the Westchester County Affordable Housing Settlement, the county has submitted six separate successive analyses of impediments to fair housing. The required analysis is intended to identify zoning in Westchester County that is discriminatory to particular racial groups. 

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I had the opportunity to repeatedly ask the federal monitor James Johnson several weeks ago if he was able to identify any zoning in Westchester County that he found was discriminatory. He answered that he has not had enough time to complete his analysis. I then asked, is it then possible that County Executive Astorino’s assertion that there is no zoning in Westchester County that is racially discriminatory is indeed accurate.  Mr. Johnson did not answer the question. (I've also asked every county legislator to identify to me any zoning in their legislative district that is discriminatory. To date: zero responses).

As time goes on, it is becoming increasingly apparent that US HUD is taking on the same position as the Anti-Discrimination Center, the plaintiff in the origin of the 2009 Affordable Housing Settlement, that any zoning anywhere in Westchester County, in absolutely any neighborhood, that does not allow high-density, high-rise housing, is discriminatory.

The Obama administration apparently felt comfortable with using the IRS to target and harass organizations that have opinions contrary to theirs, such as fiscal discipline and the integrity of the U.S. Constitution. The extremely antagonistic approach US HUD has taken towards Westchester County seems to lack basis in reality. If we were to find out that US HUD’s actions toward the county had political motivations because the County Executive happens to be an individual who promotes fiscal discipline, believes in the integrity of the U.S. Constitution, and just happens to be a rapidly rising star in the Republican Party, who exactly would be surprised?

As a hard-working taxpayer, I am more than extremely disappointed to watch my federal government strip away my constitutionally-granted rights.  The premise that zoning in Westchester County is designed to create racial segregation is scurrilous. That US HUD bureaucrats in Washington, DC can eliminate local home rule to advance their “grand social experiment” will eventually be looked back on as one of the more disgraceful abuses of power of this governmental millennium.

It would be poetic justice if any of the Associated Press journalists who were inappropriately targeted and wiretapped, investigated this HUDgate scandal and uncovered the truth that Westchester County is indeed being  inappropriately targeted and harassed because some of us believe in fiscal responsibility and the integrity of the U.S. Constitution.  When proven and eventually reported on nationally, the evidence of scandal flooding will temporarily discourage us once again. Ultimately, however, we must believe that the disclosure of the truth will eventually lead us to honest representation by our elected officials. We should settle for nothing less.