Check this out. We pay the highest property taxes in the nation, and now the Federal Government is coming in and trying to dictate housing policy.
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Monitor rejects housing-settlement plan
www.lohud.com
Gerald McKinstry and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
gmckinst@lohud.com
February 12, 2010 WHITE PLAINS — A federal monitor has rejected Westchester County's outline for complying with a $51.6 million housing settlement, saying "there is more work to be done before I can accept the plan."
In a letter to Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino, court-appointed monitor James Johnson said this week that the county needed to revise its plan to build 750 units of affordable housing in some of Westchester's most affluent municipalities.
"The county's plan for identifying and assessing potential properties for development of the 750 units also lacks any concrete timeframe, and is unnecessarily vague on the whole," Johnson wrote in a four-page letter to the county executive that outlined the plan's deficiencies.
The Astorino administration said it's working closely with the monitor and will continue to do so to comply with a settlement brokered by County Executive Andrew Spano.
Read Johnson's letter to Rob Astorino
The monitor is to meet with county officials Tuesday and wants revisions back by March 12.
Westchester County submitted its implementation plan, or framework for complying with the settlement, to Johnson and the Department of Housing and Urban Development by the court's Jan. 30 deadline.
It included policy statements, model zoning ordinances and marketing, advertising and public outreach plans to racially and ethnically diverse households.
While acknowledging the county's work on the plan during Astorino's transition into office, Johnson added that he was "directing the county to take steps to revise it."
Johnson also said that:
• The county has not identified who would be responsible to ensure the settlement's mandates are carried out and fulfilled.
• The plan "lacks any concrete short-, medium-, or long-term strategies for how the county plans to develop" the housing.
• The county must state how it "will employ carrots and sticks" to ensure that the housing will be built over the objections of local municipalities targeted for units.
• The county should include general information about sites under consideration, even though the county expressed concerns that such information could affect the price of property.
Ned McCormack, communications director and chief adviser to Astorino, said Thursday that the plan was just the beginning of a process.
"The implementation plan, which by design is simply a framework for detailing the actions necessary for complying with last year's settlement of the lawsuit, is just a first step in a multiyear process," McCormack said. "Moving forward, the county will continue to work with all parties to comply with the settlement."
The settlement, approved by the Westchester County Board of Legislators on Sept. 23, mandates that the county build 750 units of affordable housing in the county's most affluent and predominantly white communities.
Legislator Bill Burton, D-Ossining and chair of the board's Housing and Planning Committee, called it a "very serious response."
"We have got a lot of work ahead of us, a lot of work," Burton said. "He's found very significant concerns that the county is going to have to address."
The deal, which was originally rejected by Astorino during the campaign, stems from a lawsuit filed by the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York, or ADC, a nonprofit civil rights and fair- housing group.The lawsuit sought $150 million and alleged that the county failed to build affordable housing in some of its most affluent and predominantly white communities even though it accepted $52 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.The county settled the lawsuit Aug. 10.
The ADC, however, was not a party in the implementation process that followed.
But Johnson, the federal monitor, told county officials that he had "received comments" on the plan from the ADC.
Earlier this month, the ADC released a report, "Prescription for Failure," harshly critical of the implementation plan.
That report charged that the county had intentionally used the terms fair housing and affordable synonymously, and failed to adequately address the housing discrimination element of the case.Ned McCormack, communications director and chief adviser to Astorino, said Thursday that the plan was just the beginning of a process.
"The implementation plan, which by design is simply a framework for detailing the actions necessary for complying with last year's settlement of the lawsuit, is just a first step in a multiyear process," McCormack said. "Moving forward, the county will continue to work with all parties to comply with the settlement."
The settlement, approved by the Westchester County Board of Legislators on Sept. 23, mandates that the county build 750 units of affordable housing in the county's most affluent and predominantly white communities.Legislator Bill Burton, D-Ossining and chair of the board's Housing and Planning Committee, called it a "very serious response."
"We have got a lot of work ahead of us, a lot of work," Burton said. "He's found very significant concerns that the county is going to have to address."
The lawsuit sought $150 million and alleged that the county failed to build affordable housing in some of its most affluent and predominantly white communities even though it accepted $52 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The county settled the lawsuit Aug. 10.
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This one issue is why the GOP is taking back Westchester and will make a comeback overall.
The last liberal scumbag Admn made a deal with the FEDS totally against what the taxpayers wanted and now we have to deal with this.
This is another reason I am leaving NY. I have had it.
