The Obama administration’s heavy-handed attempts at social engineering just moved to a disturbing new level — right in Westchester.
The Justice Department wants the county held in contempt of court, fined $60,000 a month and forced to set up an escrow account of $1.65 million — in a move growing out of its longstanding claim that the county’s housing policies are racist.
It’s a preposterous claim, of course. And Friday, County Executive Rob Astorino holds a press conference to decry it.
Good for him. Because the move is based on a technicality, and it actually says more about Team Obama’s overreach than about anything the county has or hasn’t done.
The Justice Department’s claim focuses on 28 units of “affordable” housing that are to be built in downtown Chappaqua, home of Hillary Clinton. Under a 2009 consent decree, Westchester agreed to build 750 units in wealthy, largely white towns and to “market them aggressively” to non-whites. Financing for the first 450 units was to have been approved by the end of last year.
Westchester actually met that deadline — but the feds disqualified the Chappaqua project anyway, because the town hadn’t yet issued all required permits by Dec. 31. And because Astorino’s office, the feds say, didn’t ride roughshod over the town and bully it into submission.
Let’s be honest: For years, the administration has been trying to, as one official put it, “remove zip codes in the quality of life in America.” Meaning anyone should be able to live anywhere, even if they can’t afford it.
Its legal case is based on the dubious notion of “disparate impact” — statistical differences by race without any specific proof of actual discrimination.
Want more evidence Justice’s act is politically motivated? Note, then, that it filed its motion despite the fact that the Chappaqua housing project was recently fast-tracked.
This is a case of pure harassment — and an outrageous violation of home rule and fair play. And if disparate impact becomes the sole test of discrimination, no place in America will be safe from unfounded accusations of racism.
EDITORS NOTE: Marin County signed a voluntary agreement with HUD in 2013 that agrees to the AFFH rules that Westchester is under. It is the second big test county for HUD.
You can thank Marin County Supervisor(s) Steve Kinsey, Kate Sears, Katie Rice, Susan Arnold and Susan Adams. Susan Adams lost in a landslide and Judy Arnold won by a slime margin. Steve Kinsey, Kate Sears, Katie Rice are up for re-election.