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CARVIN: LOWEY MISSING ON WESTCHESTER HUD SUIT
“Federal Government Has No Business Reorganizing
Town and Village Zoning Laws”
May 15…Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY-17) is “looking the other way” while the Obama Administration sues Westchester to dissolve its long-held town and village zoning laws in an effort to force federal multi-unit housing into established single-family neighborhoods, Rye Town Supervisor and candidate for Congress Joe Carvin (R) today charged. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is also withholding almost $12 million in block grants that would help low-income Westchester families while the lawsuit is ongoing.
Congresswoman Lowey has remained mum on the federal lawsuit, preposterously claiming that she cannot weigh in on a legal case, while her constituents are implicitly disparaged by the federal suit which maintains that upscale Westchester towns and villages are, by the federal government’s language, “too white.” Westchester County is tied with Manhattan as the fourth most ethnically diverse county in New York State. The Obama Administration has called its lawsuit against Westchester its “grand experiment.” If it wins, it will look to forcefully change the zoning laws of other suburban communities.
“Here again, as in Obamacare, we see the federal government vastly overreaching its Constitutional boundaries into areas over which it has no jurisdiction,” Mr. Carvin said. “By doing nothing, Nita Lowey is siding with Washington rather than Westchester in yet another example of Washington overreach, where they seek to repeal long standing Home Rule provisions as part of an activist agenda. This is exactly the type of situation that demands the involvement of our federal representatives, yet Nita Lowey has been nowhere to be found for more than two years. Everyone wants housing to be more affordable in Westchester, yet the starting point should be lowering our nation-leading property taxes not overreaching federal lawsuits. The barriers to housing in Westchester’s most expensive communities are economic and economic alone.”
As Town Supervisor of Rye, Mr. Carvin reduced town spending by 25% and lowered taxes every year he has been in office.
Bazzo 05/15/12
