(WHITE PLAINS, NY) A special meeting of the Board of Legislators was held this morning to vote on spending housing settlement funds on 10 affordable housing units in the Town of Mamaroneck with the hope that they would be counted in the housing settlement with HUD. The vote failed to pass with a supermajority which was needed because several legislators believed it too risky to commit $3 million of taxpayer dollars to a project that had serious doubts attached as to whether they would be counted by the court.  The units in question have already been designated as affordable housing as a result of an agreement between the developer and the Town.  Stipulations of that agreement call for these units to be reserved for workforce housing in the community.  The five county legislators all agreed that since Mamaroneck would still gain 10 units of affordable housing due to the good work of the local officials, the County did not have to risk County taxpayers $3 million. 

(WHITE PLAINS, NY)— For the second time, the Board of Legislators ratified an agreement between Westchester County and Standard Amusements to turn over various aspects of operation to the private operator while requiring significant capital investments by the County that have been lacking in the park for years under multiple administrations.  

(WHITE PLAINS, NY) Several days after County Executive Rob Astorino vowed to continue wasting taxpayer money fighting the implementation of the HUD settlement, the court-appointed monitor filed his “Third Biennial Assessment of Westchester County Compliance,” which continued to highlight discrepancies between Astorino’s public rhetoric and statements that he and administration officials have made under oath as well as failures to complete simple and cost-free promotional and informational tasks.  The report also states that the Astorino administration failed to complete the required Analysis of Impediments, which among other things, is used to determine eligibility for federal funds.  The failure on this front means the County will continue to be ineligible for grants from HUD. 

(WHITE PLAINS, NY) In response to County Executive Rob Astorino’s state of the County Address, Board of Legislators Majority Leader Catherine Borgia (D-Ossining) reiterated many of the concerns members of the Democratic Caucus have voiced about the operational and financial management of Westchester County.  In a 3 minute video, Borgia summarized that “everything starts and ends with our finances and at the moment ours are in bad shape.”