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Westchester County has made national news with its recent desegregation agreement with the federal government, under which the county will construct 750 units of fair and affordable housing (for perspective, there were 923,459 Westchester residents as of the 2000 census).
The decision was understandably controversial, but no matter what one may think of the merits of the case, all decent people should be appalled by Assemblyman Greg Ball's views on affordable housing, or more specifically, Greg Ball's opinion of his fellow citizens that make less money than he thinks is proper. Ball's contempt is evident in this statement (emphasis added) from a special web site he created to attack his Democratic opponent, Westchester County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz:
[Kaplowitz] has also voted to use tax-payer money to build "affordable housing" in Northern Westchester, with 200 units alone slated for Somers, that will recruit the Nation's poorest and weakest to this quiet small-town. |
| To begin with, this is not even an accurate claim since the planned housing almost certainly not be home to the poorest of the the poor as the new units will be open to individuals making up to $53,000 a year, according to the New York Times. That may not sound like much to Assemblyman Ball, who is paid a base salary of $79,500 for a part-time job, but it is only slightly more than the median income for Westchester County.
Far more importantly, this isn't simply an attack on a housing policy that Assemblyman Ball opposes, but an attack on low and moderate income New Yorkers. In effect, Assemblyman Ball is inviting people to scorn their future neighbors and divide the community. What sort of leader would call people "the Nation's weakest" simply because they were eligible for affordable housing? Perhaps Mr. Ball was channeling the spirit of former New York Senator and ethically and ethnically challenged embarrassment Al D'Amato, who, when discussing his performance among low income tenants, quipped to a reporter, ''We didn't do too well with the animal vote, did we?''
Given Assemblyman Ball's evident lack of self-control and enthusiasm for negative campaigning, it may only be a matter of time before Ball launches a career ending D'Amato style attack on his opponent.
Cross-posted at The Ball Monitor. |
