Ossining & Croton's Dist. 9 Touts Party Line

Just when we might have thought politicians couldn’t get any worse, our own rookie county legislator voted to deny her own town, one which she even represented as Supervisor, representation on the countywide Housing Opportunity Commission.

County legislator Catherine Borgia fell lockstep behind her party line in a partisan, irresponsible vote to deny Ossining residents representation on a committee dealing with affordable housing projects directly in the Town of Ossining! What happened to her promise of an independent legislator, a legislator who would work with Republicans to solve problems? It seems this was rhetoric to gather votes, and nothing more.

Two years ago County Executive Rob Astorino asked me to voluntarily serve my community on the Housing Opportunity Commission. For two years the County Board approved me and for two years I voluntarily served my community on this committee. This year, however, a new Board of Legislators decided that they would reject eight of Astorino’s appointments to citizen advisory boards, myself included, just for the sake of obstructing the County Executive. That is shameful, that is partisan politics at its worst.  If you were to look for a Democrat in the legislature who believes in supporting appointees based on their experience and qualifications for the job, and not party politics, you wouldn’t find Mrs. Borgia. In fact, to find the lone Democrat legislator who believes that if housing policy is going to affect the Town of Ossining, than the Town of Ossining deserves representation on that board, you’d have to go all the way up north to Somers to Legislator Kaplowitz. I am genuinely surprised that our own county legislator would openly deny Ossining a representative on the Housing Opportunity Commission simply because she was told to vote a certain way.

Without reason or explanation, the partisan majority denied Ossining a voice on the Housing Opportunity Commission, the committee tasked with carrying out the Housing Settlement the federal government demanded and imposed not only on Westchester but specifically including our own Ossining. Just three months into office our Legislator shows that she’ll do what’s best for her party and herself, not what’s best for Ossining or for her county. And we thought politicians couldn’t get any worse.