Affordable Housing: the hypocrisy

In White Plains affordable housing is really affordable apartments because it only applies to apartments and only to those in new developments. The Common Council members all live in houses in the suburbs of White Plains and so are not directly affected. The last thing they want is an affordable person moving into the house next to theirs. They pontificate on the subject and as Dennis Power states, make this a cost of doing business for developers in White Plains.

CC members indicate that the idea is to make these apartments available to teachers, fire fighters and police officers. Why doesn't the CC simply increase the salaries of teachers, fire fighters and police officers so that they can live where they want and in the type of home that suits them? If that happened then all residents would be paying for affordable housing. By pretending to lay the cost on the developer, the CC makes this a no pain issue, at least for current residents.

But who thinks that the developer actually pays for affordable housing? My guess is that this cost is factored into the business plan and passed on to ... the non-affordable apartment renters or owners. Future constituents of the CC are made to pay for the phony good deed of the CC. I am also guessing that the system is abused royally as are rent stabilized apartments.

CC members pretend to represent all WP residents but they represent only the interests of those who live in houses in the suburbs of WP. This is another example of why WP needs CC members elected by district, not at large.

CNA: White Plains Council of Neighborhood Associations

Like the WP Common Council, CNA is house heavy. Check the member organizations:

http://wpcna.org/

Five are in the Gedney area alone. No wonder they dwell on nonsense like Railside and Orchard Street, which affect a handful of houses that border the respective properties. Every condo and coop in WP should be members. Meetings should be held in a location that does not require a surveyor to determine whether it is within WP.

The CNA constitution (think they take themselves a little too seriously) states: "The boundaries of neighborhood associations as filed by the CNA with the City of White Plains
Department of Planning shall be the official map of the CNA." That's like a company approving a labor union so that it has someone to negotiate with.

My condo, Jefferson Place, has 282 homes but does not fit into any of the city's predefined areas. We do, however, pay taxes.

White Plains needs one citizen, one vote. Both the city government and its official neighborhood entity represent houses, not people. The city's devotion to cars reflects that. Move 'em, park 'em. Get in and out of downtown as efficiently as you can. You don't live there. You live in the suburbs of White Plains in almost Scarsdale and almost Harrison. Who cares what it's like to actually live downtown?