We have obtained an email which was sent from Concerned Citizens of Hastings CCoH, to many in Hastings on Hudson, expressing outrage over a village message sent by Hastings Mayor Swiderski, re Martin Luther King Day. It is simply uncanny how Mayor Swiderski is able to continually one up himself yet again embarrassing himself and the residents of Hastings on Hudson. The following email reprinted with permission of Concerned Citizens of Hastings CCoH
What on Earth do Martin Luther King Jr. and
Dr. Kenneth Clark have to do with affordable housing?
Message from the mayor: Martin Luther
King, Affordable Housing
Fellow Residents;
This Monday, January 17th, the village is closed for Martin Luther King Day. Martin Luther King’s message of equality and civil rights is one we celebrate in his memory.
Dr. King is known to have visited in Hastings with Kenneth Clark, a resident who played an important role in our nation’s civil rights history. ...Mr. Clark passed on five years ago, but his legacy lives on and our community can be proud he called us home."
“While much has changed in this country in the intervening forty years, we still work to perfect our union, including on a local level.
Hastings has worked for years to broaden the availability of affordable housing. Our Affordable Housing Committee has built two cottages on Warburton (at the base of Pinecrest), each with a rental apartment for a total of four units...”
Linking the memories of Martin Luther King and Kenneth Clark to that of 'affordable housing', is not only an insult to the memories of Rev. King and Dr. Clark, but to all current and former residents of Hastings on Hudson who are appalled by the association and the sanctimonious posturing and thinly veiled racism of Mayor Swiderski's M.L.K. Day message.
The Mayor’s message is a sad attempt to associate himself with the bygone era of a class-blind and color- blind Hastings that he has been instrumental in destroying.
Can our community really still “be proud Dr. Clark called us home?” Many of us knew the Clarks, and can assure you that the Hastings the Clarks called home is a very different place from the suburban community Mayor Swiderski represents today.
In Dr. Clark’s day, Hastings was economically available, and emotionally welcoming to all without regard to race, ethnicity, or economic means. Distinctions that are noted today were absent from notice then. For many decades Hastings existed as a model of democracy and diversity, open and available to all. This is no longer the case, and Mayor Swiderski’s boasting is a ridiculous attempt to cover the real reason Hastings is addressing the issue of affordable housing:
“After losing an important anti discrimination lawsuit in 2009, more than 30 towns and villages throughout Westchester were ordered by the federal government to utilize funds from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to create a total of 750 new affordable housing units in Westchester's most racially homogeneous villages, including Hastings”
Mayor Swiderski’s attempt to spin the court’s condemnation into a source of pride is dishonest and embarrassing:
“Keeping Hastings economically diverse, promoting racial diversity, and remaining a leader in this area is of great importance to who we are.”
-Peter Swiderski
“A leader in racial diversity?” The Town of Hastings just had a Federal judgement against it for racial discrimination!
“A leader in economic diversity?” The median home value in Hastings is $972,400!
Hastings has become a town so lacking in diversity that to comply with a Federal discrimination suit, some residents will now be slapped with the stigma of “affordable housing,” the very kind of stigma Dr. Clark was so sensitive to. Dr. Clark’s psychological experiments demonstrated how such stigmas adversely affect children who internalise them, making them feel inferior.
Mayor Swiderski's MLK day message proudly links our African American heroes with our lack of affordable housing. What could he possibly be thinking? Does he imagine that no one still lives in Hastings who remembers the diversity our town lost while he has served as Trustee and Mayor? Does he believe his self promoting propaganda covers up the illegal transgressions of our community? Does he think we share his association of African Americans with affordable housing? It’s difficult to imagine a motive for his message that isn’t horrifying.
Hastings is rapidly turning into a town filled with privileged corporate executives like the Mayor himself who argue over providing affordable housing for the people who tend their lawns, cars, restaurants, DPW, fire stations, etc.
Following are three quotes from Hastings residents (including Mayor Swiderski) in a meeting on affordable housing.
"I was raised to believe that if you can't afford to live in a certain area, then you shouldn't live there," said Hastings newcomer Michael Wagner at a meeting on May 13.”
Mr. Pardy said, "We've all worked hard to live in a nice town, and as politically incorrect as it is to say it, I don't want people from lower-income neighbourhoods moving onto my street."
Mayor Swiderski said, "Affordable housing helps foster diversity in the community and helps keep individuals who perform essential village services local."
These comments demonstrate the degrading attitude our town’s most self-entitled residents have toward anyone less privileged than themselves.
Peter Swiderski is the wrong person to be Mayor of Hastings, this is clear. We are tired of being embarrassed by this man. We are tired of watching as his character defects erode the values and ethics of the town we love and cherish.
Respectfully, Concerned Citizens of Hastings
