SWIDERSKI ANNOUNCES, HASTINGS IS BROKE!! LITTLE BUCKETS NO LONGER HOLD WATER!! INDEED!!

FRANCIS "ROPE-A-DOPE" FROBEL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8z6h2jXYso

Hastings Mayor Peter Swiderski announced Thursday evening that the village of Hastings on Hudson is approximately 150 thousand dollars in debt and currently operating without a general fund.   The Mayor, village manager Francis Frobel, trustee Nicola Armacost,  were according to the Mayor, given the sobering news from outside auditors just prior to a scheduled Board of Trustee meeting to discuss, ironically, the village budget.   Swiderski explained that the village of Hastings had been operating under the misconception that they possessed a reserve fund of some 350 thousand dollars,  but were in fact,  850 thousand dollars in arrears, wiping out said reserve and leaving the village roughly a half a million dollars in debt.

              Swiderski attributed the fiscal catastrophe to a number of village projects and their accompanying overages.  The addition to the library and a Hillside pool renovation, chief among them.   The Mayor explained that for many years the village had been "shifting" what he termed, "many little buckets" of money from one place to another, rather than address this growing deficit.  An issue he admits to  'not paying a lot of attention to',  and  a stratedgy  he further claims was supported by village auditors.  However, late last fall the parameters of the audit facing the village changed drastically.  Hastings was made aware at that time, that it's "shifting of little buckets" would no longer be acceptable, placing Hastings in catastrophic arrears.    The details of these changes were sent to all village managers, including Mr. Frobel, sometime in October or November of 2010. 
            Had it not been for  a stroke of dumb luck,  the village debt could be far, far, worse, as the revenue from a monstrous mansion, currently under construction on Broadway,  will cut the village deficit from a half a million to approximately 150 thousand dollars.  The village of Hastings which has seen it's Moody bond rating decrease over the years, falling from a class 2 rating of excellence to that of a class 3 rating of excellence (the last level of excellence),  is now in danger of seeing it's ratings plummet further,  the result of which will mean a catastrophic rise in interest rates.
            Strategically, Mayor Swiderski chose to make public this news, (on April 14th)  sharing it with a room full of village department heads, police, fire, recreation, etc., each present and prepared with their perspective budgets.  The Mayor telling them, that this news had just been laid on him a mere hours prior, the news of which made it difficult for him to finish his dinner.    This begs many questions.   Why did the Mayor elect to wait months before addressing this situation?   Had the village manager not shared the sobering news with the Hastings Mayor?    It would seem so,  as just two days prior,  at the April 12th Board of Trustee meeting, it was village manager Frobel who took the lead and addressed the public on the very same issue.  
          Why were Mayor Swiderski and village manager Francis Frobel not out in front of this financial crisis,  and why yet again, is  the Hastings Mayor left with his proverbial pants down?
            Peter Swiderski, who's first term in office was plagued by his mishandling of deer overpopulation, is now faced with kicking off a second term,  due to his own ineptness, by raising villages taxes 4 1/2 percent while having to cut services,  not the best of combinations on any Mayoral menu.    The Mayor sought to explain the village's situation this way, "we managed to insulate ourselves here because it's a well off community and a number of other factors, but audit rules changed and pulled one rug out from under us that left...."  The Mayor's train of thought was  interrupted by a perfectly timed,  thunderous village wide fire / emergency alarm,  which gave theatrical exclamation to what is fast becoming for Mayor Swiderski, a Shakespearean tragedy of epic proportions.
          Perhaps Mayor Swiderski should look to these "other factors," for the position the village now finds itself.    Mayor Swiderski and his Board of Trustees are comprised in large part of upper class, ivy league educated individuals whom ignored the larger financial realities of the world in which they live.   The Mayor stated that he is not happy simply maintaining village government,  stating further that he had not 'signed on for this.'  Here the good people of Hastings and the Mayor, who some have nicknamed "Fredo", are for once in accord.   They have not signed on for this either,  and would be overjoyed if the Mayor of Hastings were able to 'maintain' the village, rather than running it into the ground, due to his own hubris. 
         The Mayor and his trustees chose to disregard their deficit, and continued borrowing and 'shifting' monies, while catering to upper class yuppies and multi national corporations (Atlantic Richfield / B.P.)  whose mindsets and self serving agendas are eroding the fabric of this country and moreover destroying the planet earth.    Mayor Swiderski can no longer expect the village of Hastings to swallow his endless empty rhetoric,  while he ignores the dwindling middle class of Hastings,  which is being forcibly pushed out of the village.  A middle class comprised of artists and hard working men and women who are the last vestiges of diversity, the very staple of what once was Hastings on Hudson's attraction and uniqueness as a village.   Though Mayor Swiderski likes to portray himself as an 'everyman', he is anything but.  If it walks like it's from Bronxville, talks like it's from Bronxville,  it's probably from Bronxville, and has nothing in common with what has made Hastings on Hudson the village that it is.    It is horrific that hard working men and women, who pay their debts,  who don't know from trust funds and grants,  who give their lives to the village,  these people will now bear the consequences of Mayor Swiderski's lack of foresight and attention to deficits.  Deficits he was party to incurring, and then ignoring... 
          The Mayor is fond of repeating ad infinitum, "it's a process," when encountering any and all sticky wickets of his creation, "it's a process."  It is clear,  that the village of Hastings on Hudson hasn't anymore time for, and can no longer afford, "Swiderski's process."   Little buckets,  indeed. s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8z6h2jXYso