SWIDERSKI'S M.L.K. DAY MESSAGE LINKS REV. KING AND FORMER HASTINGS RESIDENT DR. KENNETH CLARK WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING... NATURALLY

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 

PETER SWIDERSKI CONDONES ILLEGAL HUNTING IN HASTINGS ON HUDSON

CLUE MAYOR SWIDERSKI & TIM DOWNEY IN 

ON THIS:

HUNTING IS ILLEGAL

HASTINGS MAYOR SWIDERSKI CONDONES ILLEGAL 'SUB ROSA' HUNTING

FREDO SWIDERSKI

At a recent Hastings Board of Trustee meeting,  Hastings Mayor Swiderski shockingly assured 'sub-rosa hunters' that Hastings deer will remain safe for consumption, ignoring that hunting in Hastings on Hudson is illegal.  

Hastings resident, Tim Downey, expressed concerns that if deer were to receive immunocontraception (the latest proposal that Swiderski is now floating) what Downey termed "responsible hunters" would withdraw from the area due to fears of tainted venison.   Mr. Downey went on to warn that deer which these "responsible hunters" have been 'taking year in and year out' would result in a rise in the deer population if they were to withdraw.  Mayor Swiderski assured Downey that as far he was aware the deer were safe for consumption, in essence encouraging illegal hunting in the village of Hastings.   The Mayor went on to acknowledge the Greenburgh Report (commissioned by Hastings), which makes claim that 'sub rosa' hunting does go on in Hastings, the report suggesting that the majority of hunters are in fact local police officers and volunteer firemen.  The report stating that this on going hunting is evidence that illegal 'sub rosa' hunting is a safe practice in Hastings.

Letters from alarmed residents have begun circulating about Hastings, with concerns that Hastings Mayor Swiderski's desire to kill deer has now trumped the law itself.  SWIDERSKI'S THIRST FOR DEER KNOWS NO BOUNDS

MAYOR SWIDERSKI SWINGS HIS FLACCID SLAUGHTER-BOLT

If this were a prize fight they would have surely stopped it. Watch Mayor Peter Swiderski's pathetic reponse to Corey Shaff

SWIDERSKI & HIS BAND OF MERRY "CULLERS" (He owns his words and doesn't want them back) "They don't come earthier or crunchier than me" P. Swiderski

 Making Hastings proud, the Hastings Mayor makes clear his position.

I WILL NOT GO DOWN THAT WAY.mov

BUCK VANDEER MAKES CLEAR HIS POSITION

SWIDERSKI TRAIN WRECK 'EARTHY CRUNCHY'

Had the recent August 24th Hastings Board of Trustee meeting been a prize fight it would surely have been stopped.   The deer overpopulation issue has been so horribly mishandled by Mayor Swiderski that Tuesday evening he was confronted by disgruntled persons from either side of the issue. Hastings resident John Gonder and others were outraged having learned that Mayor Swiderski has apparently  'shifted' course and is now pursuing immunocontraception, rather than the lethal option of net & bolt.  This abrupt change in plan comes after nearly a year of pursuing and promoting net & bolt.  The announcement was made without any public discussion.  Mr. Gonder challenged Swiderski's ethics and accused the Hastings Mayor of back room politics, telling the board,  "you should all resign."  Not a bad idea.


However, it was the withering public comment of former Hastings resident, Corey Shaff (now of Sharon Ct.), which left the Hastings Mayor shaken and disoriented.   (video link below - warning, frankly it's pathetic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrj9Pp61iio&feature=player_embedded


With a measured demeanor Mr. Shaff recounted a visit Mayor Swiderski made to Irvington trustees in September 2009, where Swiderki misrepresented Hastings residents as having "rolled over on the issue" and that the village would be netting & bolting deer, "no matter what."  Shaff pointed out that only 38 hands were raised in favor of a cull and none of these hands were aware that the culling technique would be that of net & bolt.  At the same Irvington trustee meeting, Mr. Shaff recounted how Mayor Swiderski demeaned Hastings residents referring to them as, "having a reputation for being desperately green and earthy crunchy." In what were the most dramatic and damning moments of the board meeting, Mr. Shaff then read portions of Mayor Swiderski's emails, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, in which Swiderki called for 'wiping out all the deer.'   Shaff asked that the net & bolt permit, which Mayor Swiderski has "set aside for now" be returned to the N.Y. state D.E.C., calling Swiderski's retention of said permit, "an abomination."  


Ashen and wobbly, though still seated, Swiderski searched for words, measuring them with the delusional hope that they would provide some damage control.  Instead, he and they (his words) proved more damning then even Mr. Shaff's expose, tough trick as Shaff all but gutted the sitting Mayor.  If Mayor Swiderski's retort had been offered by a high level public official, it would surely have lead to his or her ridiculed dismissal. The Mayor defended his Irvington visit saying he "overstated" his case as "leaders" often do in order to enlist Irvington's support for net & bolt deer slaughter.   Ignoring that he misrepresented Hastings residents, using them to gain this support.    In what was most difficult to watch, the Mayor tried to explain away his 'earthy crunchy' description of Hastings residents.   Swiderski explained that he is a vegetarian and drives a hybrid, chiding Mr. Shaff for not seeing "the polite irony" with which his comments were made.  "They don't come earthier and crunchier than me," Swiderski exclaimed.    The current headline of Buck Vandeer's Facebook page (a vocal opposition group) tags this quote with -- Oh yes they do,  Fredo.  In droves. ( Fredo Corleone, the fuck up brother in The Godfather)  It is clear, Peter Swiderski visited Irvington to SELL SLAUGHTER.  Am I missing something, is there such a thing as earthy crunchy slaughter?    Mayor Swiderski's response was pathetic, the logic reeking of desperation.   The Mayor continues to have no qualms when it comes to insulting the intelligence of Hastings residents, obfuscating his position no matter the video evidence to the contrary.   Perhaps most troubling is the manner in which Swiderski, yet again, presented the D.E.C. as 'the fall guy' in this equation.   The Mayor earlier this year said that the D.E.C.'s "process" had "led him" to the net & bolt permit.  Tuesday evening describing it as, 'a technique that was handed to us.'  What are we to do Mayor Swiderski, conjure up images of the D.E.C. as drug dealer, calling out from a dark alleyway?  "Psssttt, psssttt.  Net & Bolt, yo.  Sweeeeeet virgin permit, P. Swid.   Here, just let me hand it to ya Mayor."   Or did they force feed you the permit, shoving it down your throat while holding you at gun point.   The video clearly shows that Kevin Clark of the D.E.C.  did not bring up net & bolt as an option when visiting Hastings in September of 2009, in fact Swiderski did.   Clark was in fact "leading" the village in other directions,  not surprising as net & bolt was illegal in the state of New York at the time of his visit.   Peter Swiderski acted impulsively, he sought and fought for "his" net & bolt permit, the first such permit issued in the history of NY state, a distinction which former Hastings resident Corey Shaff is not proud.     Mayor Swiderski has displayed again and again what appears to be a constitutional incapability of simply telling the truth.   The diminutive, bespectacled, pot bellied corporate analyst, is far more dangerous to the village of Hastings than any deer tick carrying buckets of Lyme disease could ever dream to be.  Peter Swiderski should resign as the Mayor of Hastings on Hudson, as he has lost all credibility, and it is far too late for an apology.  No matter how "earthy crunchy" that apology may be.