Our Readers Respond...


A Reader’s Kudos

Dear Editor:


Your newspaper is absolutely wonderfull in this cesspool corrupt county. Please try to distribute copies at the Will Library in Yonkers.
Copies distributed at the Radisson Hotel were a wasted effort.

Tom Rossi, Yonkers


Keep Up The Good Work!!!

Dear Editor:


I was a resident of Westchester County for nearly 40 years and I have many fond memories of the place and the people there.
The only negative feelings I have of Westchester County concern the brazen and outrageous legal corruption that I have observed
first-hand (political/judicial/prosecutorial).

As a resident of Manhattan now, I was delighted to recently happen upon The Westchester Guardian sidewalk vending box on First
Avenue and 57th Street (southeast corner; next to Citibank). My advice to young attorneys (or politicians) who are considering
Westchester County: Don’t, not now, because you will be forced to sell your soul. Wait, be patient. The corruption in
Westchester County will soon end.

My advice to The Westchester Guardian: Keep up the good work!!! You have no idea how many people are applauding the
long-overdue exposure, and necessary cleansing, of Westchester County’s sad corruption.

A happy, and anonymous, reader


Residents’ Persistence Pays Off

Dear Editor:


The half-acre strip of land on Flandreau Avenue that was the subject of much controversy in recent weeks will now become part of the
Greenway Trail. Recently this county-owned vacant parcel was offered to New Rochelle for $1. The Mayor and City Council decided to
lease it instead. The January issue of the New Rochelle Review claims the city will be responsible for its operation and maintenance. Leased
for how long, for what price, and why is it preferable to lease rather than own it? The same paper applauded Councilwoman Marianne
Sussman, “for leading efforts to preserve parkland on Flandreau.”

To correct the record, it was County Legislator James Maisano who worked hard to keep the Flandreau land out of the hands of developers.
Although she says this turn of events is, “welcome news,” where was Councilwoman Sussman while the neighborhood struggled to preserve this open space? How did she assist those of us who fought to achieve this goal through petitions, telephone contacts, letters to newspapers, etc.? Mayor Bramson and the New Rochelle City Council were part of the problem. The persistance of neighborhood residents solved the problem, though Noam Bramson attempted to take credit for its successful outcome. Instead he was guilty of currying favor with County government rather than putting the interests of our city first resulting in unnecessary, on-going expenses for New Rochelle. He was wrong again. Shame on Mayor Bramson!

June Carletti Sambol, New Rochelle


In Our Opinion...

You’ll Attract More Bees With Honey

We believe Eliot Spitzer would do well to reconsider his tactics when dealing with state legislators whose votes, and/or positions, may “terribly disappoint” him. Gestapo tactics, coming into an Assemblyman’s neighborhood and badmouthing him, and threatening to support another candidate to primary him, as he did to George Latimer about ten days ago, is both in bad taste and counterproductive.

Spitzer’s attack on Latimer, of Rye, and on fellow Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, of Greenburgh, came in response to the Legislature’s choosing of Tom DiNapoli, Democratic Assemblyman from Nassau County, for State Comptroller, rather than one of three choices put forward by a panel of former comptrollers appointed by the Governor. And, while the Governor may have felt let down, and disappointed, going around bullying the home team was definitely a miscue.

Eliot must remove his prosecutor’s helmet, and replace it with a governor’s bowler, or perhaps a fedora, something softer. A man who enters the Governor’s Mansion with a record seventy percent plurality should not need to intimidate and humiliate legislators, particularly those of his own party. Patience and humility, and the ability to take one’s self a little less seriously, will go a lot further towards achieving even the most urgent goals.

People know, and like George Latimer. He is not someone to be trashed, or run over by a young governor, perhaps a little too full of himself. George, former Chairman of the County Legislature, as well as the Westchester Democratic Committee, has deep roots, and an impressive history of public service.

His friends and constituents will not take too kindly to Eliot’s ridiculing him, bloodying his nose. After all, people are entitled to differences of opinion, and, the governor, and state legislature are part of a system of checks and balances, legislative co-equals.

Port Chester’s Only The Beginning


We are pleased that the Justice Department is moving ahead full throttle with their effort to expose and remedy the long-standing disenfranchisement of Latino voters and candidates in the Village of Port Chester. No serious observer can deny that the “at large” system of electing village trustees is essentially a device to prevent Latinos from electing one of their own from their immediate community.

We are confident that the testimony that began surfacing in Federal District Court last week will ultimately be the basis of removing that discriminatory system, and bringing about the election reform that has been called for in “Living Latino” and other columns in The Westchester Guardian.

However, We fervently hope that having cracked open the lid on Unconstitutional election practices, beginning with the Village of Port Chester, the United States Justice Department, and specifically, United States Attorney Michael Garcia, will now go on to broaden the investigation into the widespread election fraud which has plagued countywide, state, and municipal elections in Westchester for many years.

A good starting point might be the so-called “non-aggression pacts” of the incumbents in the countywide contests of 2001. From there, the contest for 35th District State Senate seat in 2004, and again the countywide elections of 2005, particularly the race for District Attorney, will provide a treasure trove of evidence demanding prosecution.

One never knows just how many foxes may be found in the henhouse!