Such is the saga going on in Westchester County New York, where\u00a0County Executive Rob Astorino<\/a>\u00a0is embroiled in a nearly four-year-old\u00a0legislative and financial nightmare brought on by his predecessor Andrew Spano. \u00a0 Astorino, a Republican,\u00a0defeated the three-term incumbent Democrat by an odds-crushing 16 points in November of 2009<\/a>, and gained unprecedented voter support by vowing to challenge what became law very late in his campaign. \u00a0\u00a0Astorino described the source of the problem, in\u00a0his recent \u201cState of the County\u201d speech<\/a>:<\/p>\n Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cIf you think Albany is bad, wait until I tell you about\u00a0Washington<\/a>\u00a0and the housing settlement. \u00a0A quick history: \u00a0The County was sued in 2006 under the False Claims Act of 1863. \u00a0The charge was that the County accepted Federal dollars from the department of Housing and Urban Development, but failed to study whether race is a factor in housing opportunities. \u00a0In 2009, former County Executive Andrew Spano and the Board of Legislators settled the case, and critically important, there was never a finding of wrong-doing on the part of the County, or an admission of guilt in the settlement. \u00a0Instead of going to court, the County and the Federal government both agreed to settle under the following terms: \u00a0The County would spend at least $51 million dollars to build 750 units of housing for lower income people in 31 so-called eligible or mostly white communities by the end of 2016.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Combating this \u201cmostly white\u201d designation, by any means necessary, is apparently the crux of HUD\u2019s mission. \u00a0 To HUD\u2019s way of thinking, surely these communities are \u201cmostly white\u201d only because of racial discrimination, or as Astorino went on to describe, zoning practices that they think have the net effect of being racially discriminatory:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Federal government has a very different agenda and vision for Westchester. \u00a0 In fact, HUD calls us, its \u2018Grand Experiment.\u2019 \u00a0That means Washington bureaucrats, who you will never see or meet, want the power to determine who will live where, and how each neighborhood will look. \u00a0Now what\u2019s at stake is the fundamental right of our cities, towns and villages to plan and zone for themselves. \u00a0This \u2018home rule\u2019 is guaranteed by the New York State Constitution. \u00a0HUD thinks it can trample on Westchester, because it has the misguided notion that zoning and discrimination are the same thing. \u00a0They are not. \u00a0Zoning restricts what can be built, not who lives there.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n States and localities around the country reacted with horror to the now famous2005 Kelo vs. City of New London Connecticut \u201ctakings\u201d case<\/a>. \u00a0 \u00a0How should they react to the virtual taking of an entire county\u2019s property, knowing that theirs may very well be next?<\/p>\n\n
![\"Rob](\"http:\/\/b-i.forbesimg.com\/deanzarras\/files\/2013\/05\/RobAstorinoSOTC-2013-300x231.jpg\" "\\"Westchester")
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