Residents Speak Out at Latimer Social Services/Human Rights Committee Forum
Over 100 people were in attendance at the White Plains Library Thursday night as County Executive-elect George Latimer’s social services and human rights subcommittee hosted a public forum allowing residents to voice their concerns on issues affecting Westchester.
As Latimer transitions into his new role as County Executive, his appointed subcommittees are hosting a series of forums discussing criminal justice, mental health, administrative services, economic development and operational services.
“These hearings are another way to ensure input from residents and stakeholders in Westchester,” Latimer said in a statement. “They are a crucial step in my transition, gathering information that will be utilized so that we all move Westchester forward together.”
Throughout the roughly three hour forum, several residents and advocates shared their thoughts and concerns on immigration, affordable housing, substance abuse prevention, planned parenthood, opportunities for the physically and developmentally disabled, and transitional programs for the incarcerated.
Bhavana Pahwa, deputy director of the White Plains Youth Bureau wants to see more money put towards prevention, stating that the county budget often prioritizes treatment and addressing issues once they’ve already occurred.
“For once I’d like to see an administration take the bull by the horns and really put the dollars behind preventing problems before they occur,” Pahwa said at the Dec. 14 forum.
Jirandy Martinez, executive director of the Community Resource Center in Mamaroneck, an organization that serves over 4,000 immigrant and low-income families in need, said several of her clients have experienced hostile treatment from the Department of Social Services. She said clients are given false information and bullied to leave the department, resulting in extreme distress and discouragement from seeking help.
Resident Monique Roma said that she has personally been dismissed by the Department of Social Services after seeking help in a dire situation, stating that it was very discouraging.
“As a whole, how the department is operated needs to be eradicated,” she said. “I feel we need to tackle it at the root and the people, (because) last I checked, if you were incompetent at your job, you didn’t have a job, you were fired.”
A member of Indivisible Westchester suggested the methods of accessing ParaTranist be enhanced and the price to ride be reduced, stating that the system is designed to discourage the disabled from using it.
While few had strong opinions against abortion and planned parenthood, Alyssa Miller, director of public affairs of Planned Parenthood of Hudson Peconic, said their facility has served over 30,000 patients over the last year providing services including prenatal care, family planning, testing, cancer treatment and breast exams.
Miller added how excited the facility is to have Latimer step into office and make Westchester a leader in women’s health care so they can provide medically accurate information, affordable child care and work to strengthen and enhance domestic violence laws.
Marlene Zarfes, deputy executive director of Westchester Residential Opportunities, added how the new administration needs to renew or expand the source of income legislation to prevent any discrimination towards homebuyers or potential renters based on their source income. She also stressed how a housing needs assessment should be completed in order to plan for the future.
Lena Anderson, President of the White Plains/Greenburgh NAACP, said while there’s a great need for affordable housing in Westchester, what’s affordable to the government is not affordable to residents. She said she’s worried about young adults moving out of the county and the elderly dying in their cars.
“It is time to act,” she said. “We need to make sure that everyone is going to have accessible housing based on their needs.”
“My husband and I make a decent living, but we make too much for affordable housing and just enough to afford housing and it’s very difficult,” New Rochelle resident Sharon Latimer-Mosley said. “As we get older, I wonder how we’re going to live here. I wonder how my daughter is going to live here.”
