When I read the article "News From the Central Westbury Civic Association: CWCA Bulletin" [The Westbury Times, July 15, 2004], I was insulted that the Honorable Westbury Village Justice Thomas F. Liotti remarked he felt "the scope and complexity of the topic extended beyond illegal housing." He said the core issue was immigration/cultural transition in Westbury and affordable housing. He drew parallels to the late 1960s and challenged the group to recall a time when African-American Caribbean descendants were unwelcome in Westbury.

Well, I remember that time quite differently than Judge Liotti because we did not come into the village as renters. The houses we bought were priced $5,000 to $15,000 more than those offered to whites, and we paid it! What Judge Liotti fails to add is the closing of Martin Marietta, Grumman and Sperry created an abundance of available homes in Sherwood and we bought them. We did not rent them. We bought them. Many unscrupulous realtors made a killing by not telling the owners what price we were paying so that their commissions were excessive. Many times, the owners only found out what the asking price was at the closing. After buying our houses, we did not congregate on the stoop of the houses or the street curbs and let our children run into the street hollering and screaming. We did not park our cars on the front lawn and entertain our friends.

Those of us buying were professionals and not every white person sold their home - only the one spooked by realtors. I know it is hard for Judge Liotti to believe we were professionals able to afford inflated value homes. We were, and surprisingly enough we had degrees as do our children and in some instances, our grandchildren. Many of us held British passports when we came here; we did not come illegally.

Many were educated under the British systems. Others, such as my parents, were graduates from New York universities and professionals with jobs. My father was a United States Customs Inspector; my mother is a concert pianist and piano teacher. At the time they bought their house, she was assistant head of the music department at the New York College of Music, which eventually because NYU's Music School. They were buyers not renters! Others were physicians, lawyers, civil engineers, architects, musicians, creative and performing artists, teachers, nurses, law enforcement officials, etc. We were not migrant workers. We were not illegal aliens. We had a right to be here. We paid our dues and under Judge Liotti are still paying them.

When my spouse and I came back to Westbury to settle down with our three children, we bought a house in Sherwood, there were no houses for us to rent. We were told the Village of Westbury has only single-family dwellings. This was fine for us; in fact that is why we bought a house here. No one tried to change the laws and rent out the houses as rooming housings. We voted him in to enforce the laws of the village, not to change the laws as he sees fit to enable our village to be a dumping ground for migrant workers. This is not what we had in mind when Judge Liotti was voted in - in fact, he promised he would "enforce the laws " - meaning the current laws on the books of the Village of Westbury.

Had he said, "I plan to change the laws so that everyone has an opportunity to pile into a rooming house, illegally converted, in the village," he would have lost. It is as simple as that. What he seeks to do is change the laws to make what is illegal, legal. If Judge Liotti does not like the laws of the Village of Westbury, of which he is not a resident, he should resign and go into private practice representing the migrant workers and their cause. He should not be telling me that I have my house because of him; the only way that is possible is if he paid the mortgage. It is very nice to be benevolent at someone else's expense. If charity begins at home then benevolence should follow; it should begin with Judge Liotti's neighborhood.

We could not rent a house in the village we had to buy the house. As such, we are now the people who say we do not want illegally converted rooming houses or two-family houses in the village and rightfully so. It is our property values we seek to protect and although Judge Liotti hates hearing this: "It is our village, not yours and we elect who protects our property." These migrant workers, who Judge Liotti reclassifies as immigrants, have no financial interest in the houses they rent. If they did, they would not trash them and everyone else's property.

If you paid in excess of $350,000, you would not pile 25 people into the house and trash the house unless you plan on making all the cash you can and walking away from the property leaving an eyesore for us to deal with. They then take a loss on the property - look what happened to my property - and it is a win-win situation. Judge Liotti is defending the people that own these "investment properties: and their renters/tenants, under the guise of "civil rights." If Judge Liotti is that naive to think that this is a civil rights issue and not a dollar and cents issue then he should step down; we need someone with more street smarts. That is what these owners are: street smart,

Is this income-producing property being reported to the IRS? If not, then you are protecting a crime against the citizens of the United States. Are you harboring illegal aliens? Then you are protecting criminals, which is a crime against the citizens of the United States. If you are saying that this is a one-family and you need 18-25 working adults to own a house with a sky-high tax bill, you just might think, "hey, we need a different house - maybe one we can afford. Or, let me check out Judge Liotti's neighborhood where all migrant workers are welcomed to rent houses." Relocate them and we will not mind. They already have a minimum of 12 cars so transportation is not a problem.

This is not a question of civil rights, although it becomes civil rights when it suits the system. I feel that we do not need someone to lecture to us about civil rights; we know all about it. We live it constantly. The thought that we are insensitive to the plight of the migrant workers is currently stepping on our civil rights. When discrimination is truly abolished for all, not only as fodder to shut up, I will listen. Many years ago there were migrant workers renting a stand-alone garage and house on Cross Street. They were picked up each day by lawn services for the estates in Old Westbury. The residents in the village complained about these houses at that time and the village did nothing about it. Then a crime occurred: The men in that particular dwelling kidnapped and gang raped one of the inhabitants of an estate. That solved the problem. All the houses with migrant workers were purged and there was peace, until now.

With so many men in a dwelling, no one thinks about the young children in that house, the young girls that live next to them, the young girls across the street from them or the girls around the corner. What about their civil rights. Does anyone care about those children's civil rights? Are we a nation that talks about protecting the rights of our children except when linked to profit and loss? I feel it will take a preventable crime to prove what we knew all along - This is a crime waiting to happen.

Judge Liotti is too naïve to understand what our fears are. We came out here to be among our peers, professional and business people. Our expectations for our children are college and a profession. I would not want anyone else whose views are different living next to me. This is what we paid the extra thousands of dollars for these houses in this village for.

We may be from the Caribbean, but no one gave us anything; we paid and paid a lot to live here. It is an insult to be considered as migrant workers and illegal aliens. As far as what Judge Liotti considers "the core issue of immigration cultural transition in Westbury and affordable housing," I proffer screaming on the sidewalk, sitting on the curb and letting your children play in the street is a lack of culture. Having five children with multiple partners by age 19 because it is your culture is why you can't afford a house. Driving your cars up and down the streets with the radios blaring and honking the horns is a lack of culture - regardless of who does it. Having your gatherings on the front lawn and blaring the music with people driving up and down the street with their horns blaring is a lack of culture. Letting your children throw firecrackers on other people's property is crude and says you are not in control of your children, their friends and associates. Letting your children launch rockets towards the roofs of other homeowners' houses shows you want to destroy their property.

Why would I want this next to me? You mean to tell me that their civil rights are violated because I do not want them next to me? This is not a civil rights problem. Judge Liotti, your remarks in defense of your actions are insulting to all of the homeowners in the village - particularly what you call "the African-American Caribbean descendants." There is no such thing. There is no country nor is there a continent called the Caribbean. Each country has its own name and is separate and apart from the other. Some are islands or a group of islands and some are located on various continents. They probably are insignificant to you because of your bias. You would not describe yourself as Italian-American Europe or Mediterranean descendants.

P. Miki Dash