Alleged Clarkstown rental shaming proposal draws ire

<p>To deal with Clarkstown's illegal housing problem, one candidate for town council allegedly proposed labeling rental homes with the letter "R," something he denies and his opponent calls discriminatory. </p>

News 12 Staff

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Nov 1, 2017, 9:27 PM

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Updated 2,459 days ago

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To deal with Clarkstown's illegal housing problem, one candidate for town council allegedly proposed labeling rental homes with the letter "R," something he denies and his opponent calls discriminatory.

The idea, apparently inspired by the classical novel "The Scarlet Letter," is being attributed to Democratic candidate Don Franchino by his Republican opponent, Adrienne Carey.

The novel takes place in Puritan New England, where a woman convicted of a crime is forced to wear a scarlet letter sewn into her clothes to shame her publicly.

Franchino initially lost the GOP primary and is now running on the other side of the aisle.

"His actual words were, 'We should put an 'R' sticker on homes to show and mark to the rest of the community that they're renters," Carey says.

Franchino has reportedly denied making that remark, but he didn't respond to repeated calls from News 12 for comment.

Carey claims Franchino made the proposal last month during a public meet-the-candidates event.

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann says the proposal is "ridiculous."

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