Letter to the editor: Politicians shouldn't engineer community makeup

I must disagree with letter-writer Dr. Marti Haykin’s logic (“Vote to make Pa. more welcoming,” Aug. 21, TribLIVE). In a free society, people choose where they want to live for various reasons. No one has forced anyone to move in or out of Westmoreland County, and thankfully we’re not planning any substantial low-income housing developments, but I suspect the comprehensive plan is moving in that direction.

The last thing we want is for politicians to engineer our ethnic neighborhood makeup. I’m sorry for you that Westmoreland is 95% European heritage. I grew up in very mixed Queens, N.Y., and prefer it here where I feel safe. My son and his Hispanic wife moved here from mixed Washington, D.C., and feel the same way. She has not experienced any racism as one of few Hispanics in the area.

If there is a shortage of neurologists or rheumatologists, then some should migrate here and do very well. That’s how free markets work. My guess is that Haykin is a member of Voice of Westmoreland, whose members write many progressive letters to the editor and I believe have an agenda for race. I prefer to be colorblind, which is why I said European and not white.

John Ventre

Hempfield