by Derrin Lewis-Peters
The chairman of the City Council’s housing sub-committee presented three orders at council’s regular June 19 meeting addressing the concerns raised by tower residents of 362 and 364 Rindge Ave.
"I've gotten the calls from tenants, I know there has been a problem there. And I have no plans to turn away from this,” said City Councilor Anthony D. Galluccio, who as mayor was instrumental in negotiating the current working framework between the owners, residents and the city.
The orders read:
ORDERED: That the owner (Federal Management) respond back to the City Council on the extermination plan for 362 and 364 Rindge Avenue; and be it further.
ORDERED: That the same report back to the City Council with a five-year capital improvement plan; and be it further.
ORDERED: Said owner (Federal Management) consider installing computer rooms at both 362 and 364 Rindge Avenue.
Five days earlier, the tenants met inside the Community Room at 364 Rindge Ave. to further address their gripes with Jay Schochet and Associates, and Federal Management, principal owner and manager, respectively, of 362 and 364 Rindge Ave.
Residents June 14 met in the Community Room of the tower at 364 Rindge Ave.
Patricia Casola, head of the Fresh Pond Tenants Association, said the order builds on the concerns the residents discussed at their June 14 meeting, but she is afraid the tenants will be left out of talks between the city and the towers’ owners.
The room used for the meeting was secured only the day before, she said.
Casola said the management responded slowly to her request to use it. She said members of management also asked to participate in the meeting, but she rejected the idea. She said having them there would potentially create a hostile environment for residents that might keep them away from future meetings.
The tenants did take a vote on whether they would allow members of Federal to attend future tenants council meetings. Every resident in attendance voted against it.
Casola, in addressing the tenants, said the message sent by the vote is clear. "Management, historically, has treated people very poorly. We've had enough. Tenants do not trust you, they do not feel safe with you," Casola said, in reference to management.
Casola testified at the June 19 meeting along with fellow tenant Loretta Davis, when she said the problems inside the Rindge Towers require the tenants to have more input into the future of their buildings.
“The tenants absolutely have to be involved," Casola said, holding a copy of the orders Galluccio proposed.
"We still have to live in a complex that doesn't have any Co2 units. Asbestos is developing. We have two laundry rooms for several hundred tenants. Mice droppings pollute the air, and our kids get asthma from it. We have old, broken down gas stoves. We have to demand more inclusion than this," Casola said.
After her testimony, Galluccio said for the record that he was aware of the residents’ concerns about being left out. “At every [Housing Committe] meeting, I've always opened the floor to tenants. They have always been the priority."
Minutes later, Galluccio and joined by City Councilor Henrietta Davis stepped stepped away from the meeting to speak personally with Casola and Loretta Davis as they were preparing to leave.
Davis said to the women the women that the order is intended to be just a first step, the beginning of a process that will center around the concerns of the tenants.
Davis said she wanted to hear more from Galluccio and Jay Schochet herself. "I'd like to speak with the owner and Anthony myself. Not the manager. Federal is just a bully, and their practices are disgraceful. I'd like to hear what the leaders at Schochet think about how their buildings are being run, like a prison, and what Galluccio plans on doing to fix it for good."
Rindge residents also voted in favor of naming tenant representatives, who would meet regularly with members of management to address tenant issues. Casola, along with fellow tenants Davis and Joyce Egleston, volunteered for the positions. Any meetings between representatives and management would be open to all residents, Casola said.
A new repair request form was introduced at the meeting. The form asks residents to keep a log of when they requested a repair, who they reported it to, when the repair was made, and whether it was done in a timely and professional manner, she said.
Casola said the forms should be returned either to her or the Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee, Inc. at 11 Inman Street.
"We want to use these forms to keep track of what management is --and isn't-- doing," said Davis.
"Management won't see these. They won't see any names. This is the only way we can organize tenant complaints without having to worry about Federal sending the dogs after us, either through maintenance or the security guards," she said.
Janice Graves came out from Boston to attend the meeting and show her support for Rindge tower tenants. She is a resident of 144 Saint Botolph St. in the Back Bay. The six buildings there are also owned by Jay Schochet and Associates, and managed by Federal Management and residents there have had similar problems with maintenance backlogs and management issues, she said.
At its Saint Botolph Street location, Federal has a long record of mistreatment. Lizette Alicalai, the property manager, treats people just as poorly, she said. “We've been organizing to get Federal to straighten up for quite some time now, but they just fight everything we do. It's like they don't want anyone living here.”
Graves, a member of the tenant council at Saint Botolph, said she sees only one viable solution. "They have to be removed. In our situation, we want Federal gone."
CEOC Public Policy director Laura Booth, and Greater Boston Legal Services attorney Todd S. Kaplan were also in attendance at the June 14 meeting lending their support to residents. A Haitian-Creole translator was present to assist the many Haitian residents who participated.
In May 2000, J.Schochet came to a consent agreement with the city government, securing affordable housing in 338 units throughout 362 and 364 Rindge Ave, Casola said.
During those negotiations, members of the CEOC, alongside the Fresh Pond Tenant Council, conducted door-to-door surveys inside the towers, asking residents about the living conditions.
The information they collected was presented during the negotiations, Booth said.
One concrete step to come out the June 14 meeting was the survey initiative, Casola said. The survey will document the real-time attitudes of the residents and their level of satisfaction with the state of the buildings.
"Federal has a responsibility to maintain these apartments to a satisfactory level. That was written into the language of the 2000 agreement. And if they need a refresher on what's wrong around here, we should have fresh information to give them," Booth said.
"Federal is paid well enough to run these apartments," Casola said. "But we still aren't seeing any big improvement in maintenance, extermination, or tenant/management relations. We've had families of mice and roaches that came here before electricity was invented, it seems like. And no one in management ever wants to just come out and fix the damn problems. Wouldn't that be easier? To shut everyone up?"
Schochet receives $500,000 a month from HUD to operate the property, she said.
"They just want to push us around and bully us, and make us accept this whole prison environment. They don't want you to talk, they don't want you to speak up, and then they actually look at us funny when we disagree. They don't understand. These are our homes, we'll never stop fighting. We can't."
Casola said the next step for the tenant council is to keep the pressure on.
“We have momentum on our side right now," Casola said. "We have to keep it up, keep organizing, keep stressing them out. We're making them a little nervous now," she said.
The next meeting of the Fresh Pond Tenant Council is scheduled for July 13 at 6 p.m. inside the Community Room at 364 Rindge Ave.
I worked for Fresh Pond apartments for several years. I did home inspections and there were infestaions then. We had an exterminator that came in every week. Along with that He exterminated the entire buildings every Three months. I understand the tenant's gripes as I did when I was employed there. But there are alot of tenants that have very uncleanly habits which don't help when management exterminates. Management can only do so much, but if they were to work as a whole community and help those who don't know how to clean properly and get into the apartments and do the work needed things would go much smoother. Federal Management is all about making the money and taking all the shortcuts to get the work done.
Posted by: Former Emlpoyee of Federal Management | February 28, 2007 at 06:08 AM