The following exchange occurred on Gazette’s Talkback feature in response to an article, “City proclamation acknowledges mentally retarded.” Gazette Talkback:
It’s amazing that the Mayor is proclaiming March to be mental retardation awareness month, when she is aware of the discrimination and harassment of mentally retarded residents living in Meadowbrook and does nothing about it. (or maybe that is because she is good friends with the owner of Meadowbrook). Against Discrimination Saturday, Mar 17, 2007 at 12:55 PM
Against Discrimination: do you have any facts regarding this assertion? Who is being discriminated against? How do you know the mayor is aware of it? Has a complaint been filed? Tell us more. Daryl G. LaFleur Saturday, Mar 17, 2007 at 06:21 PM
Yes, there have been numerous MCAD complaints filed – the mayor has received emails concerning discrimination, harassment and retaliation and has failed to do anything (this includes against the elderly by management). No on(e) will investigate what is going on at Meadowbrook and it continues. The Mayor told one tenant that "at least she had a place to live". There has been a flight of people who have left Meadowbrook because of this and the whole community has changed – drug dealing is rampant, etc., etc. Against Discrimination Saturday, Mar 17, 2007 at 06:43 PM
Please call me at 586-8555 if you’d like to discuss this further. Daryl G. LaFleur, Saturday, Mar 17, 2007 at 07:58 PM
A Meadowbrook tenant telephoned me after my first entry, though it was not the person who adopted the Against Discrimination moniker. As a condition of speaking with me this person (hereafter known as Tenant A) told me his name and I promised to protect his identity because he fears retribution from Meadowbrook management, maintenance staff, as well as other tenants. We spoke for about an hour and then he sent me numerous messages via email. I had a difficult time sleeping Saturday night after reading the information that he sent, some of which is contained below.
I visited Meadowbrook the following day, Sunday, at 1 PM. I met Tenant A and received a tour of the 252-unit approximately 500-resident affordable housing complex. Meadowbrook is currently assessed for $16.3 million and located on about 27 acres for a density of about 18.5 persons per acre. During the tour Tenant A avoided areas he felt were unsafe to be seen with a man toting a camera. Please see the gallery to the left containing the pictures I took in an attempt to document the snow removal neglect apparent from the outset of my visit. Handicap spaces, sidewalks, and crosswalks were not cleared. Many of the orange buckets that are supposed to contain de-icing salt were empty before and after the storm. The only fire hydrant I noticed was snowed in. Most handicap spaces are not coded in blue or marked with crosshatched walkways and some are missing signs. Snow was piled everywhere and the conditions were not passable for people with mobility or vision disabilities or small children and strollers.
Snow clearing was only part of the problem however as soon was testified. Tenant A brought me back to his apartment and there I met with him and two other Meadowbrook residents, Tenants B and C, who reside in separate units. Among other things the three informed me that absent are emergency exit signs and management’s contact information that they said is supposed to be posted at building egresses. Lighting during the evening is poor with 52 streetlights they counted either not working or not present and there are many electric lead wires extending from the ground throughout the complex. There is no staff of any kind on the grounds on weekends and after 4:30 PM weekdays. Further they said there are only four individuals hired as direct maintenance staff for Meadowbrook and there are 82 vendors contracted to perform all other services at the site.
A security service firm sends personnel in on a rotating basis, four days on, three days off, from 6 PM-2AM, thus there are many hours every day and three entire days each week where there is no security present according to Tenants ABC. I was shown copies of police logs that indicated there were approximately 1,260 calls made to the Northampton Police Department from January 1, 2005 to November 2, 2006, or about 14 per week or two per day on average. Tenants ABC asserted that someone has placed unmentionable items on doorsteps and that security doors are frequently propped open and left ajar. Tenants ABC indicated that Meadowbrook management tells them to call police when they think other tenants are harassing them and that Police officers indicate to them that management should be taking care of these types of problems. They allege the presence of a rampant drug trade that is condoned by management and maintenance staff with no proactive neighborhood watches encouraged and in fact they are discouraged by breaches of confidentiality by management. When a tenant complains about another tenant management allegedly notifies the tenant complained against with the name of the complainer.
As of January 1, 2007 there were seven pending civil cases being brought against the owners of Meadowbrook, Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc. (POAH) a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose address is listed as 40 Court Street, Ste. 650, Boston, MA 02108, including suits regarding discrimination practices and wrongful termination of employment. Responsible for managing the site is POAH affiliate Preservation Housing Management, LLC (PHM) of 3100 Broadway, Ste. 114, Kansas City, MO 64111. Listed on POAH’s 2004 and 2005 tax returns as its directors are William Apgar, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Cambridge, MA, Reese Fayde, Living Cities, New York, NY, Herbert Morse, Hingham, MA, Carol Glazer, New York, NY, George Latimer, St. Paul, MN, David Stanley, Livingston, MT, and Mark Goldhaber, Raleigh, NC. Goldhaber replaced Jewel Scott, Kansas City, MO in 2004.
After returning home from my three-hour site visit I received more email messages. Apparently the apartments that were flooded with sewage in early September 2005 resulted in the tenants losing all their belongings. To their credit, after some negotiating, POAH allocated $15 thousand for five families to replace some furnishings. There was some community fundraising as well. Tenants ABC asserted POAH had manhole covers cemented over contributing to the flooding and that five apartments remain offline 18 months later, but the other apartments in the building are occupied and the smell of ammonia from dissolving waste is intoxicating. Tenants ABC raised questions like: Who is paying for these vacant apartments? Whose items are being stored there? When will they be rehabilitated? Are these fumes toxic?
Tenants ABC assert that since the current property manager took over, the mortgage arrearage has increased from $64 K to $100 K based on their reading of Mass. Housing reports. They continued that they believe not all prospective tenants are being subjected to criminal background checks they said is required by law.
Further, they added that the following people have been contacted regarding various aspects of deteriorating living conditions at Meadowbrook, but none have been active in seeking resolutions: Rosemary Sandlin, Hampden State Representative, Bernie Horan, Mass. Housing, Mary Clare Higgins, Northampton Mayor, David Murphy, Ward 5 City Councilor, Amy Anthony, POAH Director, Lauri Brown, Vice President PHM, Peter Kocot, Hampshire State Representative, Jon Hite, Northampton Housing Authority Director, Sgt. Andrew Trushaw, Northampton Police Department, Ernie Mathieu, Northampton Health Director, the Northampton Fire Department, Electrical Inspector, Building Code Inspector, and Paul Halfmann, Mass. State Sanitation Director. Tenants ABC provided me copies of two emails sent to Mayor Higgins’ office in June and July of 2006 regarding the living conditions described herein and indicated they received no response. Tenants ABC further added that numerous complaints have been filed with Fair Housing of Mass., Mass. Commission Against Discrimination, and the Hampshire County Housing Court.
Tenants ABC couldn’t thank me enough for listening, taking notes, and promising to do the best that I could do to help. They are pleased someone is finally taking them seriously. But while I could leave for the tranquility of my home, they dispersed quietly into what the community of Meadowbrook has devolved into, forced to soldier on and endeavor to persevere in a deteriorating climate apparently created by the greater community’s lack of oversight, a community of which I am a member. I observed no joy in Meadowbrook.
