CH-CH-CH CHANGE$

Effective August 1, 2009, Change 3 to HUD Handbook 4350.3 Rev. 1, makes numerous clarifications and changes regarding income, live-in aides, and pensions. It completely revises Chapter 9 (Billing and Special Claims) for property owners to comply with TRAC 202C requirements. Actually, I have to wonder why HUD bothers to change any rule or regulation when they lack enforcement. Perhaps President Obama will need to appoint a Czar to enforce HUD Regulations? (wink)

Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC)
Read about the new income limit provisions from H.R. 3221 - HERA.

Spring Gate Specials

MONDAY, 7-27-09 from early afternoon through evening hours: Officials from Rockland Police, Sheriff's Dept., Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI), and State Police inside building 81 Hannah Way to investigate another crime on this subsidized property. Still, this corporate landlord has not kept promises to install security cameras for crime reduction.

SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2009

12:00am: Police called for attempted break & enter at 91 Hannah Way. Locked bedroom window to first floor apartment pried opened from outside while resident inside.

9:45am: Police were called to 191B Martha Drive concerning a child, approximately 1-yr.-old, wandering alone in the common areas of Spring Gate Apts.

9:50am: Fire dept. and maintenance called due to a faulty smoke detector at 187D Martha Drive.

Click to Email Your Representative About Fair Elections.
The Fair Elections Now Act will take big money out of politics.

Truth in Advertising

Become a resident and open your business in our subsidized housing complex. Have a live-in? Have pets? Have a criminal history? Need an under or oversized unit? Let's see if you qualify!

Rockland Place dba Spring Gate Apartments

52 Hannah Way, Rockland, MA 02370

781-871-2323 / 781-871-2324 - Toll Free(800) 935-0329 x4443

Still managed by employees of

Cornerstone Corporation, joining forces with:

FHRC Management Corporation **SECTION 8 WELCOME**

Affordable housing family community recently renovated with wasted tax dollars. On site laundry facility and management office. Terms and Specials 12 month lease (as long as you keep our secrets).

Move on in next month to enjoy the following property features and amenities: ..... Pull up our lovely window shades and enjoy the scenic view of ex-cons, repetitive traffic, and the dancing flames of an occasional fire. Come nighttime, enjoy the sounds of our favored drunkards and druggies as you stroll our common areas in darkness. Take a relaxing blood bath. Enjoy the non-compliance! Hear the pitter patter and bang of rocks against your windows. See and feel what happens after reporting our lease violations.... Hear management's favorite quotation, "Move if you don't like it!" Get smoked from your unit! Suffer a flood! Sign misdated and fraudulent documents or spend your life in a courthouse! Have your personal property damaged by our contractors or 24-hour maintenance! Let us interfere with, and interrupt your life next month while you pay a portion of our ever-increasing rent.... Enjoy the view of our insufficient, open-ended notices so we can enter your unit whenever we want to. Lose your rights! Lose your freedoms! Lose your quiet enjoyment; then lose your mind!

Aaaaaahhhhh, home sweet subsidized prison facility!

.... And politicians claim Americans need more of these 'family developments'? No thanks.

Repetitive Risks at renovated Rockland Place

Time is long overdue for Management to step up and take immediate and effective action regarding the ongoing safety concerns. When it comes to risking lives of residents, Rockland Place Apts. dba Spring Gate needs to do more than simply send repetitive warning letters.

Thursday, July 23, 2009, an alert and considerate resident notified the fire department and neighbors of gas fumes. When firefighters arrived, a bicycle stored in the hallway was in the way and a motorbike was discovered inside an apartment at 100 Martha Drive.

Repetitive hazards on this subsidized property include: firesetting, grills on patios, cluttered and obstructed hallways, darkened common areas, gas-powered equipment and motorbikes stored inside wooden-structured apartment buildings, etc. Spring Gate's property management is fantastic at obtaining rent increases; if only they could be as competent in enforcing rules and regulations.

Scams on Subsidized Property

Rockland Place Apartments dba Spring Gate is off of John A. Dunn Memorial Drive, behind the small Rockland Plaza. When you turn into this 204-unit subsidized housing complex, you are on Martha Drive. When you reach the corner, you can continue on Martha Drive by taking a right. If you take a left, you'll turn onto Hannah Way. These are the only 2 roads inside this housing complex. There is no thru-way. This is not business zoned; yet unexplainable business listings have appeared in print and online for years. I don't believe other taxpayers would favor subsidizing illegal businesses inside HUD subsidized housing. Do you?

http://www.getamover.com/moving_directory/storage/MA
Self Storage Directory + Services - Find Self Storage Co.'s ... 141 MARTHA DR, ROCKLAND. MA. 02370. SECURED SELF STORAGE INCORPORATED. 3 CHESTNUT ST, WORCESTER. MA. 1609. STORE TO DOOR MOBILE SELF STORAGE. WOBURN, WOBURN...http://www.getamover.com/moving_directory/storage/MA
* (above listing is from 2009 web directory)
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* (yellow page ad is from 1995 Nynex Phone Directory)
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More peculiar business listings inside this subsidized housing complex for 2009......
Friendlys Restaurants Franchise Inc
82 Martha Dr., Rockland, MA 02370-2513
(781) 792-0726
Job title: unavailable
Company: Friendlys Restaurants Franchise Inc
**********************

Marriott Hotels Resorts Suites
1 Martha Dr., Rockland, MA 02370-2506

(617) 773-6536

**********************
Lisa's Flower & Gifts

100 Martha Dr Apt B, Rockland, MA 02370-2534

(508) 588-7759

****************

GaetaSearch.com
75 Hannah Way, Rockland, MA 02370

781-561-5682

(criminal background checks)

***********************

Large Gaps in Oversight

At Roxse Homes, ownership feud is rekindled..... By Meghan Irons Globe Staff / May 23, 2009
.... The feud has put a spotlight on the breakdown of the 2004 partnership agreement between Cornerstone and the tenants council, and has exposed what some tenants call gaps in oversight at the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, which is supposed to ensure the partners were acting in compliance with the deal. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/23/at_roxse_homes_ownership_feud_is_rekindled/

When conducting annual inspections at Rockland Place Apartments dba Spring Gate in Rockland, Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency show gaps in their oversight again. At first, MassHousing claims Management was not in compliance, but then suddenly became compliant in time to receive another rent increase. Realistically though, putting all friendships and conflicts of interests aside, Management of Rockland Place is still non-compliant.

Year: 2009: Total Lobbying Expenditures: $20,000 Subtotal for Parent Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency: $20,000

Negligent Security and Premises Liability

A person may have a claim against a landowner or property manager if they sustained an injury due to the failure of the landowner or property manager to protect the injured person from foreseeable crimes on or near the property. It is important to seek legal counsel qualified to handle the specific type of investigation needed to establish that the landowner or property manager knew, or should have known, that such an event was foreseeable. Victims can sustain injury from assault, battery, robbery, rape or any number of other crimes committed by individuals that exploit the insufficient security or lighting of the premises. Negligent security cases may be brought against hotels, shopping centers, malls, schools, housing complexes, office buildings or nightclubs. Most personal injury attorneys won't charge unless they win the case.

Premises Liability is a general term that includes claims for injuries or death resulting from dangerous conditions that existed or activities that happened at a particular location. For instance, premises liability cases can arise from a trip and fall, dangerous conditions that are not readily apparent on a sidewalk or in a pool; injuries caused by insufficient lighting, negligently designed stairways or handrails; or negligent security at a particular location. If corporate partnerships at Rockland Place were made to keep their promises to install security cameras in common areas and hallways, management could be better informed as to which children are playing with fire in their hallways, etc.! Maybe they don't want to know. Obviously, when wasting their government grants and monies, safety for residents is NOT one of their priorities.

Premises liability cases can be complicated because many different entities may own, lease, maintain or control the premises. Additionally, there can be different policies of insurance that may cover the incident. It is important to obtain legal advice and promptly investigate the claim and secure evidence early on because if the dangerous condition is fixed, you may forever lose the evidence that you need to prove your case. As a general rule, property owners are responsible for injuries which occur as a result of dangerous conditions on their property, which the owner knew about, or should have known about and failed to warn others about. Renting to drug-induced alcoholics who habitually party around darkened parking lots is just one example of deliberate negligence, especially when conditions aid and abet criminal activity on a nuisance subsidized property. It really is amazing what some corporate landlords get away with.

Click here to see something else the Town of Rockland can be proud of.

Quantity vs. Quality

President Obama’s FY 2010 budget contains proposals to preserve and increase the amount of affordable housing available. This budget increases the utilization of tax monies to fund poorly-run HUD programs such as Project-Based Rental Assistance where good tenants become silenced or victimized by unethical property managers over and over again. Should the tenant move to escape victimization, the Rental Assistance ends; it stays with the project. So who does this type of assistance really help?

Project-based rental assistance programs are more likely to benefit corporate partners who contribute to political campaigns. Because HUD and housing authorities are negligent in enforcing rules and regulations, too many multi-family housing complexes have a prison-like atmosphere. As it stands, tax dollars will continue to preserve crime and violence for more substandard subsidized housing.

Rockland Place in July 2009

Tuesday afternoon - July 7, 2009: Vehicle struck minor by 92 Martha Drive and attempted to leave scene of accident. Victim taken to hospital by ambulance.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 8:45pm - Large group of kids in parking lot, by 51 Hannah Way, playing with fire near woods. Police called.