How Safe are your Children?

    Cornerstone Corporation manages Rockland Place Apts. in Rockland, Massachusetts as agents of First Hartford Realty Corp.   Residents were told that background checks would be performed through Strategic Information Resources, Inc. of Springfield, Mass. 

     So what is the point of background checks when ex-cons, sexual deviants, and drug dealers are allowed on this subsidized multifamily property?

  Timothy Dalton is a Level 3 sex offender at Rockland Place Apts. dba Spring Gate, with an address listing of 45B Hannah Way, Rockland.

Is Barney Frankly Speaking?

     Read the recent Boston Globe article:  In 2010, Barney Frank hopes to abolish Fannie and Freddie.
     In 2003, Massachusetts Representative, Barney Frank (D), stated Fannie and Freddie weren't in a financial crisis, and were financially sound.  Despite warnings, he saw no problem with these government-run lenders. (See video.)

Regulating Salt Intake

Have you heard the U.S. government now wants to regulate our salt intake?  I could see it now.  When property managers of HUD subsidized housing perform their annual, bi-annual, or monthly apartment inspections, they will now have the excuse to rummage through residents' cupboards to keep track of hidden salt containers.  Give me a break!

   I think before our government decides to regulate anymore of our personal lives, they need to effectively regulate the illegal drugs stored and sold on their subsidized properties.  If ever they succeed at keeping that promise, then maybe we can talk about government salt regulations.  No?

Fire at Spring Gate Housing Complex

Rockland Fire Dept. and Rockland Police responded to a couch fire at 177 Martha Drive, Apt. D, Rockland, Mass. around 8:40 P.M. Friday night, January 8, 2010.  Alarms sounded with smoke in hallway. Cornerstone Corporation's maintenance staff was notified. A Hanover ambulance left the renovated, government subsidized property at 9:00 P.M.

Murder in Rockland

A Rockland man who frequents Spring Gate Apartments allegedly stabbed a Hanover man to death at a boarding house on the corner of Union and Market Street in Rockland, MA.  Rockland Police visited the Spring Gate subsidized apartment complex, located on Martha Drive and Hannah Way in Rockland, shortly after the stabbing on New Year's Day 2010.  Rockland Place Apartments and this particular boarding house are known for renting to those involved in drugs and violence.
*Click here to read the news article

or read the story in The Patriot Ledger by clicking here.

 5 Union Street, Rockland, MA was previously a nursing home but now rents rooms by the week.  The building is believed to be owned by Empire, an affiliate of Weichert Realtors.
 In February 2009, Police say Hanson, of 148 Union St., Rockland, and her passenger, Curtin, of 5 Union St., Rockland, led police on a car chase through three towns after Hanson was caught shooting up drugs in her car and tried to stab a police officer with the needle.

Let's NOT Build More

How did crime and violence become 'the norm' in HUD, DHCD, and MassHousing financed multifamily housing complexes? 

September 2008, The Patriot Ledger reported some of the crime and violence in Rockland, Massachusetts with an accurate description of a multifamily apartment complex.  This wasn't the first and isn't the last incident of crime and violence on this 'newly renovated' subsidized property.  Some 'nonresidents' live with residents while management conveniently looks the other way.  And where are those promised security cameras?  Here is an excerpt from the published news story describing Rockland Place dba Spring Gate Apartments.

.....reported this year at the Spring Gate apartment complex, formerly known as Rockland Place, he said.

The 35-year-old housing development is home to 204 rental apartments, including 193 apartments for low-income tenants. For more than a decade, it has been a hot spot for crime in Rockland, including rapes, beatings, shootings and knife attacks.

On Aug. 26, two police officers were nearly struck by rocks at a back-to-school event at the Spring Gate apartment complex. In July, two residents were charged with beating another man with rocks.

“It’s an apartment complex, and any time you have an apartment complex with a lot of people squeezed into a tight geographic area, you’re going to have problems,” Lt. Barry Ashton said.
To read the entire Ledger article, click here.

Lt. Barry Ashton's comment offers little hope to good residents in this type of subsidized housing. It offers no solution or honest intention to deter crime at Spring Gate.  His apathetic attitude toward crime in Rockland Place and/or Spring Gate Apartments reflects that of corporate management, owners, and government officials. 

When laws and regulations aren't enforced, subsidized apartment complexes like Rockland Place dba Spring Gate harbor crime and imprison the innocent.  These mismanaged multifamily properties are allowed to become a neighborhood nuisance.  Corporate landlords may continue to benefit from running nuisance properties, but nearby homeowners suffer when their private property decreases in value.

Supplying more government grants and tax monies to non-compliant landlords is wasteful and does not provide safe, decent, affordable housing.  'Affordable Housing Certificates', issued directly to law-abiding citizens, could be a better way for HUD to provide safe, decent, affordable housing to the needy. These issued certificates could also provide the freedom to choose a respectable place of residence with more control and accountability.  If 'apartment complexes with a lot of people squeezed into a tight geographic area cause problems', building and financing more subsidized apartment complexes like Rockland Place and Spring Gate should be discouraged. 
************************************
The Patriot Ledger - posted May 15, 2009
Hingham District Court
A charge of malicious destruction of property worth more than $250 against Armando M. Oliveira, 19, of 212 Martha Drive, Rockland, was dismissed by Judge Mooney due to lack of prosecution. The offense was alleged to have occurred July 9 in Rockland.

Charges of assault and disturbing the peace against Nilton Rodriques, 31, of 110 Martha Drive, Rockland, were dismissed by Judge Patrick Hurley. The offenses were alleged to have occurred April 16 in Rockland.

Healthy Housing

The top section of the Affordable Health Care Act reads: To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.... Click here if you'd like to read the 1990 pages of this Bill.

The 'and for other purposes' concerns me already, and I haven't even read the rest of the 1990 pages.  It may not matter to our elected officials, but like many American citizens, I don't like the idea of Government taking control of so many areas of everyone's lives.  Perhaps it's due to some of what I've already experienced and witnessed in their subsidized housing program.

If their Affordable Health Care program works anything like the government subsidized housing program at Rockland Place dba Spring Gate, I seriously hope it doesn't pass. Simply put, their housing program breeds corruption, disempowers residents, and victimizes people through non-compliance of laws and regulations.  In reviewing this Health Care Reform Bill, let's keep in mind our government and H.U.D. promise safe, decent, affordable housing too.

Accessible for Whom?

Life at Rockland Place dba SpringGate Apartments is more difficult than it has to be for several residents, especially for those with a disability or handicap.  This is due to leniency and non-compliance of rules and laws. Good luck to the handicapped in wheelchairs who need to gain access to 212 Martha Drive and other buildings in that area.  The wheelchair-bound are not entitled to access certain areas.

Sidewalk ramps are extremely limited throughout this tax-credited property.   If you're in a wheelchair, you'll likely be travelling in the street with traffic.  Openings to dumpsters are situated in awkward ways and gates are left open to dumpster areas, which also proves problematic for handicapped residents to dispose of trash.  Only handicapped units do NOT have screens available for the patio doors. While handicapped units have lit patios, most common areas remain dark.

Several handicapped residents haven't a handicapped parking space available, probably because there are more handicapped / disabled residents than there are handicapped parking spots.  Additionally, some handicapped parking signs have been knocked over and Management hasn't replaced them for two years. Most people who aren't even handicapped are allowed to park in handicapped areas. Signs are faded and difficult to read. Delivery people use those limited designated handicapped spaces; people who are "just running in and out" use them; and people with no handicap who recognize Management's apathy, also park in those spaces without consequence.

Property owners and Management deceptively promised all residents daily shuttles to stores and the commuter rail for doctor appointments, etc. Considering the unavailable parking and lack of public transportation, this promised accommodation certainly would have made life more liveable at this subsidized housing complex.

From promised security cameras to the falsification of official documents, deceptive business practices here are widespread. Promised security cameras don't exist because they could reveal several obscene and unfair housing practices including those involved with distributing drugs and filthy feminine pads in the swimming pool and inside mailboxes. Security cameras could also expose the public nudity in common areas, vandalisms, break-ins, violence, and could even reveal illegitimate residents not listed on lease agreements. 

MassHousing and Rockland Health Board fail to enforce State Sanitary Codes and other laws at Rockland Place dba SpringGate Apartments.  Corporate partners and Management of this subsidized property have proven themselves to be above-the-law.   The following violations inside SpringGate are obvious ones.....
105 CMR 410.000: MINIMUM STANDARDS OF FITNESS FOR HUMAN HABITATION (STATE SANITARY CODE, CHAPTER II)

410.253: Light Fixtures Other than in Habitable Rooms or Kitchens
(A) The owner shall provide and so locate electric light switches and fixtures in good working order so that illumination may be provided for the safe and reasonable use of every laundry, pantry, foyer, hallway, stairway, closet, storage place, cellar, porch, exterior stairway and passageway. 
(B) The owner shall provide working incandescent light bulbs or fluorescent tubes in all required light fixtures in all common areas of any dwelling.
410.552: Screens for Doors
The owner shall provide a screen door for all doorways opening directly to the outside from any dwelling unit or rooming unit where the screen door will be permitted to slide to the side or open in an outward direction, provided, that in an owner-occupied unit, the owner need provide screens only for those doorways used for ventilation. All new or replacement screens in screen doors shall be of not less that 16 mesh per square inch.
Said screen door:
(1) Shall be equipped with a self-closing device except where the screen is designed to slide to the side; and
(2) shall be tight-fitting as to prevent the entrance of insects and rodents around the perimeter; and
410.553: Installation of Screens
The owner shall provide and install screens as required in 105 CMR 410.551 and 410.552 so that they shall be in place during the period between April first to October 30th, both inclusive, in each year.

More Waste in Housing Programs

HUD counseling funds tripled despite criticism
By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Federal funding for a housing counseling program carried out by local non-profit groups such as ACORN has more than tripled since 2002, even though it has been criticized by government auditors for failing to show results. President Obama's budget calls for a 54% increase next year – $100 million in all – for the program, .......