Bribes for 5-Star Reviews

During this covid crisis, First Hartford Realty Corporation and Connolly & Partners LLC sent around notices to their financially vulnerable tenants in Rockland, Massachusetts offering a bribe to write "5-star reviews". 

     Notices were distributed to tenants two or three different times, beginning November 2020, urging residents to write 5-star reviews about the subsidized property that was recently fined by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office for hazarous asbestos disposal. 

     This nuisance property has also been known for illegal drug distribution, mail theft, assaults, noise, filthy hallways, threats, harassments, etc.  Of course, FHRC never called their coercion a bribe, but labeled it a contest instead.   If it were really a "contest", corporate management would have asked residents for their honest reviews, good or bad, to be eligible for the drawing.  In order to receive an abundance of 5-star reviews, Management limited the eligibility of residents who wrote the 5-star reviews, by making every TENTH resident who wrote a 5-star review to be eligible to win a gift card.  If you're confused, here's what Rockland apartments management wrote . . .

. . . "As a valued tenant, we are looking for some input on making our community even better.  We are offering an incentive for every 10th resident that writes a 5-star review will be eligible to win a gift card.  See drawing dates below.

First Prize will be announcing on Monday, February 22, 2021 at 12pm

Second Prize will be announcing on Friday, February 26, 2021 at 12pm

Third Prize will be announcing on Monday, March 1, 2021 at 12pm

The lucky winner could win a gift card up to $100.00"

      Some of the Spring Gate resident reviews could be seen on the following website:  https://www.apartmentratings.com/ma/rockland/spring-gate-apartments_781871232302370/

     Most financially vulnerable tenants, who hoped to win a gift card, wrote wonderful reviews, whether true or not.  On the other hand, so glad to see some residents refused to be bribed and wrote what their genuine resident experiences are or have been!  Thank you to several Spring Gate Apartment residents for having good ethics even when corporate managers do NOT.

Scandalous Housing

 Here's an interesting documentary by an investigative journalist. It touches on one major problem of corporate, and sometimes political, corruption that exists with subsidized housing. 

 * https://youtu.be/8iei3HtdBbQ

Here is a link to a recent news article about just one of the ways low-income residents at Rockland Place dba Spring Gate Apartments in Rockland, MA are placed at risk by corporate property managers and their corporate affiliates. In this case, three companies were fined by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.  Prosecutors said the actions of the three companies put the health of workers and tenants at risk. 

Funny there's no mention of William M. Connolly and Partners, LLC in the news article.  Tenants were told in 2008 that Mr. Connolly purchased the subsidized apartment complex from Cornerstone Corp., Boston Financial, and/or Abrams Mgmt., etc.  Perhaps they're all Partners with Boston Capital by now.

     "Under the settlement, First Hartford and its companies are required to pay $250,000 in civil penalties, $50,000 of which will be suspended pending compliance with terms of the judgment. 

      First Hartford is required to provide more asbestos training for staff members, provide asbestos inspection reports and maintenance records to the state Department of Environmental Protection, hire a licensed asbestos consultant and an asbestos abatement contractor to be available “on call” as needed and develop a plan to inspect and deal with any asbestos materials remaining in the apartments.

      TRC is required to pay $25,000 and Enviro-Safe is required to pay $10,000 in civil penalties for the asbestos violations under separate agreements. 

“Asbestos is a known human carcinogen and MassDEP’s asbestos regulations are designed to protect public health and the environment,” said Millie Garcia-Serrano, the Department of Environmental Protection’s Southeast Region director, in a statement. 

    The microscopic fibers of asbestos can cause lung problems and death. Asbestos was used in window caulk, insulation, plaster and taping compounds, floor and roofing tiles, siding and other housing materials until it was banned in the late 1970s."

** https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2020/12/23/three-companies-face-fines-over-illegal-asbestos-abatement-rockland/4026190001/

And here is a news story regarding the same problem of asbestos in 2017.  It's no coincidence that the resident who reported this incident is no longer residing in this housing complex. 

*** https://www.boston25news.com/news/rockland-apartment-company-says-it-warned-residents-about-asbestos-removal/520952556/

This particular housing complex on Martha Drive and Hannah Way in Rockland, Mass., along with others they mismanage, have a long history of harassing vulnerable tenants who speak out.  Corporate management has even deliberately caused extreme distress to those with genuine medical disabilties until tenants end up surrendering their subsidized apartments to homelessness or death. They don't approve of tenants who simply request management abide by their lease agreements or those who question unfair housing practices or organized corruption schemes.  

A Pattern of Corruption

* https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/10/two-arrested-for-bribing-prospective-tenants-roxse-homes/l6LpSAGkWMKzCkOkTU4GtO/story.html 

That story appears in the Boston Globe, September 10, 2015. Court appearances were made in 2016 where 2 of the defendants, Mathis Lemons and Ismael Morales, hired by Cornerstone Corporation, were found guilty of 7 counts of bribery, etc. They were employed at the Roxse Homes, a federal subsidized housing complex on Tremont Street in Roxbury, MA at the time.  They were arrested and found guilty for accepting more than $30,000 in payments from multiple tenants in exchange for preferential treatment regarding the waiting list selection process.  

This is another great and honorable job done by the office of US Attorney, Carmen M. Ortiz.

Cornerstone Corporation has a long history of preferential treatment, unethical, and illegal conduct toward various low income tenants in other places they've also mismanaged. The name of Robert L. Evans appears on a corporate document as just one of the partners/agents of Cornerstone Corp.  That name also appears in an old article as someone who once worked at (MHFA) Mass Housing Finance Agency.  In 2016, I see a person named Robert Evans at Peabody Properties as the replacement for Cornerstone Corp. at RoxSE Homes. hmmm...

Here's just one more story from December 2009 regarding Cornerstone Corp.; however, there are several others, too many to mention here. 

**https://legalnewsline.com/stories/510522060-coakley-gets-settlement-with-property-management-company

BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - A consent judgment has been obtained by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's office against a property management company and its former manager to resolve allegations that they violated state anti-discrimination laws. Cornerstone Corporation and former manager Linda Evans falsely accused a foster parent of operating a day-care business out of her home and subsequently attempted to evict her. 

Then there are those older stories where Cornerstone Corporation deliberately, illegally, and successfully tormented good tenants with medical disabilities for many years in Somerville and Rockland, MA.  Some tenants could get no relief from the Massachusetts courts because tenants would only be forced into mediation proceedings when they requested a trial.  Some law-abiding tenants died while others finally had to surrender their subsidized apartments to stop the many years of abuse and harassment by the people at Cornerstone Corp. and then from those at First Hartford Corp. and Connolly and Partners, LLC. 

*Note:   Before hiring a management company to manage your property, investigate all of the people behind the corporate names, if possible.  It's been discovered that some of the same people from Cornerstone Corporation are partners or employees with affiliated companies. 

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It's been reported that ambulances were called about 1-2 weeks ago to 191 Martha Drive in Rockland due to a couple of drug overdoses on the same day involving newer tenants at that residence.  Drugs like cocaine continue to be distributed on that subsidized property.

Adequate Security Measures

 People often ask what the purpose of the security cameras are at Rockland Place dba/aka Spring Gate Apartments in Rockland, Mass.  It's obvious security cameras are only installed on the property to protect management in the case of a lawsuit filed against them. Management even has security guards on duty, but crime on the property still exists. Management pretends they're not aware of the crime and live-ins but, as usual, they're lying.  

  They're not using their security measures adequately. They continue to be negligent in enforcing occupancy agreements and continue to be supportive of certain criminal activities on their government subsidized properties.  Security guards have even engaged in substance abuse activities with nuisance tenants.  Previous security guards have even admitted that corporate property managers have told them to discard their written reports of certain events when it comes to selective people on their property. 

     Low income people can not always afford to move if they don't like it, as some have been told to do while management continues to collect their tax credits, rents, and other funds from these poorly run properties.

    If you're a resident who feels your lease agreement and legitimate complaints to management are being ignored or not sufficiently addressed, take photos of your concerns and document dates, times, and events. Put all communications, including Managements' words in writing.  You may also want to look over the following attorney's website by clicking on the link.  * https://www.legal-chronicle.com/kesner-junior-lubin-fatally-injured-in-somerville-ma-apartment-complex-stabbingsecurity-negligence-kesner-junior-lubin-fatally-injured-in-somerville-ma-apartment-complex-stabbing/

Spreading the Image

Who was the black ass spreading her grown woman, hairy, butt cheeks in the common areas of the new and improved Spring Gate Apts. housing complex this past holy Sunday?  This threatening foul mouth couldn't even wait until night fall when she also exposed her breasts in front of innocent children who were clearly shocked and justifiably uncomfortable by her perverted act.  Since this isn't the first time she's done something like this in the common areas in front of resident children and visitors, shouldn't she be listed on the sex offender registry in Rockland, MA?   

            When will Boston Capital Tax Credit Corp., SMOC, HUD, William M. Connolly, and Neil H. Ellis of First Hartford Corporation finally allow other residents to live in peace,  according to the occupancy agreements?  Your residents may be low income, but they still pay rent and deserve to live in a respectful and safe living environment. 

           Perhaps you can get around to viewing the footage from your security cameras and finally enforce your lease agreements at Rockland Place dba Spring Gate Apartments?  This family and their guests habitually create a violent atmosphere and even threaten other tenants which has already been reported to your office staff.  They've been disrupting the neighborhood ever since they lived on Hannah Way and now on Martha Drive.  Hopefully, you can find them an apartment OUTSIDE of this subsidized housing complex.  I hear Clarendon Hill Towers in Somerville, MA accepts violent residents who even stab one another to death.  

   

Hostile Environment Harassment

 Sometimes property managers allow repeated threats or harassment toward complaining tenants they wish to silence or remove from their nuisance properties.  Of course it's illegal for property managers to do this, but the well-connected, corporate property managers, often get away with doing so.   Hostile Environment Harassment has been, and continues to be, common business practice at Rockland Place dba Spring Gate Apartments along Martha Drive and Hannah Way in Rockland, Massachusetts.  

 In § 100.60, entitled “Unlawful refusal to sell or rent or to negotiate for the sale or rental,” the proposed rule would add the following paragraphs as illustrations of prohibited quid pro quo and hostile environment harassment under the Fair Housing Act: Conditioning the availability of a dwelling, including the price, qualification criteria, or standards or procedures for securing a dwelling, on a person's response to harassment because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability; subjecting a person to harassment because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability that causes the person to vacate a dwelling or abandon efforts to secure the dwelling. Conditioning the “availability” of a dwelling means the initial or continued availability of a dwelling, or both.

In § 100.65, entitled “Discrimination in terms, conditions, and privileges and in services and facilities,” the proposed rule would add the following paragraph as an illustration of prohibited quid pro quo and hostile environment harassment under the Fair Housing Act: Conditioning the terms, conditions, or privileges relating to the sale or rental of a dwelling or denying or limiting the services or facilities in connection with a dwelling on a person's response to harassment because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability; subjecting a person to harassment because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin that has the effect of imposing different terms, conditions, or privileges relating to the sale or rental of a dwelling or denying or limiting service or facilities in connection with the sale or rental of a dwelling.

DIRECT LIABILITY:  Proposed paragraph (a) of § 100.7 identifies direct liability under the Act. New § 100.7(a)(1)(i) proposes that a person is liable for his or her own discriminatory housing practices. New §§ 100.7(a)(1)(ii) and (a)(1)(iii) describe direct liability grounded in negligence. New § 100.7(a)(1)(ii) proposes that a person is directly liable for failing to take prompt action to correct and end a discriminatory housing practice by that person's employee or agent where the person knew or should have known of the discriminatory conduct. New § 100.7(a)(1)(iii) proposes that a person is directly liable for failing to fulfill a duty to take prompt action to correct and end a discriminatory housing practice by a third-party (i.e., a non-agent) when the person knew or should have known of the discriminatory conduct. New § 100.7(a)(1)(iii) also proposes that a housing provider's duty to take prompt action to correct and end a discriminatory housing practice by a third-party can derive from an obligation to the aggrieved person created by contract or lease (including bylaws or other rules of a homeowners association, condominium or cooperative), or by federal, state or local law. 

With respect to a person's direct liability for the actions of an agent, § 100.7(a)(1)(ii) recognizes that a principal who knows or should have known that his or her agent has engaged in or is engaging in unlawful conduct and allows it to continue is complicit in or has ratified the discrimination.  With respect to direct liability for the conduct of a non-agent, § 100.7(a)(1)(iii) codifies the traditional principle of liability, and HUD's longstanding position, that a person is directly liable under the Act for harassment perpetrated by non-agents if the person knew or should have known of the harassment, had a duty to take prompt action to correct and end the harassment, and failed to do so or took action that he or she knew or should have known would be unsuccessful in ending the harassment.  This liability arises when, for example, a person, including a management company, homeowner's association, condominium association, or cooperative, knew or should have known that a resident was harassing another resident, and yet did not take prompt action to correct and end it, while having a duty to do so. As recognized by § 100.7(a)(1)(iii), this duty may be created, for example, by a lease or other contract under which a housing provider is legally obligated to exercise reasonable care to protect residents' safety and curtail unlawful conduct in areas under the housing provider's control, or by federal, state or local laws requiring the same.

    When harassment occurs in and around the home, the victim or survivor has little opportunity to escape it short of moving or staying away from the home—neither of which should be required.  

All Lives Matter

     Over the past several years, there has been an increase in the number of violent incidents inside at least two of the HUD subsidized housing complexes mismanaged by William M. Connolly, First Hartford Corp., and other anonymous partners and corporations. The two unsafe housing complexes, mentioned in this particular article, are located in Somerville and in Rockland, Massachusetts.

     While legitimate residents' lives are constantly disrupted, threatened, and in danger, law enforcement deals with the same difficult residents, visitors, and live-ins over and over again on these nuisance properties.  No matter how many low income housing tax credits (LIHTC) and gov't funds are provided these corporate owners, they continue to be deliberately negligent at genuinely resolving the numerous upsets and disturbances.  Why are cameras installed on properties when they're not being used to help enforce occupancy agreements?

     On recently posted flyers, management implies that if tenants would write positive messages of inspiration on walkways with chalk, it might help make neighbors feel better. Seriously?  Will those happy li'l messages stop the repetitive disturbances and violence issues that threaten the quality of lives for residents? Sounds like a typical Democratic strategy of 'painting everybody a purty picture' while chalking away the seriousness of the dangerous issues at hand. I suppose to get some relief, a vulnerable tenant could always purchase illegal drugs that still exist on their nuisance properties - (not recommended).

     In April 2020, it was announced by the Middlesex District Attorney, Marian Ryan, that a Somerville man is facing assault charges after police say he stabbed and murdered a neighbor Saturday afternoon.  Police responded to Clarendon Hill Apartments in Somerville on a Saturday afternoon for reports of a stabbing. They found Kesner Junior Lubin, 27, of Somerville, suffering from stab wounds. Police said the initial investigation indicates Lubin and Washington Assis-Rodrigues, 26, also a resident of the apartment complex got into an argument, which allegedly escalated into a physical altercation.

     Lubin was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Assis-Rodrigues was arraigned by teleconference at Somerville District Court.

* https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/12/metro/officials-investigate-fatal-stabbing-somerville-apartment-complex/ 

     Why aren't these corporate property managers and owners being held accountable for who they allow on their properties?  What more will it take?

If Your House Is Sick

  Some corporate property owners and managers, getting paid through HUD and housing authorities, discriminate and refuse to make their properties safe, accommodating, and livable for legitimate residents with disabilities.  Often these 'affordable' housing complexes and nuisance properties cause severe distress to individuals and families in need for safe, decent, and affordable housing.  While local housing courts often refuse to enforce fair housing laws, neglectful and/or abusive corporate property managers continue getting paid through HUD.

     One HUD property in Georgia,  operated by Fulton County’s Columbia at Mechanicsville, LP, Columbia at Mechanicsville Partners, LLC, Mechan-Summech, LLC, Columbia Residential Property Management, Inc., and their former property manager, Kalisha Winston, denied a mother’s request to move to another apartment after mold, mildew and other water damage caused by repeated flooding in her apartment began to affect her son’s health. Read HUD’s charge.  https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/FHEO/documents/20ChargeColumbiaatMechanicsville.pdf

Read the entire article by clicking the link below.

*https://allongeorgia.com/georgia-public-safety/hud-charges-ga-housing-providers-with-discriminating-against-a-mother-child-with-disabilities/

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ANOTHER ONE IN CONNECTICUT

Another bad Hud-funded landlord is in Hartford, Connecticut.  This particular investigation is a rare move by a state's top prosecutor. Connecticut's investigation focuses on Emmanuel Ku's failure to repair and maintain a 150-unit housing complex in Hartford known as the Clay Arsenal Renaissance Apartments, where families lived amid rodent infestations, mold, broken windows and inoperable smoke detectors, among other threats to their health and safety, according to federal records.  https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6682019-Ku-Default-Letter.html

  You can read more about this by clicking on the following link. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/connecticut-investigates-hud-funded-landlord-who-rented-infested-homes-poor-n1125031

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NOTE:  We will continue posting more of these inhumane stories about government funded landlords, including updates on Spring Gate Apts. dba Rockland Place in Rockland, MA, which continues to be in non-compliance of lease agreements, so please bookmark typog.blogspot.com. It'll help remind you to return for updates.  And you won't even have to bother yourself passing through some flimsy gates, which really serve no good purpose anyway.

Vacant Housing, but Homeless People

No wonder the USA has so many homeless people!  Why do subsidized corporate landlords continue to get paid from HUD when they have vacant apartments on their properties?  Why do they continue to get paid when some of these properties aren't up to code?  This has been going on under HUD for a whole lot of years, even under the Clinton, Obama, and Bush Administrations.  It's not anything new.

 * https://theappeal.org/philadelphia-housing-authority-is-failing-at-its-mission-advocates-say/

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EXTRA:  Joe Biden just chose Kamala Harris as his VP, but history shows Kamala Harris doesn't really care about JUSTICE.  (Click on the link below.)  

**  https://heavy.com/news/2019/08/jamal-trulove/?fbclid=IwAR1EfxXBv0Lk8zKfTTfaxbnF3BBJM6rsqA50N_l7ezx8KH6GS3zIMkCadXM

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