THE SALEM COMMISSION ON DISABILITIES
December 21, 2010
SATV, Derby St.
WELCOME
David Tracht: The Salem Commission on Disabilities met on December 21st, 2010 at 4 PM, with David Tracht presiding. Today is the first day of winter.
David Moisan is not present due to personal matters. Andy Lapointe is also not present—he is now a grandfather and is probably babysitting.
The Salem Children’s Fundraiser was at Victoria Station last week. It was great; they do a lot of good for the kids. My wife even bid for a Coach bag and won it—our daughter will get a Christmas gift. Very nice and I recommend it for the future.
I want to have a moment of silence for Sgt. James Ayube, the medic that was killed in Afghanistan. He was actually a classmate of my daughter and of Andy’s daughter. He was only 25 years old, and as everyone knows, there was a big outpouring of support.
David Martel: It was very nice to see that.
David Tracht: I remind everyone that the reason why we’re here is that we’re removing the barriers to people with disabilities so they can live the way people without disabilities do. I think we do a darned good job.
David Martel: Other cities want to be like us. We hear that constantly. We are held to a standard. People visit the city from all around; even from Colorado, where I got a letter praising how accessible Salem is.
David Tracht: Our work is never done. There’s still much to be done every day. Lot more work to do. The result is that we’re creating “access for all”, not only for people with disabilities, but everyone in Salem, without much cost involved.
INTRODUCTIONS
Present at the meeting are David Tracht, Co-Chair, David Martel, Jack Harris, Michael Taylor, Commissioners, Richard Henne, Michael Ricardo, Attorney, Jim Nowlan, Jean Harrison, Commissioner, Debra Lobsitz, Co-Chair, [inaudible] from Salem, [inaudible], Salem resident.
We are waiting for our guest, Don Armell, to talk about fostering a guide dog. But until that happens, is there any business?
Lincoln Hotel
Jack Harris: Let me give you some historical background. I’ve been talking to this person; several people have gotten in touch with me about the Lincoln Hotel. And, there are a number of issues that have been brought to my attention. I’ve tried to deal with these individually, but what has come to light for me is that I have gotten four or five complaints about the establishment and have been asked to look into them.
I’ve explored what the resolutions might be; it might come to mean having a meeting with several agencies plus the city of Salem. I’ve started that and contacted some people that could give me some direction and places to start from, for this piece of property. A lot of disabled people seem to reside there. They are subsidized; I’m not sure which agencies subsidize the tenants or how. I have talked to officials at the city level but this seems to be a state or even federal level issue. We are in the investigation stage. If I get answers I will pass them along. There are other similar properties in Salem that afford the same types of things, but I never hear complaints about them, only the Lincoln. I have some real
concerns.
David Tracht: Perhaps tell the viewers where the Lincoln Hotel is?
Michael Ricardo: It’s on Lafayette St., 117 Lafayette St., down the street from here. It’s a four story light yellow brick building with commercial space on the bottom and three levels of residences above. There are 63 tenants—21 per each floor. The history where Salem is concerned goes back to 1988 when some investors promised to enhance and improve the property; it was a derelict property that was being used as a rooming house and there were also problems with the tenants staying there at the time.. Lincoln Hotel Associates LP bought the property for $1.4 million in 1988 and got a $600,000 loan from the city a year later.
Richard Herra: Lincoln Hotel Associates LP was A state rep at the time, Joe Timilty, and his partner Devollio [sp?]. At the time he got his loan, he was already under investigation for fraud. He served time, but never repaid the loan, nor did he repay other loans that the city and state gave him. In 2003-2004, the city gave the building to the present landlord. They never inspected the building, never had a permit. The city claimed the building was too small to get a variance. To this day, it is a multi-million dollar fraud at this point. It is a reckess endangerment of the tenants. The lab tests I paid for show that the building is saturated with mold spores and fungal toxins. 53 of 63 units had no bathroom fans.
You can get information from the EPA and the CDC on mold; mold is toxic. No doctor can give me a test, and say I’m telling the truth.
Michael Ricardo: Another thing that makes it difficult for Richard and Ms. Herra, is that it is a project based subsidy: That means if you have that voucher it’s not transferrable—you’re stuck there. You have to prove that you’re medically unable to stay there. They are not tolerant of complaints. When I helped Richard a few years ago, he was well-read and intelligent and tried to fight them on his own and they tried to kick him out. No one really wanted to help—and that included the Health dept., the building commissioner, all wanted to help at first but things went quiet. The entity that is responsible, the Department of Housing and Community Development, it’s not clear who is actually responsible.
Teamwork, Inc. is responsible for inspecting the property and has been when the state was involved in 1996. It was a project they wanted to get funding for so they got $495,000. They promised work on the units and social support. No permits were pulled for anything. I can’t find where the work has been done—Richard can’t find it. When we attempt to get paperwork under the FOIA, the records are very incomplete. You can’t find the plans, the permits. When his unit was condemned in 2008, they had to pull the permit to perform the work. $9,000 of work had to be done on it—and he had one of the better units with bathroom windows. Ms. Keefe’s unit is like living in a closet!
I don’t know who was responsible—it was a top rent, now $795 for the studio units. They’re presented as top of the line units. Dunno where they got that. There are a lot of disabled people there.
[unidentified person]: When I looked on a unit being worked on, none of it was sealed. None of the tenants were notified when Richard’s unit was condemned.
Ms. Keefe: They were saying he had papers piled up against the wall. My unit was so small I could only read a newspaper in the bathroom.
Ms. Keefe: When it came time for me to get out of the building, no one wanted to help me. I was a “bad tenant”. I was accused of creating a problem on purpose.
Jack: Fortunately, for myself, I have had links to the whole mold situation and experts who are friends of mine and I have had discussions. As far as remediation, it’s a very new industry for one, and number two, as they have reported, the remediation process has no regulation or oversight. You can get the license and go in and do it and have the certain levels of work, but there’s no one looking at it. In the legal realm there are a lot of test cases. That’s not the only problem. The elevator in that building goes down relatively frequently. And they’re not getting any answers to alternatives, or how long the elevator is going to be out. There are a number of things going on. Question: How do all of
these pieces fit together? Can they fit together? How can we even begin to deal with these issues? I don’t have to tell anyone about the economics of a building that is subsidized and low-income accessible.
As I said, though, we’re in the beginning stages of investigations. I’ve contacted Jeff Dugan and MOD to see what we can put together, to have the responsible parties work it out. The board of health can come in and ask to have something done, but that is as far as they can go. The landlord can hire someone licensed, but that doesn’t mean they do the work properly.
My main concern is, if you have a population of disabled people who are medically stressed in their own lives, and stressed by the landlords, that is a problem.
Richard Henne: Just inspect it. Just inspect it. All the problems would come to light if that were done. The units are too small. There is a kitchen and a bathroom and a bedroom crammed into a 10’x14’ space—and it has to grow mold. It has to. There’s rot in the whole building—it can even be seen from the street! 51 of the 63 don’t have a bathroom window.
Jack Harris: You were referring to 1997-1998 when the first group of tenants were?
Richard Henne: 1997-1998 is when the first group of tenants were approved.
Jack Harris: What is the specific dollar amount? What is the value of the building? What happens is, when you do renovation work in the city of Salem, if the amount of renovations is 30% and above of the value of the building, it must conform to the codes at the time. I’m not sure in 1997 what the state regs were at the time. But it would be interesting to look at that and see if the 30% was tilted. If it wasn’t, those codes don’t have to be met.
Richard Henne: Regardless, the requirement is the local code. They have an inspection to examine the upkeep of the unit, but that can take 30 seconds. The inspector is required to inspect a unit if he is asked to do so within 30 days, but he won’t do that; it’s not his problem. The state and the city agree it’s terrible but none of them will take responsibility.
Jack Harris: You get inspections or not?
Ricardo: Someone from Teamwork, Inc. will take a yearly inspection to note things like missing burners, etc.
Jack Harris: The problems that are detected, have they done anything?
Richard Henne: No, they just do cosmetic work, painting.
Jack Harris: This is probably going to need to be resolved at the state level as they provide the subsidies.
Richard Henne: A particular urgency: There is a tenant there that’s been diagnosed with cancer; you got my note on that. The state hasn’t responded to my letter; HUD has not heard from the state. He’s one of the rare people, who is aware of the issues. What will happen when he moves back in with no immune system? I had lab reports—they just told me, it’s too bad. This guy, that’s happening now, a few months ago, a woman we’ve known for a long time, got thrown out on the street. They sent the janitor over there to sign the paper at night. She shows me the paper, she goes to the housing court and legal aid, and they get her started and send her to District Court and she’s out on the
street again. My nearest neighbor who I’d known for 10 years, a gray haired lady, she is homeless. I’d thought she moved.
These are the people we’re dealing with; they’re nasty. A wall in her unit collapsed. This is a public charity, mind you. They constantly threatened me. They would “disconnect” me from Social Security and have me arrested. The janitor threatened me with physical violence. These are the kind of people that they are. They will kill this guy with cancer; who knows if there are others—we don’t know. My life’s been shortened dramatically. All it takes, before I got Attorney Ricardo, was for the state and the city to simply do their job. DHCD could do the job—I volunteered to pay for a certified inspector! There is no kind of thing they can do—the units are too small.
David Tracht: I wish I could do something immediately, but this is the first time I and we have heard this. It’s obviously way over our heads, but what you’ve done is put it on TV so that people listening can advocate. It seems to me you need to have a senator’s ear or someone’s ear to trigger a resolution. It just seems like you’ve gone through so many different things already that I just don’t know what else I can offer.
Obviously, you have a lawyer involved.\
Richard: I had to.
David Tracht: I understand. But even with that, you still have the problem.
Jack Harris: Other clients in that building who have talked to me say there may be some intimidation going on that makes it difficult for anyone but most especially for people with health problems. Hopefully with some work, there’s no guarantee, I will stick with this as long as possible.
David Tracht: If anyone can help Jack?
Ms. Keefe: Has anyone told of being intimidated?
Jack: Yes. This appears to be a big problem. You may need to put your name in at other developments. In one case I heard of one tenant did leave. It’s a sorry state to go to that extent. I won’t say this is easy but you and the other tenants need to put a united front, keep a paper trail, and stay with it.
Richard: No one is denying there isn’t a problem. They’re just denying jurisdiction.
Jack: I appreciate your advocacy. This meeting is always open on the third Tuesday of the month. Please talk with the commissioners—they can help with other things.
David Martel: We will hear of this. And it is on TV. You never know.
Richard: They were testing, and looking for CO2 and CO which would make no sense in a hot-water baseboard unit and electric stove. Nothing about organics or mold.
Michael: After Richard pressed for that inspection and contacted that person in Lawrence, he was offered a unit in Salem Heights.
David Tracht: This is a major problem.
Richard: They want to protect the institution, protect their face, but the sheer number of people and agencies that just want to turn their back on the situation is appalling. The public record shows this is a multi-million dollar fraud. It’s appalling. I’m sending a letter to all the tenants—most of them don’t know. You will get calls.
Jack Harris: One of the problems we have surrounding disabilities is, we can’t ask someone if they are disabled. They have to disclose that to us. It’s against the law for us to ask. And, a lot of disabled people tend not to want to disclose because they feel they may be discriminated against. It’s hard to get help. But what the Commission tries to do is to instill in the disabled community that most of the people around this table are disabled.
David Martel: And we are open.
David Tracht: It is televised on SATV three or four times a month. Not tonight.
Jack Harris: We are one of the few commissions who do this. Most don’t. I open the newspaper, see a problem, do the research, and there we are.
David Tracht: Thank you for putting this problem out on the table. It is a big problem. We want people with disabilities to be able to advocate for themselves. This is obviously a very big legal issue. We’re not lawyers. We can only advise. You have put it on the table very eloquently. Perhaps people will hear this and bring back some useful information.
AAB decision:~ The Adriatic
David Tracht: There was a decision of the MAAB on the Adriatic. Debra will read it.
Debra Lobsitz: The Adriatic, 155 Washington St., Salem. This matter is regards the variance request of June 14th, 2010 pursuant to 521 CMR 4.00 and submitted by Florian Teela. The petitioner requests a variance under 521 CMR 30.6.1 for a standard accessible toilet stall in the womens’ room. There’s a long string of codes I won’t read. The board convened a hearing on November 1st, 2010. Florian Teela and Irving Curty, owners of the Adriatic, and Tom McGrath, of the city of Salem, appeared.
The board’s jurisdiction established pursuant to 521 CMR 3.3.1A requires that if the work being performed amounts to less than 30% of the cash value of the building and less than $100,000, then only the work being performed needs to conform to 521 CMR. Pursuant to 521 CMR 9.4, the Standard accessible toilet stall shall be least 60 inches tall, 60 inches wide and 72 inches deep. Arrangements are shown [in a figure] to allow a left or right handed approach.
Based on the testimony of the witnesses, the board finds these facts: The property in question is a restaurant and bar located on the first floor. There are two dining areas, a kitchen, restrooms, support space and storage. The total square footage is 3,100 sqft. The petitioners had installed an additional toilet in the womens’ room. Previously, there was a single stall but the new occupancy rules required an additional stall. The capacity of the restaurant is 80. The accessible stall in the woman’s room is 5 by 5 feet but 5 x 6 feet is required. The petitioners say the stall is difficult to expand due to the walk-in cooler next to it.
Again, if the work being performed amounts to less than 30% of the cash value or less than $100,000, then only the work being performed is required to comply with 521 CMR. The board voted to continue the matter to the 12th so the petitioners can perform a feasibility study on the accessible stall.
On November 9th, the board received the study from the petitioners and reviewed it. On November 15th, during the meeting. The plans for modifying the accessible stall are approved provided that all the drawings, pictures and other information are provided to the MAAB.
SITE~VISIT UPDATES
Complaint on hydrant on Bridge St.
Jack: The complaint has been sent and they are probably waiting for DCAM to respond.
Highland Ave. Signal.
David Tracht: The pedestrian signal near Market Basket is functioning normally.
Jennifer Bell invitation
David Tracht: Jennifer Bell was interested in having us come to their meeting and have several commissioners attend.
David Martel: I will come
David Tracht: I can count on you?
David Martel: I know Jennifer Bell well.
David Tracht: James, you would be interested?
James Nowlan: Yes.
David Tracht: I’ll get some dates from her.
Project Lifesaver
David Tracht: Andy isn’t here, but he told me he is getting a $29K grant but he can’t say much until the 29th.
Jack: I can tell you it’s working. My daughter is part of the program. And Sgt. [Dennis] King is very good, I’m impressed with his approach, so the program is working, it’s just getting the word out there.
David Tracht: Jack obviously has a young child, so we’re going to go after children as well as the elderly. We’re including all people who need the service.
David Martel: I am joining up with Tom Muxie to have a joint agreement with the Peabody commission.
David Tracht: Great.
David Martel: They just want to join with us on that project.
David Tracht: A lot of cities would be interested.
Thanksgiving dinner update
David Martel: Andy tells me that a family with a disabled person, was chosen and they received a full Thanksgiving dinner. We hope this is a continuing problem.
David Martel: Tavern in the Square had 200 people, many seniors.
David Tracht: It’s a great thing they do. They get a lot of negative vibes, but they did a good thing.
David Martel: I brought my sister’s family.
David Tracht: It’s amazing that our guest speaker didn’t come—our other guests took up all the time.
David Tracht: You never know who’s listening or what comes up. On our next meeting, January 18th, Don can join us at that time. If you have any concerns like the ones you’ve heard today, call 978-745-9595, extension 5678 and air your concerns or your problems.
David Martel: Our contact info is on the city website.
Salem Jail Restaurant
Jack Harris: There is a problem at the new Jail restaurant: Accessibility. They had previously thought they would use the front door of the Jail as an entrance. They decided against it but the entrance to the restaurant is now at the rear. The incline is steep. We met with the architect, Tom McGrath and Charlie. What might happen is they may have a path around St. Peter St. that may wrap around the building. They know there is a problem.
David Tracht: Problem with the bathroom?
Jack Harris: Tom McGrath checked the faucets; they’re ok. 36 inches at the seats and tables may be a problem. Lighting and signage are problems. It hasn’t gone to the AAB; hopefully we can resolve this.
David Tracht: I wish everybody a Happy and healthy Christmas to you all and to everyone in the audience.
NEXT MEETING:~ January 18, 2011
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