Rindge Tower residents to discuss grievances Wednesday

by Derren Lewis-Peters

A Tenant Council for the Fresh Pond Apartments will meet June 14 at 6 p.m. to discuss and organize their grievances against Federal Management Company, the manager, and J. Schochet and Associates, the owner, of 362 and 364 Rindge Ave. in the Community Room on the first floor of the 364 Rindge tower.

“We are tired of the managers abusing and terrorizing the tenants,” said Patricia Casola, the leader of the Fresh Pond Tenants Association, who has lived at the Rindge Towers for 20 years.
In addition to the managers’ bullying tactics, including their yelling at residents and banging on doors, the residents are frustrated by the growing problem with rodents and cockroaches, she said.

Mice and roaches have always plagued the towers, she said. "It's been a mess for as long as I've been here. I've lost bags of clothing to these mice.

"They never used to exterminate. We kept on them about it and HUD finally brought in a new exterminator some months back, and he does a better job, but he always tells the residents the (rodent infestation) is their fault, and that they should keep a cleaner home. It's all the holes around here that are the real problem," she said.

Casola said the rodent problem is largely the result of maintenance failing to fill in holes throughout the two massive towers. "They exterminate, the mice are gone for a bit, and then they're back. It's ridiculous.”

One resident, Loretta Davis, said her living room set had a colony of mice she discovered when her granddaughter, Jasmine, 12, and a family friends were sleeping on the couch one night.
"The next morning, I called Maureen, who worked in the office until she started to side with the tenants, and she sent some men to take it away,” she said.

Davis said one of the building managers told her that there were no mice in the furniture. “He is a liar. Maureen told me later it was infected.”

The rodents present a problem far greater than just annoyance, said Casola. "They leave these droppings, all throughout the towers. And it makes the air quality awful. Kids are getting asthma from it."

Davis, a resident of the towers since 1999, and a member of the Tenant Council, said she the problem is the property manager Michael McDonald.

"People are leaving this place all the time. McDonald is always running these weekly inspections, banging on doors, handing out warnings to people. Residents feel like they're in a prison, and then they start picking on people with visas, knowing they won't fight back. They can't risk losing their home, jobs, none of that," she said.

"McDonald just treats people terribly, screaming and talking down to them. And when you speak up, they start harassing and threatening you through those inspections. It has people shook up," she said.

Davis said she feels McDonald should have started his tenure on a better note. "When he came in last year, before I even met him, other residents would say to me, 'have you seen this new guy?' He came in with a poor attitude. He never attempted to reach out to people, write a note, introduce himself. Nothing."

[McDonald referred all questions to Federal Management President John Craig. Attempts to reach both Craig or a spokesman from Schochet Associates were unsuccessful.] 

City Councilor Anthony D. Galluccio, who said he led the affordable housing negotiations as mayor in 2000, said he wants to see the embattled housing project rebound.

"The buildings need work," he said.

"I've heard from a few residents, which is common, I think, at any development. But I know there has been a problem there with the common spaces, as well as management issues," he said.
"It's about establishing long-term objectives," he said. "We have a model already in place, the 402 Rindge Ave. apartments. That was a complete rehab. For Rindge, we need to make a similar deep re-investment."

Galluccio said he plans to meet with members of Federal Management in the near future to hear for himself how they plan to address the issues.

"The towers have had so much turnover in management recently, I haven't been able to talk with their leadership. But I will sit down with Federal and hear their agenda. We need to establish a good faith relationship between the tenants and the management," he said.

State Rep. Alice K. Wolf, D, Cambridge, said she attended tenant meetings, knocked on doors, and visited several residents in their apartments a few years ago. She was also present when the affordable housing agreement was signed in 2000. A district shift in 2002 moved Cambridge out of her representation, but she said she continues to keep tabs on the situation.

In May 2000, Rindge Towers became the first property in the nation to have its owner pre-pay its 2nd mortgage. Schochet had to come to a consent agreement with the city and government. Casola organized the tenants, and they were a party to the agreement, securing affordable housing in 338 of the 500 units inside the two Federal-owned towers. 40 of those units are on Cambridge Housing Authority Section 8, Casola said.

Wolf said the complaints don't surprise her. "There has always been unrest there, always," she said.

"Donna Bronch was the manager there a few years ago, then they brought some folks in on an interim basis. Bronch did a fairly good job of getting involved with the community, but honestly, none of these problems sound new to me," she said.

Wolf said she heard much of the same gripes from residents firsthand when spending time in their homes and attending tenant meetings a couple years ago. "It is unfortunate to see not much has changed," she said.

"I honestly don't know why they can't do a better job with the roaches and things like that. I know they may say they don't want to place poison around kids, or something like that, but this has been going on forever. It's disappointing, really," she said.

Wolf said she never met McDonald.

Casola said she has a personal history with Rindge & Federal Management. She has filed two complaints with the Cambridge Human Rights Commission, accusing Rindge management of handicap discrimination. The first came in 2002, when her boyfriend, George, who is physically handicapped, requested grab bars for the apartment. When management refused, she filed with the Attorney General. Probable cause for discrimination was later found, and management agreed not to discriminate in the future. A policy for non-discrimination was also established.

She filed again in January 2005, alleging management violated the agreement of their first settlement. Her case is ongoing, she said.

Security at the towers has been significantly upgraded in the last year. New cameras have been added, visitors are now required to sign in, and in the next few months, a keypad system will be introduced for all residents. An independent security firm works at both Schochet-owned towers, she said.

Davis has her own gripes about all the changes, she said. "They want to improve the security around here, and that's fine. But while they spend all this money on security, I have a window that has been broken for three years. Mice and roaches are everywhere. McDonald is treating people like garbage, but too many families feel afraid to speak up. So now management wants to set up cameras to spy on us? It doesn't add up."

Cambridge School Committee member Richard Harding said the disconnect between tenants and management leaves both parties in a bad spot.

"This sets a bad standard. You have a public housing project, mainly comprised of minorities, and people on visas and Section 8. In situations like that, residents can be easy to push around.

You can't allow an environment like that to grow. That becomes bad news for everyone," he said
Harding wonders about the long-term repercussion. "What happens when you reach that tipping point of injustice? Everyone involved bears the burden when things get this bad," he said.

Comments

[Ron]

What is the contact information for Patricia Casola, the Tenants Association President?

Thanks

[Editor]

Ron, leave me a message at (617) 354-3307 and i will call you with the number.
--neil.

[Veronica]

Wow! Reading this make me have a different perspective on this situation. I worked there during the time of discussion and was working under the property manager helping him make the property better. I had numerous tasks and tried to assist tenants the best way I could. I remember knocking on the doors and everything. I was unaware how the tenants felt. I agree, we should have introduced ourselves upon our arrival. However, we had to convert from Rent Roll system to Yardi system. The property manager wanted to update outstanding rent balances resulting in everyone's rent current. I personally tried to work out an agreement. If the agreement was broken, I had to proceed with legal actions such as 14 day notice to quit, summary process, etc. This made tenants upset. The property manager only knocked on doors when we could not reach the tenant through letter, or by phone. We tried to reach out to the tenant before sending out legal documents considering they have resided there for years. Some tenants were not aware that they had a balance for many years and did not understand why. As for the cameras, I understand now how people felt. We really did not spy on the tenants. Tenants came into the office, after an incident(s), such as vehicle theft, or vandalism, and we would review the cameras. It was for the safety of the community. I know some tenants felt like nobody could stay with them because of the key system and only if you where on the lease, and a certain age, you were able to obtain one. I understand both sides, management, and resident(s). Mr. McDonald came to a property and tried to make it better in such short time. Some people do not like change. Everything was happening so fast and nobody knew what was happening which resulted in upsetting the tenants making them feel uncomfortable in there home. Believe me, It had NOTHING to do with visa status....That was never an issue in the office. During inspection, we fixed everything we saw, and ask the tenant is there anything wrong with the apartment that you would like fixed. I feel we improved Fresh Pond apartments. This article does not state anything good we have done such as a cookout for the tenants. Mr. McDonald dressed up as a clown for the kids. Maintenance and other staff members helped set up, cook, and played music. I painted faces which made the children happy. I thought this event was big and made people more friendlier entering the rental office. I personally would like to apologize for anything we have done to make the tenants feel uncomfortable in there home. God Bless you!