Whites still fleeing cities in Mass. Crime fears, schools are probable factors

Whites still fleeing cities in Mass.
Crime fears, schools are probable factors

By Peter Schworm and Matt Carroll
Globe Staff / March 24, 2011

Whites are abandoning Massachusetts cities at a rapid clip, continuing well-worn paths to the suburbs or out of state, according to new demographic data from the US census.

In Lawrence, the white population plummeted by more than one-third over the past decade, while Chelsea’s dropped 34 percent. Springfield lost some 17,000 white residents, Brockton and Worcester dropped more than 14,000, while Lynn lost 12,600.

Overall, 43 of 45 large communities examined by the Globe saw declines in white population, with only suburban Peabody and Franklin countering the trend. Fourteen — including Everett, Lowell, Malden, and Watertown — dropped by double digits.

FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/24/whites_abandoning_massachusetts_cities_at_rapid_rate/

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SJC ruling may void thousands of foreclosures

SJC ruling may void thousands of foreclosures

January 7, 2011 01:08 PM
By Jenifer B. McKim, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a contentious land court ruling that puts in question the ownership of hundreds, possibly thousands, of foreclosed properties in the state.

The ruling challenges the way lenders have traditionally foreclosed on properties -- without having all the paperwork in place at the time a home is seized. It affirms a 2009 lower court decision that invalidated foreclosures on two Springfield homes because the lenders did not hold clear titles to the properties at the time of the proceedings.

FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2011/01/sjc_ruling_may.html?p1=News_links

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Woes exposed at Jamaica Plain project

By Jessica Fargen
Thursday, October 7, 2010

The tenant-run management at Bromley-Heath - one of the city’s most crime-ridden public housing projects - has failed to bounce violent tenants, spurred racial tensions between blacks and Hispanics and kept shoddy records, a Boston Housing Authority investigation shows.

The probe of Tenant Management Corp. at the 774-unit Jamaica Plain project was sparked by discrimination allegations lodged in April with the BHA.

“There’s some very serious issues out there,” said Boston Housing Authority Administrator Bill McGonagle. “Clearly there is a perception problem and perception can be reality for those perceiving discriminatory actions.”

The findings are not serious enough for BHA to seize management control from tenants as they did in 1998, he said. The management corporation must come up with an action plan to address the problems by the end of the month.

The project’s longtime executive director Mildred Hailey admitted there were problems and vowed to work with the BHA to fix them.

“We acknowledge that there are perceptions about certain things in the community and we are working toward doing everything to (repair them). I want to make sure that everybody in our community feels welcome, is treated fairly and with respect and dignity,” she said. The investigation, by consulting firm CVR Associates Inc., included a review of records and interviews with tenants and staff. It was completed Sept. 30. Findings include:

• Management harbored “resentment” for the increased number of Hispanics at Bromley-Heath. Despite no hard evidence of discrimination, Hispanics felt a “a palpable sense of fear and intimidation” by management.
• The property manager has not moved to evict any tenants since January 2009, despite police reports showing 54 instances when violent tenants should have been removed.
• Management failed to collect more than $36,000 in back rent and kept spotty records, including a lack of Social Security information. Nearly 50 percent of rent calculations in a review were wrong.
• Many tenants believe managers, including Hailey, gave preferential treatment to friends and family. While this perception could not be proven, “the allegations are widespread and serious and cannot be dismissed entirely,” the report found.

McGonagle said a monitor will be put in place to ensure that the management corporation follows their corrective action plan.

The investigation was launched after five Hispanic residents complained to the BHA’s civil rights office in April about alleged discrimination. In addition, 166 tenants, mostly Hispanic, signed a petition calling for the ouster of the property manager, who is black.

The Tenant Management Corp. was formed in 1971 as one of the country’s first public housing, tenant-run management companies.

Hailey, the executive director who helped found the organization in 1971, has been hailed for her work at Bromley-Heath. But she also has come under fire. In 1998, two of her grandsons who were living in her apartment were convicted in a Bromley-Heath drug ring.

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