Email sent by AFD to select influential Amherst individuals:
From: "McKay, Donald" <McKayD@amherstma.gov>
Date: September 18, 2012 1:44:49 PM EDT
Date: September 18, 2012 1:44:49 PM EDT
I thought that I would apprise you of a situation in which your assistance would be welcomed. Last Thursday the Fire Department responded to a basement fire at # 28 Hobart Lane. 28 Hobart Lane is one of the 14 units that Lincoln Realty owns and manages in the 3 apartment buildings collectively called Gillreath Manor Apartments. The basement contained 2 illegal bedrooms. One of these would be considered to be OK as a bedroom with some modifications as directed by the Building Commissioner. The second bedroom 1) physically cannot be used as bedroom and 2) exceeds the maximum occupancy of 4.
Currently, the Fire Department,
Health Department, and Building Commissioners office are awaiting the
opportunity to inspect all 14 units in the complex. On Monday the 17th
of September, we were invited to inspect 2 of the 14 units. We
observed two rooms, constructed without permits, in each basement with
no beds contained therein. We did observe two beds that had been
stacked beneath the stairs in each occupancy.
The issue: We have one email and
now one phone call from the displaced occupants that clearly indicate
that they have been instructed by Lincoln reality to remove the evidence
of the two illegal bedrooms until after the combined inspections. We
are working with the University to acquire permanent residence hall
accommodations for the 14 students who will be displaced from the 5th
bedroom in each unit. It appears that the 28 students displaced from
the basement bedrooms are in need of temporary accommodations and I
believe that Lincoln Realty needs to step up and procure these temporary
living arrangements.
The charade needs to end and these
kids need safe housing.. To date, we believe that we (the combined
inspection departments) have not proceeded in an untoward manner, we
have withheld action through an administrative search warrant instead
seeking to act cooperatively with Lincoln Realty to inspect the
apartments and we are very cautiously approaching a cease and desist
order to compel Lincoln Realty to reduce the occupancy of the apartments
to 4.
Any assistance you may be able to
provide in motivating Lincoln Realty to provide the necessary temporary
housing would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Don
Assistant Chief Donald R. McKay, EMT-P, MPH
Padlock every property owned by Lincoln Realty or anyone affiliated with it. Fine the owners for each day of the violation, for each unit.
ReplyDeleteUntil there are consequences, wrongdoing will continue. Pleading that "these students need some place to live" just means property owners can go on acting like slumlords.
I'm not opposed to landlords. My family rented out two houses for years and some of the tenants remained our friends ever since. But we always followed the law.
Call the State Building Inspector and watch the sh*t hit the fan. This is a criminal offense.
ReplyDeleteThe town of Amherst doesn't even inspect rentals when they're reported. I know - I've been a reporting party. I'm not surprised, and I doubt anything will be done.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too concerned with having extra kids in an establishment. While the landlords will do nothing to oppose the situation, I would think that a lot would have to do with the kids themselves looking for a cheaper rent and asking others to live with them based on the space, and not necessarily asking for landlord approval.
ReplyDeleteHey Larry,
ReplyDeleteOn another note, could you do some investigative reporting on Cherewati, the Chinese guy from Longmeadow who keeps buying property in Amherst, and other big landlords and LLC's? How big are these people? How many units do they own?
Also--how much of Amherst--central village--is rental and how much owner occupied? The Gazette seems to struggle to produce basic facts of the situation so we can understand the town we live in and have conversations about how to move forward.
Hey, it's called the free market. Buy your own d*mn houses. Don't complain about Cherewati or anyone else.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous October 10, 2012 9:30 AM:
ReplyDeleteThe Town of Amherst knows. UMass knows. Lord, everyone knows. The town does not care about home owners. Conversations won't go anywhere. Don't waste your time. It's just lip service to appease the loud crowd - as it has been for years and years now. The smart folks have moved or plan to do so in the near future.
There are only so many times that one can walk into a brick wall before they decide to walk somewhere else.
These friggan liberals take over towns and turn em inside out don't they?
ReplyDeleteNice job, chimps.
But hey, it's alright... we'll be here to pick up the pieces.
Again.
Why is the Gazette not all over this story? And, if there is a basis in fact to this story, the Chamber of Commerce might want to revisit its choice of an officer.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the connection?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI can't BELIEVE the town is not immediately throwing the book at
KATHY and PETER GRANDONICO,
the owners of Lincoln Real Estate which is who are ultimately responsible.
Wait, where have I heard that name before....
Oh, yes, I have it, she's the head of the Chamber of Commerce-
"Chamber president Kathy Grandonico praised the campus for promoting student patronage of local businesses and using locally grown produce in the dining commons. She called Amherst a “perfect to place to live” and added, “Students are a vital part of our community.”"
Imagine if that fire had occurred at 4am and 2, 5, or 10 vital students had DIED trapped in those basement apartments they were told to hide from the inspectors.
Really, it's astonishing how this is being soft pedaled.
The four person bylaw, though not in this case, is not usually for fire reasons. That might be the excuse given, but it is more aimed at reducing student parties (a big house full of students brings big potential).
ReplyDeleteThis is the classic town of Amherst, forgetting the students. Back in the day we had to have extra people move in sometimes because you have zero concern for students, and thus zero rent control (and it increases every year). I worked 2 jobs to pay rent, and a third over my winter break cooking chicken so I could buy a new laptop. I didn't mind this, but I could not have lived in my apartment the year after because the criminals at Puffton raised rent, again, to a point which I couldn't afford on my own.
Control rent so it is reasonable for four people, and part of your solution will be found. Combine this with harsh landlord penalties and the four person bylaw will hold. Just be prepared for the sudden increase in demand for four person units in the area!
Excellent work Larry. Who knows how this money hustle may have played out if you hadn't put it in the headlights. Richard Marsh
ReplyDeleteThanks. I just hope the town will now use it as a teachable moment.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes free market until you don't like it and then it's government rent control. How about moving to Hadley, Belchertown or someplace else cheaper. The landlords have to pay the mortgages and taxes. Those taxes pay for our schools, police and fire department.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually pretty significant. Any other landlord its more of a "business as usual" thing, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
ReplyDeleteGolf clap, Larry. Golf clap.
Anon 7:01pm....We all have to abide by the laws. I am a small scale landlord, and constantly have to face tax increases....including overrides that I could not afford, but others have mandated, water and sewer increases etc. Yet I would NEVER put a tenent at risk. NEVER. But Lincoln, due to pure, unadulterated greed, will not only put people at risk for money, they will abuse their position as provider to renters in a tight market to coerce their customers to commit a serious, dangerous, and felonious act... and you defend this as a "free market" practice? Wrong. It is illegal and immoral. Richard Marsh
ReplyDeleteThis IS significant, and I too hope that some heads roll because of these reported, yet ignored, infractions. Good work, Larry (for once!)
ReplyDeleteAnd kudos to McKay who knew his letter would come to light. We don't want anyone to die! I don't care if there are 10 students -- who have a fighting chance to escape a fire (who do not take the batteries out of smoke detectors)!
ReplyDeleteLandlords should be able to make a living, but not at the expense of the safety of their tenants.
This whole town is starting to feel corrupt. A landlord tells tenants to cover up the evidence. The same landlord is a chamber of commerce president. The town sits back and says we are going to work with them even though the actions of the landlord look criminal. Tony Maroulis. and the chamber support Maria Geryk. Tony’s wife is on the school committee that votes her in. There are rumors that long time residents (many generations) of Amherst don’t pay the same taxes the rest of us do. We have one the highest paid principle in Western MA who refuses to fix the problems in the high school and sends his kids or kid to private school. Owners of Amherst Chinese are violating workers rights while telling us how wonderful there locally grown food is. There are many good things in Amherst but the drive to fix corruption is not one of them. People wake up if the things mentioned here are pretty well known what else don’t we know? The state really needs to step in and clean up a few things around here.
ReplyDeleteThis town has to let some developer build some a lot of housing. Students will only keep coming and do what desperate acts are necessary to get through college. Do we as residents of this town want to sit back and say sorry your child burned to death. We just don't like all this student housing. We stopped allowing people to build and this is the end result. Umass is also responsible for bringing in more students to a place that has few places left to put them. They also turn a blind eye to the problem the create. It is only going to get worse and no one in authority really seems to care.
ReplyDeletesoon there will be around 1500 beds for undergraduates in the Common Wealth College, this should help relieve some of the pressure...
ReplyDeleteThere is a rental house on my street with at least 6 kids, some in the basement with those teeny tiny windows and just stairs up to a main floor. Who should be notified, and if they are will anything be done?
ReplyDeleteBuilding Commissioner Morra, code enforcement officer Jon Thompson, fire safety inspector Mike Roy, town manager Musante.
ReplyDeleteAnd if we have all learned from this recent regrettable incident, something will get done.
Memory is that Lincoln Real Estate had a grand total of ZERO Section 8 units with the AHA when I was inspector. They didn't even try, which tells me something...
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI notice that the GRANDONICOS immediately transferred Gilreath Manor out of the
Grandonico LLC
into a new separate LLC:
Gilreath Manor LLC
Anticipating legal action? Looking to avoid personal liability?