By Kim Siebert MacPhail
On September 16, Representative Ken Gordon’s regularly scheduled community “office hours” were anything but regular. Drawing at least 100 concerned residents to the multipurpose room at the Town Hall, the only topic discussed during the night’s three hour meeting was the ongoing and mounting subject of the “transitional” or homeless families that are temporarily housed by the State at the Bedford Plaza Hotel.
While several remedial approaches were debated—including filing code violation complaints, revising bylaws to prohibit long-term hotel occupancy, lobbying at the State level for relief, and upward revaluation the hotel’s property assessment—none, by the end of the meeting, served to conclusively shield Bedford from the impacts of a larger, state-wide homelessness issue.
For background on how Bedford, as a host community, is being affected, visit The Citizen’s most recent articles on the subject: https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/09/12/schools-open-with-more-kindergarteners-homeless-students-than-expected/ and https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/09/16/schools-provide-fincom-with-homeless-student-and-kindergarten-details/
Concerns as expressed at the September 16 meeting were the negative impacts on the schools; the budget; town services such as police and fire; safety of school children, townspeople, and hotel residents, and Bedford’s image/ reputation as a desirable town.
Participants in the meeting expressed a sense of powerlessness over the State’s arrangement with the hotel that financially benefits the owner while draining community resources.
To address these wide-ranging concerns, Representative Gordon formed a panel of those who deal first-hand with the families and the issues raised by their presence in Bedford. Ann Guay is a School Committee member who has actively volunteered—separate from her School Committee role— to support and advocate for the families; Jon Sills is the Superintendent of Schools who oversees all education and transportation needs of the 108 school-age children housed at the Plaza; and Police Chief Robert Bongiorno deals with public safety and crime matters that arise in the crowded hotel and in the community at large.
Guay reported that the situation for the children and their families is far from ideal. The hotel is currently housing approximately 90 families, some with more than one child. Each family is assigned one room with two double beds. The rooms have only microwaves to cook with and, until recently, the hotel had no laundry facilities or areas for the children to play in. A group of volunteers that includes Guay and representatives from some of the town’s churches has provided activities for the kids and has gathered school materials such as backpacks for the children. They have also successfully lobbied to have onsite, State-funded health and social services staff and they have met with the hotel owner to work for generally improved conditions.
When asked by a citizen if the hotel owner understood how angry townspeople are about the situation, Guay responded that although the volunteers have met with him, “he would be surprised by the crowd here tonight.”
Superintendent Jon Sills related the challenges and the Schools’ responses to those challenges. When asked if the higher kindergarten enrollment was due to the homeless children, Sills answered that they accounted for only six additional kindergarteners of the larger, unexpected 199 student enrollment. Sills said that monitors have been added to some school buses experiencing problem behaviors associated with the transitional students; however several parents reported that a number of busses were overflowing with riders sitting three abreast and that behavioral concerns have not been resolved.
Chief Bongiorno spoke about some of the misperceptions surrounding the hotel residents. Despite rumors to the contrary, Bongiorno said there had been no prostitution violations, only a minor number of shoplifting incidents, and one issue of drug dealing that had been dealt with. Police details had not been following school buses to monitor bus behaviors; Bongiorno said that cruisers regularly and randomly follow school buses to make sure motorists stop when buses pick-up or drop-off students.
However, Bongiorno did report that calls for police and fire assistance at the hotel were taxing resources, although he also explained that hotel residents have no other form of transportation to and from area hospitals and that it is common for them to dial 911 when they need a ride.
Representative Gordon said that he would be working to get some relief for Bedford at the State level. A complaint letter to be sent to the Code Enforcement office was distributed for signatures in order to prompt an investigation of living conditions and crowding at the hotel. Chief Bongiorno also urged residents to call the police if they have any public safety concerns such as children playing too close to the street or any other hazard.
While those in attendance generally thanked the panel members and Rep. Gordon for the amount of attention dedicated to the transitional family issue, a resident spoke about what he saw as an unfair benefit accrued to the hotel owner through his financial arrangement with the State while Bedford’s resources are drained without fair compensation.
“If a business is having a negative impact on the community, what is the recourse? The Town should certainly be able to take some form of action— it shouldn’t take a room full of people. What it sounds like—what I’m hearing—is that this is a problem to which there is no answer for the foreseeable year—several years—and in fact there’s no one we can talk to about this directly and there’s no facility for taxpayers to get relief from this issue,” he said.
The State has said that it intends to resolve the problem of housing the homeless in suburban hotels by 2014.
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People need to stop “spinning” this issue to fit their argument. No one wants to see homeless children not being properly cared for.
A private business owner has taken advantage of a terrible state solution. In doing so he has taxed resources in a town and created resentment towards people in need.
No one wants to be forced to be charitable. This has not been a fair distribution of homeless families throughout the state. It has been a “dumping” in a broken down failed business flea bag hotel. Those involved in this at the state level should be ashamed.
This situation is unfairly degrading to our town and has occurred not intentionally to help people, but rather for a single business owner to profit from out stat tax money. These unfortunate people, that seem to be able to spend a great deal of time loitering in the local stores rather than working and have enough disposable income to afford cigarettes to smoke out on the street, should be distributed evenly throughout the surrounding towns. The children need more then backpacks, their parents need jobs so they can be self sufficient and earn a place in society otherwise these children will just be the next generation to get a free ride in the plaza ghetto. My single mother raised me by working two jobs without taking hand outs, she taught me to have a strong work ethic and I am able to afford to buy a home in Bedford because what she these traits. This is a symptom of a societal problem, not people that are down on their luck.
So. From this and other articles, it is my understanding that the majority if not all families were to be moved out of the Bedford hotel by next month. (July 2014). What is the status on this?
We are still experiencing overcrowding of our schools, (100 extra children is approx 4 or so entire classrooms) and are now hearing word of costs to Davis school to accommodate this. I realize there are other factors but if our resources as important as our schools are being overcrowded and we are experiencing significant costs to accommodate I would be looking to reduce our numbers in any way possible.
What is the current update on this issue? I am curious what has been done since this was written.
Not really sure it is fair to imply that this is our Town’s problem – as in, our Town not being immune to society’s problems. And it’s not about Bedford being “dumped” on. If our Town is disproportionately shouldering the burden for the entire state of Massachusetts, then there is a major problem. The population at the Bedford Plaza has steadily grown. This is not the Town of Bedford being a microcosm of the larger society’s problem – it is Bedford MAGNIFYING this problem – and condensing it into one area.
And yes, it does have a negative impact on the community. Empathy has little to do with it – it is what it is.
And of course, the implication is that those sheltered at the Bedford Plaza are actually being helped.
The questions that should be asked, and Rep Gordon should be able to answer:
– Specifically how did the population at Bedford Plaza hotel grow the way it has?
– How does the State determine where to place families?
– How long can a family stay at the Bedford Plaza?
Another aspect is that the residential tax rates have risen dramatically in recent years with respect to commercial – supposedly because of lower occupancy rates. So how can the Town rectify this with what is clearly a booming business at the Bedford Plaza?
I would like to echo the sentiment of Nancy and Rabbi Abbramson that Bedford is a town of kind and generous people supportive both spiritually and materially of others in need. I believe that given the right mix of misfortune, any one of us could find ourselves in dire straights and needing help just like the people who are having to make due at the Plaza Hotel. I feel that this issue is particularly difficult because it would seem to pit the interest of helping families and children in need against the interests of helping town resident families and children. That is a painful moral challenge – especially among what I would argue to be a particularly compassionate citizenry.
Having attended this meeting and discussed the issue with others I would like to suggest that the root of this issue is the fair application of state law and its implications on town resources, not a lack of empathy. Essentially, the result of a local business owner taking advantage of a state program to house homeless families has inadvertently placed what many town residents deem to be an unfairly large burden on town resources, thereby reducing the efficacy and distribution of resources for all residents including the homeless. Here again, it is not the housing of homeless families in need that is at issue, it is the fact that inadequate controls in the state law have allowed an unfair burden to be placed on one of its towns. It has been said that Bedford now houses 5% of the Massachusetts homeless population but holds only 0.2% of its citizens. The cost to transport some of the students residing at the hotel to other school districts is costing approximately $45,000 per month. Police, fire and EMT services are more stretched. School class size and teacher counts have increased. Here again, it is not the desire to help that is in question, it is the question of fair consideration of the law. I would be surprised if the framers of 40B would have thought that by one hotel owner opting for this program that it would so greatly weigh on the tax base of any one community. And I, for one, believe this is where attention should be focused – on how we can achieve equity and rebalanced consideration so that the ability to help those in need does not come at what those mandated to pay see as too high a cost.
What threatens to injure Bedford’s deservedly exceptional reputation as a place to live and raise families is not the composition of its residents, but its ability to support the will of its people. By helping to provide for those in need we are made a stronger, better community. It is the inability to stop the affects of an unfair law from overtaxing resources that threatens to create the belief that citizens have no say in matters that affect their families, friends and neighbors. And it is this sense of powerlessness that, left unchecked, can change the way people feel about our town.
Our town is not immune from the problems of our society. This is an opportunity for us to “love our neighbor as ourself” and help someone in need. Members of Temple Shalom Emeth just provided 40 of those children with new backpacks and school supplies. We look forward to more opportunities to make a difference for those who are down on their luck.
I wish to thank Representative Gordon for addressing these issues. I am very sad to see that housing homeless is considered as something that would lower our desirability as a town. From my facebook grapevine, I have heard that many churches in town have stepped up to help those living in the Plaza Hotel. Lunches were made for the children, Charlie Cards have been given to the residents, and multiple forms of assistance has been offered. This raises Bedford, IMHO, that people are willing to step in and help.
I do agree that we need to make arrangements with the state to reimburse Bedford for town costs, but I do not blame those living in the hotel for the situation. Step up, help out. Let’s help these people get a foothold so when they can afford housing, Bedford is known as a kind town.
Great article. Sums up several aspects of the discussion. A related issue that was discussed at this meeting was the higher than average percentage of Bedford’s agfordable housing zonage.
A new website has been created to provide a forum for these and other Bedford issues at https://bedfordspeaks.org