Orr: Protecting property values is in everyone's interest
By Steven W. Orr
Friday, September 22, 2006
A
few months ago, someone created a new blog entitled, "This is
Framingham." It was a very nice job of taking pictures and providing
commentary.
That
gave me an idea: to go around town looking for problems of the type
that harm a neighborhood's property values.
We
were looking for blight (whatever that is); specifically, we focused on
signs of overcrowding and violations of the town's nuisance bylaw. We
knew that if we wanted to catch signs of overcrowding, we'd have to get
up pretty early in the morning - before the occupants of those
overcrowded units all left home for work. Starting at 5 a.m., we drove
around the south part of town (selected because the concentration of
violations there would make it easier to find worthwhile pictures).
After
taking only 30 photos, we "declared victory" and withdrew. The
pictures, with descriptions, were sent only to the Framingham Building
Department for action.
After
a week went by with no response from Town officials, I contacted
another good friend and we went out for second and third rounds, a week
apart.
We
looked for an excessive number of mailboxes, satellite dishes, cars,
electric meters, and trashcans all belonging to a single house.
We looked for structural absurdities like collapsing porches and decaying concrete walls.
We looked for massively-overgrown vegetation and overflowing dumpsters.
We even scored abandoned television sets, couches, washing machines, and toilets in people's yards.
We
saw roofs so badly decayed that we had to question whether the
structures could even be safe for human habitation. We saw houses with
so many people living in them that they had their own fire department
call-boxes installed next to the doorbells. We saw four men beating up
a fifth man on a public sidewalk at six o'clock in the morning.
Altogether,
we snapped about 200 pictures and we placed them all on the Web, along
with descriptions, so they could be distributed to about a thousand of
my closest friends. Each time, we sent all this information to the
Building Department.
Because
all of the pictures were taken in the south part of town, some people
criticized me for not turning a spotlight on problems in other
neighborhoods. So, Rob and I went out again, focused this time on some
houses in the Nobscot and Saxonville areas.
Plenty
of problems exist there but it's harder to find them, because the
problem houses are more spread apart. Still, after a few hours we had
several gems, including one house that had collapsed in the back and
been abandoned for (drum roll, please) 21 years and two other houses
that we suspected were unsuitable for human habitation.
We
did interact with neighborhood people while making our rounds. One
woman was disturbed to see some stranger taking pictures from the
street; she tried to report it as a crime.
She
spoke no English but, eventually, her message was translated as a
report that a terrorist was trying to kidnap her child. How did she
know he was a terrorist? He had a beard!
We
photographed another house from the street, which caused a 12 year-old
to be scared. The girl's father called me and we ended up talking on
the phone.
He
may not like that we photographed his house and I was sorry to have
scared his daughter, but he understands now why we were out there.
Ironically, pictures of his house never made it onto the Web; the house
just wasn't bad enough.
For
the past 10 years, Framingham has been targeted by so-called non-profit
social service agencies, which have been turning the town into a
regional hub. People from all over flock to Framingham to receive these
services - and, when they come here, they need housing.
One
agency in particular has worked to create huge quantities of low-cost
housing with a targeted bracket of just 30 percent of median income.
The resulting blight is due in part to the increased percentage of
non-resident landlords, substance abusers and violent criminals
associated with poverty, as well as to permissiveness within the town's
zoning and permitting processes.
Framingham
was being quickly destroyed by the failures of its past leadership.
Only within the last year has the rudder begun to turn in the right
direction.
No
one's house was photographed to shame them. To the contrary, it was all
done for two reasons: to shame the town government out of its long
state of inaction and to bring attention to the overwhelming need to
correct these problems, and to stimulate others into taking action when
they see a problem.
Did it work?
Time
will tell, but last week the Board of Selectmen took a decisive step by
ordering a review of the entire process by which complaints under the
nuisance bylaw are handled.
People
should try to work with their neighbors to resolve problems that hurt
property values and the enjoyment of their homes - but they should also
be able to count on timely action from Town Hall when it is called for.
Framingham
is proud to have contributed as much as it has to the cause of social
services. But when all is said and done, enough is enough.
Steven W. Orr lives in Framingham.
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