Posted on 09/10/2007 1:39:08 PM PDT by pabianice
SHREWSBURY, MA -
The full weight of state and local bureaucracy is coming down on Helen Jarzobski and her buddies at Francis Gardens in Shrewsbury.
“Why should I be expected to change now?” asked Ms. Jarzobski, a rather precise senior who cited her age at 92 and a half. “I’m going to be gone soon. If they keep pushing this, I’ll be gone even sooner.”
Ms. Jarzobski sat with me Tuesday afternoon on her small backyard deck, which contains two comfy wicker chairs and a glass table. The grandmother of eight likes to relax there every morning with her coffee. She also tends to the birds that splash in her birdbath, and she keeps a red canister filled with biscuits that she feeds to the neighbor’s two dogs, which race to the fence as soon as she comes outside.
“This is the longest I’ve ever lived in one place in my whole life,” she said, as she waved a letter from management. “I shouldn’t have to deal with this.”
"This" is a notice sent to residents of the state-subsidized apartment complex for elderly and disabled residents, a follow-up to a recent letter that notified tenants that their efforts to make their living space homey and comfortable do not conform with health, safety and fire codes.
So they’ve been ordered to remove virtually everything from their decks — furniture, plants, flowers, birdbaths and flags. They must also take down everything in the common front hallways, such as rugs, curtains and wall hangings. The order follows a recent annual inspection by the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), and subsequent visits by the town building and fire inspectors.
“Every year they seem to focus on different things,” Dennis Osborn, executive director of the Shrewsbury Housing Authority, said of DHCD officials. “The state owns state housing. They have a right to tell us how to maintain the property.”
In this case, the regulations are a convergence of local fire codes that ban “combustible” plastic furniture from apartment exits, as well as state guidelines that call for a 5-foot clear path of travel. (Tenants can bring furniture outside if they bring it back in at the end of the day, which would be prohibitive for many seniors.)
Mr. Osborn notified tenants in July that their outdoor furniture must be removed by Aug. 1, but judging from the number of chairs and tables that still littered the decks this week, the order was largely ignored. On Aug. 31, he sent individual follow-up letters to each tenant, citing the items still on their decks and warning them that the Housing Authority would get rid of them if they aren’t removed by Sept. 15.
Mr. Osborn has a job to do and he seems like a decent guy, but I’m thinking he has better ways to occupy his time.
“Thirty years I’ve lived here, and suddenly there’s a code emergency?” asked Ms. Jarzobski. “I can’t enjoy my backyard anymore? It’s depressing. You might as well put bars on the door.”
While we spoke, a few of Ms. Jarzobski’s neighbors wandered over to her deck, a happy consequence of outdoor space that invites company. Except that her visitors weren’t too happy.
“I’m getting the hell out of here,” said Charlotte Libbey, 84, who grows sunflowers and plants on a deck that also boasts a now-contraband American flag. “This is my home. I read out here all day long. I’m giving my notice.”
When told that Mr. Osborn was only following regulations, she offered this succinct reply: “Bull (expletive).”
Ms. Jarzobski, meanwhile, said she has no intention of removing her furniture, a gift from her children.
“They’ll throw it out, Helen,” warned another neighbor, Carol Henry.
“They’ll have to throw me out with it,” Ms. Jarzobski said.
I tend to believe her. This is a woman, after all, who had four young children when she divorced her alcoholic husband and supported them alone through a series of back-breaking jobs such as laundry pressing and housekeeping. A woman who still drives, despite a frightening accident two years ago she dubbed “My Wild Ride” when her 1987 Thunderbird took down a flagpole and sign for Brittan Funeral Home (“I landed in the right place, but I wasn’t dead yet.”). A woman who enrolled in modeling classes at the ripe old age of 75 and enjoyed a satisfying, albeit modest 10-year career. A woman who still dashes off indignant letters to the editor when the issue of the day ticks her off.
A few years back, one of her neighbors made the mistake of complaining that Ms. Jarzobski’s grandchildren visited too often.
“I don’t want them here,” the woman sniffed. “I moved here for peace and quiet.”
“Well, you should have gone to St. John’s Cemetery if you want peace and quiet,” Ms. Jarzobski retorted.
As noted, Mr. Osborn has a fight on his hands. More than 60 tenants in the 100-unit complex have signed a petition in an effort to maintain the quality of life they’ve enjoyed for years, and they’ve asked for meetings to present their case.
“I understand they’re unhappy,” Mr. Osborn said. “We love our tenants. If this makes people safer, that’s a good thing.”
Not really. I can’t tell him how to do his job, but I’d rather buck a petty state agency than a peeved Helen Jarzobski.
“I’ve earned the right to relax,” she noted. “Why bother someone who’s almost 93?”
“If this makes people safer, that’s a good thing.” ......
“Even if we have to jam it down their throats for their own good” There, now its finished.
“The state owns state housing. They have a right to tell us how to maintain the property.”
socialized housing.
What the government pays for the government will govern. (and some things they don’t pay for)
I was born in a welfare state,
Ruled by bureaucracy.
Controlled by civil servants,
And people dressed in grey.
Got no privacy.
Got no liberty.
'Cause the Twentieth Century people,
Took it all away from me.--The Kinks
Just imagine what is going to happen if they get their feet in your front door?
Meadow Muffin
T-Birds are damn'd near as evil as those SUVs. I know it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that she was in her 90s.
I own my home. That's a joke because of real estate taxes I will never actually "own" it. The government already tells me how high I can build a fence, what buildings I can erect on my property, any day now the utility company is going to come by and butcher a few of my trees. That's the price I pay for living where I choose to live. I knew it before I bought the place.
“...In this case, the regulations are a convergence of local fire codes that ban “combustible” plastic furniture from apartment exits..”
As apposed to the WOODEN decks?????
If these leftists actually had the compassion they claim to have in building government housing (instead of giving people vouchers with which to obtain private housing) they would have sent somebody out to work with the residents and help them meet “legal” requirements while keeping any practical accommodations that would not truthfully impinge on those requirements.
But due to the best instincts from their lack of true compassion, they sent someone out to simply demand the government be obeyed, period. In truth, the people got what they asked for - government control of their lives. One can have sympathy for their current problem, but not the original error.
Soulless Communist Bureaucracy raising it’s head yet again in a “bastion” of “Liberal Democrat-cy”
Launching a charm offensive, apparently.
This is the main reason that the left seeks socialist health care -
once they get that in place, they can regulate EVERY aspect of your life because it will affect the cost of your health care.
Shrewsberry has a lot of help with its housing plans and developments:
The Shrewsbury Housing Authority is dedicated to helping residents grow in spirit,
live with a sense of fulfillment, experience dignity and meet the challenges of their
changing lives. In the spirit of this mission, the housing authority staff strives to meet
the needs of all our residents. We have arranged for monthly on-site Blood Pressure
and Podiatry Clinics, a dance program and other social events. For the past five years
the residents of the Shrewsbury Tower have provided the work necessary to support a
Breakfast Club. An expanded continental breakfast buffet is held on Tuesdays from
8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the community room at the Shrewsbury Tower. The Breakfast
Club would not be possible without the dedication of these hardworking volunteers.
The Shrewsbury Housing Authority will be opening the two five-bedroom houses on
Lake Street in April 2007. The purposes of these two houses are to help meet the
needs of individuals living at the Glavin Center. The Shrewsbury Housing Authority was
awarded two million dollars from the Department of Housing and Community
Development for this project.
The Shrewsbury Housing Authority makes a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to the
Town of Shrewsbury annually. State and Federal agencies have set the formulas for
payment. The payments for the past few years are listed below:
Fiscal Year Federal Pilot State Pilot Total Amount
2001 – 2002 $22,402.00 $5,205 $27,607.00
2002 – 2003 $25,741.88 $5,233 $30,974.88
2003 – 2004 $22,248.56 $5,160 $27,408.56
2004 – 2005 $22,891.08 $4,166 $27,057.08
2005 – 2006 $22,667.00 $4,929 $27,596.00
2006 – 2007 $23,567.70 $4,903.51 $28,471.21
LMAO! I love that lady :) The Massholes are out of control. Leave these folks alone!!
I wish I could say, “Sir, it’s not YOUR house, it’s the people’s house. You are not entitled, but we are being very generous with the entitlements.”
Of course they do, dumbass. The state employees have to justify their existance somehow, don't they?
That's right. Give the fascist state of Massachusettes MORE ideas.
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