Senate Bill S00953 – Bad for Co-ops!! Write today!
We Need You!
Written Testimony
Deadline: Friday, June 17, 2010, noon!
Shannon.Moore@mahouse.gov
Now is the time to help our artists’ communities. Send in your testimony against Senate Bill S00953, An Act Relative to Eligibility for Cooperative Housing.
Send in your written comments via email to Shannon.Moore@mahouse.gov by Friday, June 17th, noon.
“…in cooperatives the landlord is a partnership of the residents, it is unreasonable to require them to accept anyone who has the money.” – Bay State Banner, June, 2008
For more information on the legislation, history of legislation/what is behind it, talking points, and how to write your testimony please see this page.
Don’t lose your right to build an artists’ co-op without undue overhead, amending your articles of incorporation to great specificity, or increasing your risk to costly litigation. Send in your comment now. Your opinion means a lot to those legislators on the Joint Committee on Housing. Join us this Tuesday, June 14, 2011, 10 am Room B-1 at the State House.
Having income as the sole determinant for eligibility is actually discriminatory to those of lower IQ, women, and minorities – groups that traditionally make less in the marketplace. Furthermore, if five “economically qualified” people apply for the same unit, which “one” do you choose while defending yourself from suit by the other “four”?
The event that sparked creation of the bill centered around a fight among the wealthy:
‘…the board offered five reasons for its rejection–none of them mentioning Mr. Walsh’s pedigree or lack of debutante dates. For instance, the board said it was worried he wouldn’t “reasonably coalesce as a member of the cooperative community.” It also said it was concerned that he was a speculator who wanted to flip the property.’ WSJ Blogs, Sept. 2008.
The result of the dispute: a multimillion dollar settlement; just to “go away”, presumably. However, the issue hasn’t gone away. It’s come back now for the third time before the legislature. Therefore, it is key that the Joint Committee on Housing hears from those opposed to this piece of legislation!