Uniting to Make Downtown More Responsible!!

Over the last 10 years, the gap between the rich and the working class has grown tremendously. Large commercial property owners in the Greater Boston area, like The Blackstone Group, enjoy millions of dollars in profits, while residents of the communities where most of their service workers live – Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan – can barely make ends meet.

In our Secure Jobs, Secure Communities campaign we are organizing to demand that large downtown commercial property owners, including The Blackstone Group, invest $1 per square foot of property they own back into Boston neighborhoods. We are focusing on some of the most pressing issues around which community groups are currently organizing – foreclosure prevention, youth opportunities, CORI reform, and access to quality jobs.

Call The Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman TODAY! 1-212-583-5000
These are SCARY times for our communities and companies like The Blackstone Group can do the right thing and make a difference. Tell him to meet with Community Labor United about investing back into our communities here in Boston.

Rodney Noel is a young Haitian-American security officer who is currently living in the Dorchester area. He has been working as an officer for the past four years. Rodney has been active in the campaign to unionize the security industry because he feels that officers are not being treated fairly. Rodney is the father of a 3 year-old girl and has to work overtime to support his family while also attending school at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Rodney does not have health insurance for himself or his family. He relies on MassHealth for his medical needs. According to Rodney, his involvement with the security campaign is about more than his personal needs. He believes that the success of this struggle will improve his community not only from an economic standpoint, but that it will also help decrease crime in the neighborhoods since parents will be able to spend more time with their children and jobs will be created that give young people more opportunities and hope for their future.

Ronneshia Bolden is 17 years old and a member of United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston. She believes that if downtown commercial property owners like Blackstone invested more into the community, there would be more resources for the programs that youth want and need. Ronneisha is coming from the perspective of a young leader who really wants youth to have opportunities to better themselves. She thinks that more youth jobs, youth programs, and street workers would benefit the community, help decrease the number of youth on the streets, and increase the number of youth participating in positive change. Such programs prepare young people for a positive future, help build character, and give a voice to all youth in the community.

Sean Pelzer has definitely had his share of problems with CORI. Back in 1994, when he was a state employee, management questioned his alleged criminal history. Sean was shocked because he knew he had not committed any crimes, and therefore could not have a CORI. Nonetheless, he was laid off. Then in 1997, after working at UHaul for only 3 months, he was fired after his employer ran a CORI check. In 2001, after working for 6 months at Massachusetts General Hospital, Sean began speaking out to management about abusive and unsafe working conditions. In retaliation, he was fired after they decided to run a CORI check.

The following month, Sean was discharged and demoted by the Army because of his CORI, even after serving fourteen years with them. Finally, Sean was able to get a copy of his CORI and discovered all of the mistakes and inaccuracies, but was told he needed an attorney to clear his record. Since then, he has become active with the Union of Minority Neighborhood as an organizer to change the extremely flawed CORI law and to make sure no one else has to go through what he did.

Maggie Brown had been steadily employed since she was 17 years old until about 3 years ago. That’s when her employer decided to run a CORI check on all its workers. Maggie, who started out in the company’s call center, had received promotion after promotion. After just 2½ years, she became a temporary supervisor and then landed a position in their corporate office. Clearly, the company recognized Maggie’s skills, experience, and potential, rewarding her with greater responsibility and leadership in the company.

After discovering that she had a CORI – a nonviolent drug offense from nearly 10 years ago – the company immediately instituted a program of intimidation designed to make Maggie quit. Firing her would have allowed Maggie to collect unemployment benefits. Instead, the company demoted Maggie back to the call center floor and decreased her salary accordingly. They changed her work schedule to include Sundays, knowing she was the sole supporter and caretaker of her 3 children. The company also switched her shift from days to nights, knowing full well that Maggie was taking night classes in order to secure a better future for herself and her loved ones. The situation became so stressful that Maggie was forced to leave her job, and for the first time in nearly 20 years she found herself unemployed. Since then, her CORI has proven to be a barrier to finding another job. Maggie has not been able to find work for almost 3 years. Under current Massachusetts law her 1996 CORI is not eligible to be sealed until 2011. Maggie is a leader at the Boston Workers Alliance, an organization fighting to reform CORI laws in Massachusetts.

Debra Nicholas is an ACORN leader who works as a security officer downtown and has lived in Mattapan for about a year. She had been renting an apartment in Dorchester for over 10 years when a newspaper advertisement for a first-time homebuyer class got her excited about the possibility of buying a house. Soon after attending the ½ day workshop, Debra received a letter in the mail declaring that she and her husband were pre-approved for a home loan of $425,000. Although suspecting it might have been a joke or a mistake, they decided to call one of the real estate brokers listed in the letter. This broker assured them the pre-approval amount was accurate and offered to help them purchase a home of their own. Debra and her husband agreed – and that is when their nightmare began. Debra became interested in a house for sale in Mattapan but discovered that the asking price was $52,000 higher than their pre-approved figure. She told her broker she could not afford the house but he told her not to worry, falsified her income statement, and obtained a new approval letter for the higher amount from the mortgage company. When Debra repeatedly voiced doubts over her ability to make payments on a $477,000 loan and concerns that the process was moving too fast for her comfort, the broker pushed her to seal the deal.

Within two weeks of closing on her first home, Debra’s basement flooded, She was informed that the second floor insulation needed to be replaced, and an electrician found unsafe and illegal conditions, including crossed wires and an outdoor lighting system powered by an extension cord. None of these issues were flagged during the home inspection. Debra also discovered that her broker had not informed her that her mortgage payments did not include taxes and insurance; that he had charged her an extra 1% of the loan amount for counseling fees over and above his $15,000 commission; and that the original appraisal was a forgery that overvalued the house by more than $75,000. Her monthly mortgage payment was roughly three times what her rent had been. Her loan has been sold twice in the last year. The house is now in foreclosure. According to the Massachusetts Division of Banks, Debra and her husband should not have been approved for a loan of more than $300,000. Because the house was never properly appraised, Debra has been told that her loan may be invalid – even though she has been making regular payments for the last year.