HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-10-14-FHC-min.pdf Fair Housing Committee
Minutes of meeting in Tam of Lexington, 10/14/87
Present Gerri Weathers, Chairman; Bill Spencer; Fred Rosenberg; Albert Huang;
Florence Baturin; Vidya Bhatia; Muriel Spence; Steve Baran, Human Services
Coordinator
Absent Jim Brannon, Leona Martin
Introduction of Albert Huang
Mr Albert Huang was introduced to the members of the Fair Housing Committee
He explained to the members of the Committee his vocational interests in the field
of institutional architecture.
Minutes of meeting of September 9
Under "Fair Housing Guidelines" on page 1 the Minutes were corrected so that the
the phrase "within any one area of the Town" should be added to "there was no over-
representation or under-representation of classes covered by the Guidelines" The
Minutes were further corrected to reflect the presence of Muriel Spence at the last
meeting
Report to Mass Commission Against Discrimination
Steve Baran will ask the incoming Town Manager to appoint him as
Fair Housing Officer, distribute the amended Fair Housing Plan
(see attached) and the regional plan due 10/15 (see attached)
Selectmen!s Breakfast
Gerri Weathers reported on the Selectmen's Breakfast which she recently attended
(see attached "Selectmen Goals/Objectives Fiscal Year ]989") She explained to
the gathering of Committee Chair to the desire through holding the Fair Housing
Form of giving the subject of fair housing more visibility A discussion of
the equity sharing proposal at the Breakfast led to Judy t]hring voicing her views
that there is a lack of coordination around housing It was noted that the following
groups were concerned with housing matters Council on Aging, LexHab, Housing
Authority, housing Advisory Cbmnittee, planning Board, Lexington Committee with
Special Needs and the Human Services Committee The Enablement Committee had
recently expressed an interest in housing in relation to perceived discrimination
against physically handicapped person at the Franklin School apartments and proposed
legislation that would allow handicapped persons to bring complaints to the MCAD.
It was suggested that the Fair Housing Cbmmittcc consider joint meetings with other
housing groups following the example of the joint meeting of the Housing Authority
and LexHab which was held prior to the Breakfast. Another suggestion was that
a news sheet be put out announcing events in Tann pertaining to housing
Fair Housing Committee, 10/14/87, p. 2
Attorney General's Meeting
Gerri Weathers and Steve Baran attended Attorney General Harshbarger's Third annual
Municipal Forum on fair housing and civil rights Training emphases included the
subjects of nepotism, the open meeting law and conflict of interest. Gerri was
particularly impressed by Bill Johnston of the Boston Police Department Community
Disorders Unit Johnston had stressed that the very perception on the part of
community members that there is no racism is in itself a reflection of institu-
tional racism.
It was agreed to ask Steve Baran to contact the Lexington Chief of Police
through a written memorandum recommending training for policemen.
Selectmen's Meeting, 10/19
Gerri Weathers will be informing the Selectmen of the Fair Housing Action Plan and the
forthcoming Fair Housing Forum.
Equity Sharing
Bob Pressman explained the equity sharing concept a means of subsidizing certain
groups whidh are above incase guidelines and yet fall into certain potentially favored
categories, e g , protected classes under fair housing guidelines, trim employees,
teachers, etc. Bob noted in this connection that there were unused school sites which
were assets to the Town making it possible to create laver cost housing Mr Huang
explained that it was more expensive to build in Lexington since contractors usually
assumed that Lexington could afford to absorb higher costs He said there was a
40% difference in costs between Lexington and Springfield. There are five remaining
school sites on 90 acres of land.
Fair Housing Forum
Topics to be covered in Fair Housing Forum on December 2 include outreach, politics and
waiting lists It is felt that the Forton will provide an opportunity for networking
and will be of mutual benefit, an opportunity to learn what works and what doesn't
work The Selectmen will be asked to sponsor the event and cover the costs The
meeting could also provide an opportunity to reaffirm concern among communities which
are not usually perceived as open. Committee members are looking forward with
interest to finding out approaches to keeping action plans dynamic. A further
topic that might be introduced is the degree of community feeling among minorities
It was felt that to make Blacks more visible there needsto be activities serving
as focal points Gerri Weathers instanced her activity in the newly reorganized
Lexington Kiwanis Club as an example of what can be acct poished as an interracial
experience Arrangements for note-taking and inviting the press were recamended
for the subcommittee to explore
Respectfully Sub tted,
Stephen Hanan,
Human Services Coordinator