HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-07-08-FHC-min.pdf Fair Housing Committee Minutes, 7/8/92
Present Gerri Weathers, Chairman Florence Baturin
Jim Brannon; Mary Haskell ; Bob Pressman; Eva
Heney, reporter ; Steve Baran, Fair Housing
Director (recorder)
Absent Peter Brown; Nicole T Herrmann; Leona Martin
Minutes of 6/10/92
The Minutes of 6/ 10/92 were approved
Hate Crimes/Follow-up on Meeting with Police Officers
There was a feeling that the Committee had undertaken a process
of buildingtrust with the
police officers who came to discuss
hate crimes Following up on Officer Swan' s suggestion to
broaden the mandate of the Committee to include civil rights, the
Committee members were in agreement that the Fair Housing
Committee should indeed, broaden its title The Committee
should continue to affirmatively support diversity The mandate
financial needs and legality of such a move should be explored
Would the Committee be diluting its focus by taking on added
responsibilities? Should there be more members ( the present
limit is eight ur nine) ? A more broadly defined committee could
create a climate in which integration would flourish
( I Heretofore, members have sought to do this under the rubric of
Fair Housing Committee, but they have at times had to justify
themselves in doing so
It was agreed that a letter should be written to the Editor of
the Minuteman offering congratulations for the article on "dirty
little secrets"
Bob Pressman reviewed the history of the antecedents of the Fair
Housing Committee In the seventies there was a Commission on
Suburban Responsibility The Fair Housing Committee submitted a
plan between 1980 and 1982 following which the Committee became
inactive until 1985 when it was recreated since there was a
requirement of the Mass Commission Against Discrimination that
there be such a group
Examples of municipal committees dealing with civil rights can be
found in Brookline, Concord and Arlington The Arlington
committee has 22 members Its size is in part dictated by a
sense that there should be enough members so that if the need
arises , one of the members can sit with a person who has been
injured by a hate crime
Soft Second Loan Program for First-Time Home Buyers
It was suggested that the Soft Second Loan Program be publicized
within the minurity and disability communities Mary Haskell
Fair Housing Committee Minutes, 7/8/92 Page 2
agreed to serve on the Soft Second Loan Committee, and Steve will
convey this information to Debby Radway, Assistant Town Manager
and Laura Dorfman, Lexington Savings Bank, Assistant Vice
President, Loan Department
New member to fill vacancy left on the Fair Housing Committee
Possibilities for a new member to fill the vacancy left by Bill
Spencer ' s resignation were discussed
Officer Swan
2 Judith McCloskey (Mary Haskell will contact)
3 a Franklin School resident
4 Chinese applicant for job with Council on Aging
(prepared to implement outreach program to the
Lexington Chinese community)
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