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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1973-07-10-LCSR-rpt.pdf LEXINGTON COMMISSION ON aUL.PP 4N RESPONSIBILITY 1625 MASSACHUSFTTS AVENUE LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02173 July 10 , 1973 Mr Allan F Kenney, Chairman Lexington Board of Selectmen Town Offices Lexington, Massachusetts 02173 Dear Mr Kenney This letter will constitute my report to the Board of Selectmen concerning the activities of the Lexington Commission on Suburban Responsibility during its 1972-1973 year Housing The Commission has been concerned both with subsidized housing units in apartment developments and with single-family houses on scattered sites As regards apartments, interest centered on the several proposals before the 1973 Annual Town Meeting for rezoning to "RM" or "RH, " which provided for the inclusion of subsidized units in the proposed construction The Commission supported the St Brigid' s proposal (Article 92) as it has supported other "RH" proposals in the past The Commission also submitted to town meeting members, in the form of a written statement, its suggestions regarding evaluatson of privately sponsored RM or RH rezoning requests The statement expressed the views that "a development proposal must be judged on its over-all merits, including many considerations apart from subsidized housing auestions ; " that "it is possible that in some cases there are convincing reasons why subsidized housing cannot or should not be included; " but it should be a special "consideration in favor of proposals that they include subsidized housing plans, insofar as -2- those plans are well designed and realistic " The bulk of the statement was devoted to setting forth criteria against which town meeting members could evalute the subsidized-housing features of proposed multiple-dwelling construction Proponents of rezoning articles were invited "to address themselves in their town meeting presentations to the questions suggested by the criteria " Both Mr Barber (Article 90) , by a written statement , and Mr Haroian (Article 93) , by remarks of his attorney Mr Whalon on the town meeting floor, did so address themselves After the town meeting ' s approval of Article 93, a Commission representative stated to Messrs Haroian and Whalon that the Commission would follow with interest the working out of the proposal to make available to the Lexington Housing Authority a number of units in the "Minuteman" development A welcoming response was given The Commission will pursue the matter, in whatever manner seems most helpful and appropriate As regards "scattered-site" housing, the Commission maintained contact throughout the year with the Lexington Housing Authority in hopes of moving forward with the program approved at the 1972 Annual Town Meeting The Authority kept us informed of its progress in discussions with the MHFA during the summer of 1972 The Commission made clear its willingness and availability to provide help, and a member of the Commission did some preliminary research during the fall of 1972 on possible approaches to providing the Housing Authority with a clear, mortgagable title to the tax-title lots involved As the year progressed, it became apparent that the Authority' s priority involvement with the Vinebrook project would prevent it from -3- completing firm plans for scattered-site development before the expiration of the one-year moratorium on disposition of tax-title lots adopted by the Selectmen in April, 1972 Accordingly, partially at the Commission' s suggestion, the Selectmen and the Chairman of the Authority met in February, 1973 to discuss this problem. At that meeting, the Chairman of the Authority requested a six-months extension of the moratorium. The Commission, through its Chairman, supported this request, and the Selectmen willingly granted it In May of this year the Commission proposed to the Chairman of the Housing Authority the possible utility of establishing a task force or subcommittee , including persons who were not Housing Authority members but working under the general guidance of the Authority, to provide assistance in furthering plans for scattered- site development This proposal was favorably received; a small group of interested persons was contacted (the group includes members of the Planning Board, Board of Selectmen, Housing Authority, TMMA executive board, and LCSR) , and this group has held one rather productive and promising session A memorandum summarizing that discussion and outlining further steps to be taken is enclosed with this report Employment In anticipation of the preparation of the contract for the Cary Library project, the Commission offered its assistance to the Permanent Building Committee in developing an appropriate contract provision for equal employment opportunity This offer was accepted A Commission member met with the PBC to discuss the general approach; -4•- obtained a copy of Harvard University' s standard equal-opportunity clause and adapted it to the Town' s needs and situation; and submitted the result together with an explanatory memorandum to the PBC The PBC ascertained from Town Counsel that the proposed clause was suitable, and determined to include it in the contract The PBC and LCSR jointly decided in December, 1972 , that it would be prudent to have included in the Warrant for the 1973 Annual Town Meeting an Article under which town money could be appropriated to support the equal-opportunity program Because we were later able to ascertain, in discussions with the low bidder on the contract (who has since become the general contractor) , that no town funds would be needed, that Article was indefinitely postponed Since the letting of the contract, the main burden of pursuing the equal-opportunity clause with the contractor has been borne by the Permanent Building Committee, in regular consultation with a member of LCSR. The PBC has appointed one of its members , Shirley Stolz , as equal opportunity officer An LCSR member is now filling in while Mrs Stolz if out of town during the summer Progress so far seems promising -- a minority laborer and carpenter were on the job as of the end of last week As of this writing, some important matters -- of goals, format, and procedure remain to be worked out, but no difficulties are anticipated On another employment front, in the spring of 1973, the Com- mission received a request from a local employer for referral of minority candidates for a clerical position. A Commission member contacted a number of agencies in a position to recruit candidates We understand that a number of minority candidates contacted the -5- employer We have no certain knowledge whether their appearance was caused by our member' s efforts Also in the employment area, the Commission took an interest in the question of equal employment opportunity in the construction of the Minuteman Regional Vocational-Technical High School (herein- after Minuteman H S ) Our interest was transmitted through Lexington' s representative on the Minuteman school committee, Erik Mollo-Christensen Subsequently, an LCSR member attended a meeting of the Minuteman school committee at which a report on minority hiring was received and discussed The report was favorable and encouraging The Commission, therefore, requested its Chairman to write a letter of congratulation and support to the Minuteman school committee, which was done "METCO" Program for Minuteman H S At the Commission' s invitation, Superintendant Samuel Saines attended our December, 1972 meeting He gave us a full description of the school' s intended program. In response to questions about the possibilities of making some spaces in the school available to minority students from outside the regional school district, on the METCO model, Mr Saines expressed open-mindedness about the idea but raised a question about whether it could legally be done under the statutes and agreement governing the Minuteman H S Thereafter, a member of the Commission investigated the legal question and prepared a brief memorandum concluding that there were no legal barriers to a METCO type program for the Minuteman H S We further learned from METCO personnel that opportunities to attend -6- a school like Minuteman school do not now exist for core city students and would be very welcome The Commission then decided to write letters to both the Lexington School Committee and the Minuteman School Committee, urging sympathetic consideration of such a program. We received a favorable response from the Lexington School Committee; and we further understand from informal communications that the Minuteman school committee means to give the matter its serious attention. Our brief legal memorandum has been made available to the Minuteman school committee Recently, an LCSR member has made contact with persons in other member towns who are interested in this matter It seems possible that an unofficial group composed of residents of various member towns will continue to encourage the Minuteman school committee to seek an appropriate way to bring the Minuteman school into the METCO network A-95 Review As you are aware, the LCSR has been designated as an agency to be contacted by the MAPC in regard to "civil rights" considerations affecting applications for federal aid which are reviewed by MAPC under OMB Circular A-95 We have received a letter from the Executive Director of the MAPC asking us to indicate which federal programs would be of interest to us , and have responded These were LCSR' s principal activities during the past year I believe that copies of most of the documents referred to in this report -- statements , letters, memoranda -- were furnished to the Selectmen at the time of their preparation or release -7- Exceptions, I believe, include the equal opportunity claus' for the Cary Library contract, and the brief legal memorandum concerning admission of out-of-district students to the Minuteman H S If you have any wish to see these -- or any other document I have mentioned of which you have no copy now -- I shall gladly supply copies This completes my report Yours very truly, Z�u-4 I ytC� L� Frank I Michelman Chairman FIM eis Enclosure