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星期六, 7月 15, 2017

公路村居民指責三一金融索價形同搶劫

(Boston Orange) 17年漲10? 公路村居民714日上演街頭劇,指責三一金融公司(Trinity Financial)”公路打劫(Highway Robbery)”
波士頓華埠社區土地信託會主席駱理德與公路村居民委員會會長Bill Oranczak14日以公開信對外表示,華埠居民要求公路村由社區來控制。
              公路村是一棟座落於波士頓華埠,有200戶低收入租住居民的住宅大樓。714日時,部分居民及支持者上演了一場街頭劇,為三一金融公司和公路村居民協會在2000年簽有協議,給了居民們購買權,現在卻起爭議,表示抗議。
               該一公開信指稱,三一金融在2000年時取得1500萬元公家援助後,以610萬元的價格買下公路村大樓,現在卻要求承租公路村的居民們及其非牟利機構合作夥伴付6100萬元來買。
               三一金融的Jim Keefe引述該金額來自獨立公平市價估計,但居民協會稱該一估計未遵循2000年時的協議條文。公路村居民協會和合夥的非牟利機構因此遞入法院的訟案,還在排期等待審訊。
               公路村居民協會會長Bill Oranczak表示,該會目的是永久保持可負擔性,並控制這土地上的未來發展。他們相信那對華埠的未來很重要。他指出,三一金融買下公路村幾年後,就有一在公路村土地上蓋市價房屋。公路村居民們提議把該村土地轉變為由華埠土地信託會擁有,而公路村這棟大樓則由承租居民及合夥的非牟利機構擁有。

               有時間限制的承購權,已於去年由承租居民手中轉移到了波士頓是政府手中,但波士頓市政府選擇把購買權給回公路村居民。根據波士頓鄰里發展局的說法,波市府已經由公開招標過程,行使了購買權,並把這購買權指派回給公路村居民和合夥的非牟利機構,以示市府的支持居民擁有及社區參與。

以下為公路村居民會和波士頓華埠土地信託會發表的訊息:
Tenants from Mass PIke Towers, a 200-unit low-income housing development in Boston Chinatown, staged a protest today with supporters to highlight an ongoing dispute over the tenant association’s right to purchase the tenants’ homes according to a 2000 agreement between Trinity Financial and the Mass Pike Towers Tenant Association.

Tenants wore bandanas and held plastic squirt guns to dramatize what they called Trinity's "highway robbery."  Trinity received about $15 M in public financing to purchase the project in 2000, but now demands that the tenants and their non-profit partner pay a sale price of $61 M.  Jim Keefe of Trinity Financial cited an independent fair market appraisal for that amount, but the tenant association claims the appraisal does not follow the terms of the 2000 agreement . A lawsuit brought by the tenant/non-profit partnership is pending.

Tenant association leader Bill Oranczak explained that the association's goals are "to preserve affordability in perpetuity and to control any future development on the land, which we believe is important for Chinatown's future."  He noted that Trinity Financial sought to build market-rate housing on the Mass Pike Towers property a few years after their purchase, but dropped the proposal after months of community opposition. The tenant association proposed to convey the land to community ownership by the Chinatown Community Land Trust, while the buildings would be owned by the tenant/non-profit partnership. 

The time-limited purchase option passed from the tenant association to the City of Boston last year, which opted to give the rights back to the tenant/non-profit partnership.  According to the City's Department of Neighborhood Development, the City of Boston exercised its option to purchase and assigned the option back to the tenant/non-profit partnership through an open public process, affirming its support for tenant ownership and community involvement in real estate.

Tenants took their case to the street today, passing out informational flyers to protest Trinity’s “highway robbery” in front of the developer’s offices. They noted that Trinity Financial is one of five developers currently bidding to redevelop the Mary Ellen McCormack public housing project in South Boston, but tenants say that its broken promises and excessive greed make Trinity a poor choice for continued public investment.

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