A plan in one western Massachusetts city to crack down on crime-infested buildings by threatening landlords with civil or criminal penalties, if they don’t help the police, has gotten the attention of the owner of one problem property.
The owner of a 40-unit apartment building in Holyoke, where police were called more than 250 times in a six-month period last year, has sent the city a security plan. Police Chief James Neiswanger said the plan is under review and he is optimistic it could reduce the illegal drug activity and related crimes police say have gone unchecked in part because of the landlord’s past indifference.
The building at 365 Appleton St. is owned by Windsor Realty, L.L.C. of Bedford, Ma.
At a press conference earlier this month, Neiswanger and Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse held up a copy of a letter printed on red paper stock that was sent to the building owner demanding a security plan be filed with the city within 30 days or risk losing the building to receivership and possibly face criminal charges.
" I want to stress the city will no longer allow slumlords to provide a safe harbor for criminal activity," said Neiswanger.
Neiswanger estimated there are 10 apartment buildings that could be subject to the new crackdown.
" We are trying to address these one at a time and move along," he said.
Holyoke has several legal tools at its disposal, according to assistant city solicitor Kara Cunha.
Morse said the budget he has proposed for the fiscal year that begins July 1st will include $100,000 for the initiative. He plans to hire a fulltime building inspector and a new attorney in the city’s Law Department who will work exclusively on the problem of nuisance and blighted properties.
" To residents the message is: the city is taking this seriously, putting resources behind it and we expect to see results in the shortterm," said Morse.
Morse said he believes most landlords will cooperate with the city.
Morse pointed to the owner of an apartment building at 5 Adams Street who invited police into the building last year to set up a drug sting that netted 110 arrests during a single weekend. The building owner paid for the police to be present, and later spend $35,000 on surveillance cameras, new locks and other security measures.
The next state budget could include more money for Holyoke to help combat illegal drug trafficking. The spending plan approved last month by the Massachusetts House contains $50,000 earmarked by State Rep. Aaron Vega to support more police bicycle and foot patrols in high crime areas of Holyoke.
"When we are dealing statewide with the opioid addiction crisis it is great to have more mental health services and more recovery beds. All that is needed, but we have to deal with the trafficking issue. And the realty is the drugs are trafficked from New York and Connecticut right to Holyoke and Springfield," he said.
The additional funding for community policing in Holyoke needs to survive negotiations between the House and Senate on a final state budget.
