February 25, 2024
An Open Letter to Belmont Housing Authority from Tomi Olson:
Shortly after I left the Housing Authority Board, the then Chairs, Gloria Leipsig and Donna Brescia made the decision to bring Cambridge Housing Authority on board to manage Belmont Housing. This was intended to alleviate the administrative burden of managing the Belmont Housing Authority which at the time did not offer a competitive salary to a BELMONT dedicated manager. Since then salary figures for managers have been increased and the pool of talented managers exists ready to dedicate themselves to the Belmont Housing Authority and not serve 2 masters.
By bringing in “professional managers” from Cambridge the Board exposed all of Belmont, especially the Belmont Housing residents to Cambridge’s repeated acts of putting Cambridge tenants in need of “emergency” housing in Belmont Housing units, including 5 Clark Lane which is a large family residence.
Yesterday’s police action for multiple shots fired that required patrols from Belmont, Watertown, Arlington and Waltham is the SECOND since Cambridge took over. Cambridge’s trick of favoring their residents over Belmont residents by using the “emergency” powers demonstrates that Cambridge is more interested in offloading its criminal tenants than in providing a safe environment for Belmont residents who deeply need low income housing.
I call for the Board to immediately remove this family on Clark Lane. I also call for the immediate dissolution of Cambridge’s Management contract. Once both are done, I demand that the members of the Board who authorized the Cambridge management contract step down as Commissioners. By allowing Cambridge to preferentially install its own residents over Belmont residents on Belmont Housing property, they have failed their responsibility to keep safe Belmont Housing Authority residents.
I also call for the Belmont Police to fully prosecute the offenders and further to charge Cambridge Housing Authority with the public safety costs sustained by all the police departments who attended this call to secure the Belmont Family Housing from the 12 to 15 shots fired in their neighborhood.