Waltham issues MetLife boycott

Protesting firm's subsidiary, which owns Northgate

By Randi Parent, Globe Correspondent, 07/04/99

WALTHAM - Unless you live in Cambridge or Amherst, it is unlikely your community has publicly condemned a giant corporation for its behavior. But the Waltham City Council last week joined the ranks of communities that routinely sound off against social injustice.

An overwhelming majority of council members on Monday passed a resolution boycotting MetLife Insurance to protest the actions of the insurance giant's subsidiary, SSR Realty. The national firm last fall purchased the Northgate Heights apartment complex in the city and announced rent increases that forced many tenants to move. Those who stayed formed a tenants association and asked the City Council for help in pressuring their new landlord to negotiate fairly.

After one public hearing and an earlier resolution deploring the treatment of the Northgate residents - and against the advice of the city's attorneys - the board voted 13 to 2 to issue the harsh proclamations.

The resolution stated ''the City Council condemns the predatory behavior of MetLife in coming into our community to engage in real estate speculation that profits on the backs of working people, retired elders and disabled persons.'' The resolution also prohibits the city from purchasing any MetLife products and encourages Waltham residents to join the boycott.

The city holds no contracts with MetLife, according to City Solicitor Jeannette McCarthy. McCarthy said the council ''has every right to make a nonbinding resolution. I am concerned as to whether they should get involved in a private matter. I'm aware that constituents are involved, but this is not a city issue.''

Longtime Assistant City Clerk Henry Hoover said he couldn't remember a time when the city passed a resolution condemning a corporation. ''It's unusual. I can't think of it ever happening,'' said Hoover, who has held his position since 1985. Before becoming assistant clerk, Hoover served as a councilman for eight years.

SSR Realty purchased the apartment complex off Lexington Street for $20 million. The real estate management firm, based in White Plains, N.Y., at that time announced that as leases expired, tenants would face rent increases of 35 to 50 percent, which translates into hikes of $300 to $500 per month. The new owners say that, as they invest $1.6 million in improvements to the 200-plus unit complex, the increases reflect the market value. Tenants - some long-term residents living on fixed incomes - have unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate a more gradual rent increase, proposing monthly rents go up only 15 percent in the first year.

''In May, after our first meetings with SSR Realty, they offered a special rent program for hardship cases,'' David Feld of the Northgate Tenants Association told the council. ''But the program was so narrowly defined it would only help a handful of tenants.''

Feld called the council's vote ''courageous. We want this to be a wakeup call for them. ... The people of Waltham have shown MetLife that they are human beings and not an income stream.''

The City Council ''had to send a message [to MetLife]'' said Robert G. Logan, Ward 9 councilor and vice president of the board. ''On the one hand, the company promotes this positive image in its advertising, using Charlie Brown and Snoopy, but on the other hand, here's this corporate Goliath stomping on the little guy, and letting their subsidiary [SSR Realty] do the dirty work.''

''If this burns a bridge with MetLife, they lit the match,'' Councilman David Gately said.

John Calagna, spokesman for MetLife in New York, said ''our subsidiary purchased that property and they handle it directly. MetLife does not engage in predatory activity, and through our subsidiary, we have been working with the tenants of Northgate and will continue to do so.''

Timothy Brock, regional director for SSR's property management company based in Atlanta, said: ''I regret the council has taken this kind of action. We have continued to work to try to alleviate [tenants'] hardships. What people don't seem to accept is we are charging market rents because we have a fiduciary responsibility to investors. Unfortunately, we are being taken to task for that.''

Not everyone on the council believed taking MetLife to task by resolution was the way to fight. ''You can catch more bees with honey, I think the saying goes,'' said Edward Callahan, who represents Northgate residents as the Ward 2 council member.

''I support 100 percent the Northgate residents' efforts to control these unfair rent increases. But I felt the resolution was too strong and that we might stand to have legal action brought against us.

''I feel for these people at Northgate Heights,'' Callahan said, ''but I don't think we will gain anything from this. I felt we should try to work it out over more time.''

Logan concedes the resolution may have little effect on the tenants' situation, since legally the landlords are within their rights to raise rents. ''It probably won't help these residents; it's gone beyond that point. But this might discourage other Goliaths from coming into our community. They might think twice.''

The urgency, in part, stems from the council's practice of taking a summer recess. The board does not meet in July and meets only once in August.

Meanwhile, Feld, the head of the tenants association, has been served with an eviction notice and a summons to appear in court for failure to pay the rent increases. His attorney, Harvey Shapiro of the Cambridge firm of Collier Shapiro and McCutcheon, said a July 15 appearance in Middlesex County District Court is scheduled. Shapiro said the court date will likely be rescheduled.

''There are some technical problems with the summons - the grounds for eviction were not stated - so the complaint will likely be withdrawn and refiled,'' he said, adding he believes the tenants association's problems with the landlord will be resolved out of court.

''Whatever the posturing, the only way these types of issues get resolved is through negotiation,'' Shapiro said. ''I don't think SSR Realty can afford to try to hold their head up as a responsible corporate citizen and have this thing [the battle with Northgate residents and now the City Council] explode in their face.''

This story ran on page 1 of the Boston Globe's West Weekly on 07/04/99.

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