May 24th: The NHTA was at a special City Council Citizen Input Hearing for the purpose of addressing the rent increase situation. Several Northgate residents spoke about the hardships imposed by the enormous rent increases and how difficult it is to find more affordable housing. David Kaplan eloquently addressed the Council in his effort to explain the overall situation and the effect it has had on our community. There were thirty-five Northgate residents in attendance while only Mr. Dacey, spoke on behalf of his client. Jeffrey J. Morris, Managing Director of Metric Property Management (the company managing Northgate Heights) was unable to attend due to bad weather conditions along his flight route from Atlanta.

May 28th: Metric Propert Managment starts distributing under the doors of the remaining (Paino) tenants, a new rental plan which is deemed sorely inadequate, and primarily addresses only the needs of those tenants who are in situations of EXTREME financial difficulty.

June 5th: the NHTA held a second rally and again took their message to the people. Stationed at the intersection of Lexington Street and Trapelo Road in Waltham, members of the Tenants Association handed out over 1,000 flyers detailing their situation. The rally was judged a tremendous success!

June 7th: The NHTA attended a second a City Council meeting, hoping to get a stronger resolution passed. Unfortunately, the decision was tabled for the next City Council meeting. The NHTA wasted no time as they geared up for a signature campaign. A strongly worded resolution was written by David Kaplan and members of the NHTA, copies were made and, over the next two weekends, hundreds of signatures were collected.

June 24th: The NHTA sends its FOURTH counter proposal in response to SSR Realty Advisors new rental plan.

June 28th: The last of the signed letters were delivered to the City Council on their last meeting prior to the summer break. At that meeting, the resolution which was sponsored by Michael Squillante, was passed by an overwhelming margin, sending a strong message to MetLife. In short, The Waltham City Council:

1. Condemned 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.
2. Refuses to do ANY business with MetLife and it's subsidiary companies until this behavior stops!
3. Urges ALL citizens of Waltham to do the same.

This is an important moral victory and word about this decision continues to spread in the media with new articles having been written by The News Tribune, Boston Globe, and Boston Herald.

July 14th: The BOYCOTT METLIFE CAMPAIGN MAKES TELEVISION NEWS! "Greater Boston", a WGBH (Channel 2 and 44) local news and discussion show, did an on-site news article about what MetLife and it's subsidiaries are doing to the Northgate Heights Community. Then immediately following the article they aired a moderated "one-on-one" with NHTA President David Feld and (via satellite from California) Jeff Morris, Managing Director of Metric Property Management. Mr. Morris stated that SSR Realty Advisors would continue to meet with both individuals and tenant groups.

July 19th: The NHTA held it's third rally, this time on the steps of State Street Research, at One Financial Center, Boston. For almost 2 hours flyers were handed out showing what connection SSR has with our apartment complex, and urging everyone to join in our BOYCOTT METLIFE campaign. At the end of the rally a small delegation proceeded to "storm the building" and managed to speak with President and CEO, Ralph Verni, (and a representative from State Street Research's Public Relations and Legal Departments). The NHTA delegation took the opportunity to personally ask Mr. Verni to contact and recommend that subsidiary company SSR Realty Advisors, come to the table to negotiate the June 24th NHTA counter proposal. Mr. Verni stated that he could not influence SSR Realty Advisors is this manner. But he did promise to contact SSR Realty Advisors requesting that they respond to our counter proposal.

July 22nd: SSR Realty responds to the June 24th Counter proposal, again refusing to negotiate further on their rental policies.

Mid-July through September: NHTA starts contacting retirement and investment boards throughout the country, that are either directly invested in the SSR Apartment Value Fund,in which Northgate Height Apartments is a part of, or other SSR investments. We hope to be able to meet with as many of these boards as we can to show them how a portion of their investment (namely Northgate Heights Apartments) is being managed, and additionally to ask for their assistance in convincing SSR to negotiate with the remaining tenants in good faith.

September 13th: NHTA members attend the first Waltham City Council meeting after their summer break, and distribute a letter to all council members that includes an update of the situation, and that also expressed the Association's gratitude for supporting our fight!

September 22nd:Tenant Association members meet with the Haverhill, Massachusetts Retirement Board. Both Tim Brock (Atlanta) and Cynthia Halicky (San Francisco) from SSR were in attendance for rebuttal comments.

September 27th: Tenant Association members meet with the Marlboro, Massachusetts Retirement Board. Tim Brock (Atlanta) from SSR was in attendance for rebuttal comments.