Asking the state to stop “targeting” Framingham

Testimony to the Board of Selectmen
Peter Adams
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Good evening, my name is Peter Adams, and I am a Town Meeting Member from Precinct 11. The horrifying incident we heard about relating to the town-licensed “sober house” at 73 Hollis Street raises many questions and concerns, not just for tose of us in the area where the crime occured, but throughout Framingham.

As you know, for the past two years many of us have been working to reverse the decade of neglect by town government regarding the mushrooming of social services in Framingham. We have accomplished a lot, but a lot more needs to be done. For instance, there are not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but at least six different Department of Corrections contracts in Framingham to place ex-offenders in SMOC’s self-described “community within a community.”

There is something the Board of Selectmen can do about this, and you can start tonight: vote to set up meetings with the real decision makers in the state and appeal to them to stop targeting Framingham.

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Some examples of the citizenry of this “community within a community” include not just James Corcoran with his 209 arrests,, but John Bubier, who has been arrested so often that even the police now call him “Spare Change Guy,” Elizabeth Badminton, an HIV positive prostitute, and Thomas Foley, a convicted murderer hired by SMOC until he was arrested for attempting to murder his girlfriend.

In one respect, the town is limited in what it can do, and that relates to the siting of social service facilities. The Dover Amendment, the opaqueness of state government, and the uncaring attitude of the state legislature all contribute to this problem.

That said, there is something the Board of Selectmen can do about this, and you can start tonight: vote to set up meetings with the real decision makers in the state and appeal to them to stop targeting Framingham. I propose that the Board:

Set up a meeting between the Board of Selectmen, the town’s Human Services Coordinator, the Governor, and his new head of Health and Human Services, Sec. Bigby, to discuss reforming the siting of social services and to demand accountability and oversight, especially regarding so-called “sober houses.”

Set up a meeting between the Board of Selectmen, the chief of police, the governor, the commissioner of the Department of Corrections, and our region’s legislators to discuss reforming sentencing guidelines and to demand accountability from the contractors like SMOC that provide housing and so-called “education” to released prisoners. There is simply no excuse for a dangerous criminal with 209 items on his rap sheet to be wandering the streets of Framingham!

I have several specific, practical ideas that can be raised in both of these meetings and would be happy to either attend them or to discuss them with Selectmen before the meetings take place.

Thank you very much.

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