|
|
|
Boston
Chapter Report Spring 2001
The Boston Chapter has been working hard, even in the absence of a paid organizer. Rita Callaghan has been doing yeoman service as acting organizer, holding the Boston c/s/x network together, by phone and by U.S. post, between meetings. By tracking important legislation, and by attending statehouse meetings, she has valiantly connected us with developments on Beacon Hill. As a result the Chapter has been hooked in with the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Advisory Council (PAMI); with the Coalition for the Legal Rights of People with Disabilities (CLERD); with the Mental Health Legal Advisors’ Housing Committee (MHLAC); and with the Community Residence Tenancy II workgroup (CRT II). In addition Rita keeps us supplied with good food and drink on our every-third- Friday meetings at M-POWER headquarters. The chapter actively supports the Cemetery Rehabilitation Bill (the brainchild of Pat Deegan). We attended the cemetery bill hearing on March 12th 01. If the bill passes a small percentage of the proceeds from the sale of state land and buildings for the maintenance and upkeep of cemeteries and burial grounds located on state hospital land.
In other legislative news, a new bill on the Hill is sponsored by Senator Charles Shannon of Somerville and by Rep. Jarret Barrios of Cambridge. The bill is called the Human Service Workers Living Wage Bill, and—to quote from the bill—it would “provide all employees of agencies that deliver social services or child care under contract with the Commonwealth a wage of no less that $12.89 an hour without health care insurance and $11.89 with health care insurance.” We support this bill in order to improve the quality of care that we consumers are given in Massachusetts. M-POWER also continues to support the Community Residence Tenancy II. We’ve thought of examples where the use of this law—which provides consumers in assisted living situations with the same due process rights for eviction that other tenants in the state have always received—would have helped us deal with destabilizing crises in our past housing situations. Though the law is set to expire soon, it has worked well since it was passed in 1995, and it deserves to be renewed. As does the Nutshell so please keep reading our newsletter and do subscribe!
|
