Our proposed modifications of S985 will provide protection for victims of bullying and accountability for the landlord. We speak from the perspective of tenants and others who are familiar with the realities of bullying in multifamily housing, and based on extensive observation, research, and testimony. Bullying is extremely harmful to elderly and disabled persons living in multifamily housing. In law, the landlord is responsible for assuring peaceful enjoyment, but the tenant has no feasible way to be protected from bullying or to hold the landlord to account.

No one deserves to endure hostility in their home, to be driven out by malice, or to be pursued by retaliation. Ms. Pamela Goodwin is one of the most unfailingly honest, compassionate people I have ever known, diligent in her pursuit of fairness and justice for all those that come into her view. We present here a well-documented history of alleged bullying, mobbing, and retaliation against Ms. Goodwin. Our purpose is not to seek justice or revenge, but to bring these issues to the attention of Beacon Hill, Governor Baker, and to the public.

The strategy of the Stop Bullying Coalition is to continue seeking action on Beacon Hill, and doing outreach and education in local communities. This outreach work will help empower tenants to organize in their housing developments, to do community outreach, and to build local coalitions that can educate their communities as well as grow our roster of advocates.

The revolution in Lowell began on Thursday, September 19, 2019 in the Mercier Community Center at a meeting of the Lowell Anti-Bullying Coalition held to discuss the issue of bullying in housing. Lynn Costello, a tenant in the South Common Village community, worked closely with Christin Shelton, a social worker, to initiate this gathering. The participants began the process of working together to understand bullying and mobbing and to begin the task of education and taking action.

I became a proud activist in 1940 at the age of 4, when I assisted my father, Ernst, to do slum-clearance photographs in Mission Hill, Boston. The apparent success of our work helped to form the direction of my life work, seeking to empower the powerless.

Bonny Zeh chats about new resources she has discovered; this month she alerts us to links to a podcast and television news reports.

I found myself still coming to grips with the reality that she was gone, along with a big part of myself.

The Revolution Has Begun

Together we are making a revolution, fighting for our rights by using the traditional systems for legislation and the administration of housing programs.

The traditional system for change is democracy: grass roots organizing; building a coalition of tenants, managers and landlords; and partnering with legislators.

We are the revolution. We will assure the rights of tenants who are elderly or disabled by making sure they have safety and justice. We partner with legislators and everyone who is willing to help.

The Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts is a member of the Board of the Salem Housing Authority. Of the many factors that influence the social life in a public housing community, the most significant are the leadership of the local housing authority and the management. And these are influenced by the culture of the municipality and the elected leadership. We are having a chance to see through the perspective of Mayor Driscoll how a change in the leadership and direction of the housing authority in Salem may influence the life of tenants.

There is a dynamic in some public and subsidized housing communities for the elderly and disabled that reminds of the witchcraft hysteria in 1692-1693 and of current social and political polarization in our world. In a typical housing community composed of a diverse group of individuals, if there is to be peace and fairness for all, everyone needs to agree to accept and live within a code of conduct that does not require total conformity.