Rockport Affordable Housing Trust Votes 4-0 to Pursue Up to $150,000 Generator Donation for 30-Unit Senior Building, Conditioned on at Least 10 Years Left on Lease
The Rockport Affordable Housing Trust in Rockport, Essex County, Massachusetts, voted 4 to 0 on November 12 to keep working on a generator donation for a 30-unit senior building that lost power for hours last winter. Members also said their Main Street project is paused, named one town-owned site worth a closer look, set their December 5 annual public meeting and canceled December's regular meeting.
The trust wants to make sure the 30 seniors at Pigeon Cove Ledges are not left in the cold the next time the power goes out. According to the meeting video, the trust voted to continue pursuing a donation of up to $150,000 for a generator at the Curtis Street building, which members said has no backup power and went dark for several hours during a storm last winter, leaving residents without heat or light; had the outage lasted, the town would have had to move residents to a warm place. Members estimated a generator for the whole building would cost about $300,000 or more, while $150,000 would be enough to power the building's common rooms, and the trust could pay more if the nonprofit that runs the building can cover the rest. The nonprofit has reserve money for the building but needs permission to spend it. All four members joined the video call: Chair Diane Vella, Vice Chair Ken Kaiser, Robert Simmons and Laura Evans, who also sits on the Select Board, in a meeting that ran 1 hour 47 minutes.
The trust's fund stood at about $1.05 million as of the September statement, including a gift of more than $8,600 from an old town housing fund. Members noted that Granite Street Crossing and the high school apartments already have generators. The trust's annual public meeting is set for Saturday, December 5 at 10:30 a.m. at the library, lasting about two hours; its regular December meeting is canceled, so the next regular meeting is the second Wednesday of January.
Source: Rockport Affordable Housing Trust
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：一台备用电源发电机（资料图）。作者：Cantons-de-l'Est，CC0，维基共享资源。 / Photo: A standby power generator (file photo). Credit: Cantons-de-l'Est, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
