BRATTLEBORO — For an organization whose mission includes revitalizing neighborhoods, Windham/Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) is showing remarkably little regard for neighbors to their properties.
These neighbors include many hard--working, taxpaying citizens who largely make WHHT's mission possible by subsidizing their substantial property-tax exemptions for trust property.
WWHT has been upgrading its multi-unit apartment house at 66 Washington St. since January. This project has been marked by fits and spurts of activity, and it has progressed very slowly until recently.
I do not know why this work could not have been spaced out in a disciplined way over the nine full months this project has been ongoing. Suddenly, a mad dash to the finish line has resulted in an escalating and complete disregard for all the neighbors.
This is not the first time the concerns of WWHT neighbors on Washington Street have been disregarded by the organization; however, this time feels especially needless, rude, and arrogant.
Everyone understands that we all must bear some inconvenience for construction projects taking place in a populated area.
But throughout this project, we've all put up with the constant parking violations of workers, with the noise, and with the profanity of the workers. One memorable day, workers started throwing drywall into the Dumpster on the property at 6 a.m., a task that was extremely loud and woke everyone up.
This is what we've all endured in one recent week:
1. Loud construction work beginning at 6:30 a.m. and continuing until 7:30 p.m.
2. A wood chipper and chain saw crew showed up Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and proceeded to cut down a large tree. The resulting noise was deafening and disrupted everyone's weekend.
3. On Tuesday, everyone was awakened at 7 a.m. by a horrific noise, and by the rumble and shaking of our houses. Our street was being dug up with absolutely no advance notice provided to anyone. A contractor's truck completely blocked my driveway, prohibiting me from backing out.
When I expressed my dismay to the contractor, I was told in no uncertain terms to stop “copping an attitude” and was grudgingly told I would be “let out” when needed.
When I was “let out” I discovered most of the street was closed and blocked off. At 5:45 p.m., workers were still in the street in violation of their permit requirement to finish by 4 p.m.
As with the disruptive Saturday work, no notification was provided to anyone, and no one was informed our street would be blocked off and that access would be problematic.
Another neighbor and my husband spoke with WWHT's director of housing development about these issues. Later, we received a letter from the director acknowledging WWHT's “failure […] to notify” us in a “timely manner” about the “nighttime flooring and the early morning weekend tree work.”
However, no offer was made to respect the neighbors. Rather, the director informed us that work would be continuing for over another month and would include more weekend work.
Why couldn't this work have been properly planned? Why does weekend work have to be done at all? Why can't we all be good neighbors and respect one another's right to the peaceful enjoyment of our property?
My neighbors and my family make significant contributions to this town as taxpayers and good citizens. We're good neighbors. Windham Windsor Housing Trust, will you be a good neighbor?
A good-faith start would be to reschedule all weekend work to weekdays, confine all work to normal working hours, and make a concerted effort to notify neighbors of work affecting their neighborhood before it happens.