Letters to the Editor 4-2-20

Act with the urgency this crisis requires

Dear Editor,

(An open letter to the Massachusetts State Legislature)

In this time of crisis, instability, and fear we look to you for leadership—and the lives of Bay Staters will literally depend on it. We are grateful for the role the legislature has played over the past two weeks, from moving legislative offices to remote function, to encouraging Governor Baker to close schools and daycares statewide, to waiving the 1-week waiting period for unemployment assistance. However, this moment requires more from the legislative branch, and on a rapid timeline. 

Even as workplaces across the Commonwealth shutter and paychecks disappear, individuals’ expenses are increasing due to the demands of this emergency. And as we saw vividly in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when disasters strike, it is people of limited means who bear the most unforgiving brunt of these crises. Low-income residents must now heat their homes during the hours when they used to be at school or work. Families must make daily pilgrimages to meal distribution sites—also often exposing themselves and their children to risk of coronavirus exposure on mass transit—to replace the two meals a day previously provided at schools. Formerly routine trips to the laundromat are now costly moral choices between leaving young children home alone longer, taking a less-frequently running bus, or paying for a TNC ride to get home to your kids faster. Residents in need are spending scarce cell phone minutes on long wait times to apply for emergency aid or to get telemedicine consults. 

Massachusetts’ assistance programs, as currently configured, are not adequate to meet this unprecedented need. Applications for SNAP benefits have increased fourfold in the last two weeks. The unemployment system has been flooded with applications, many of whom are ineligible for assistance under current parameters. And even for those who do qualify, the existing 50% wage replacement will not sustain already-low-income families. Advocates in the domestic violence space are steeling themselves for a wave of families in crisis. And these are just a few examples. The coronavirus pandemic has put immense stress on the safety net system. 

Many proposals have been floated for how to address different facets of this flood of need, and to keep circulation flowing in our local economies: a one-time supplemental payment TAFDC and EAEDC cash assistance beneficiaries; a universal basic income intervention; closing holes in healthcare coverage for the underinsured; expansion of the UI benefit beyond 50%; supplementing the federal LifeLine program to ensure people have adequate minutes on their 

phone to enroll in these programs and to realistically practice social distancing; an infusion of dollars into the shelter system and RAFT program to help people be/stay safely housed. We implore you to choose some of these solutions and move on them now. 

Low-income families are in desperate, health-compromising situations and have been so for many days already. Specifically, we call on you to put a package of safety net measures on the floor of the House and Senate for a vote no later than April 10—a full month after the state of emergency was declared. 

We recognize that funding will be necessary to back up these interventions. While federal assistance may cover some of these expenses, it likely won’t cover all of them. Thanks to your stewardship of the state budget in recent years, Massachusetts boasts the strongest “Rainy Day Fund” we have ever had, at $3.47 billion. One of the three allowed purposes for appropriations from the fund is “for any event which threatens the health, safety or welfare of the people or the fiscal stability of the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions.” If this isn’t such an occasion, we don’t know what is. We urge you to use the Rainy Day Fund to swiftly enable some combination of the interventions above. 

We recognize that the Fund, combined with federal resources, will likely be needed to support emergency response and economic recovery over several months and potentially years. But given the acute state of emergency facing our people and our economy in the immediate weeks, a modest draw of up to 6%, or about $200 million, from the $3.47 billion total in the Rainy Day Fund is entirely warranted. As many of our family members, neighbors, and fellow Bay Staters enter the third week of coronavirus impacts, we believe this $200 million is not only desperately needed, but overdue. 

In Massachusetts, we have the means to protect the health and welfare of our residents. We beg you to act with the urgency this crisis requires. 

Progressive Massachusetts
Act on Mass 
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) MA 
American Friends Service Committee MA 
Brazilian Worker Center 
Chinese Progressive Association 
Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries 
Council on American-Islamic Relations-MA 
Dismas House 
Lynn United for Change 
Massachusetts AFL-CIO 
Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN) 
Massachusetts NOW (National Organization for Women) 
Massachusetts Public Health Association 
Mijente Boston Asamblea 
NAACP, New England Area Conference 
National Association of Social Workers (NASW), MA Chapter 
Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts 
New England Jewish Labor Committee 
One Fair Wage 
Our Revolution Massachusetts 
Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts 
Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM) 
Rosie’s Place 
Somerville Community Corporation 
UAW MA State CAP Council 
Union of Minority Neighborhoods 
United for a Fair Economy 
Worcester Interfaith

A huge thank you To the Community of Chelsea,

Dear Editor,
As we navigate through the challenges of COVID-19 and the constant changing atmosphere, I would like to take a moment and thank the community members who have worked tirelessly to support our community of Chelsea during this unprecedented time in history.

In all of the challenges, noise, and isolation, I am reminded that our educators, superintendent, assistant superintendent, school principals, faculty and staff across the district, are constantly fighting educational inequity that is only destined to grow in the coming weeks and months, as a result of this pandemic. Through online classes, virtual check-ins, food and ChromeBook distribution, the Chelsea Public School System has our students’ best interest at heart.

I would also like to thank members that are doing the vital work of keeping our community safe and caring for the most vulnerable among us. A huge thank you to our grocery store workers, cashiers, medical professionals, caretakers, bus drivers, janitors, restaurant workers, sanitation workers, postal workers, Chelsea Police Officers, Chelsea Fire Fighters, caregivers, factory workers, social workers, City Manager Tom Ambrosino, Chelsea School Committee Members, Chelsea City Council, members of the faith communities, volunteers and food service workers.

In closing, in the words of Paul Williams, a Grammy-winning songwriter, “When you go out and see the empty streets, the empty stadiums, the empty train platforms, don’t say to yourself ‘It looks like the end of the world.’ What you’re seeing is love in action. What you’re seeing, in that negative space, is how much we do care for each other, for our grandparents, for our immuno-compromised brothers and sisters, for people we will never meet. Let it fill you and sustain you. It isn’t the end of the world. It is the most remarkable act of global solidarity we may ever witness.”

Kelly Garcia
Chairwoman of the Chelsea School Committee