Hours after they were set to be forced out on the street, a judge ruled that residents of a condemned building will be allowed to stay for now.
The judge presiding over the case of a condemned high-rise apartment building in Revere, Massachusetts, had harsh words for attorneys on all sides Friday after the parties failed to come up with a plan to help the residents relocate, despite a previously set 5 p.m. deadline for those residents to move out.
There are 40 occupied units inside the Water's Edge apartment building. City officials condemned the building last week, saying the fire protection system doesn't work and numerous code violations haven't been fixed for years by the building's owner.
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Attorneys for the tenants, the city and the building's owners were in court Wednesday trying to come up with a plan to offer relocation assistance to residents. The building owners are responsible for finding alternatives for the tenants for the duration of their leases. But in a follow-up hearing Friday morning, there were questions about language written into the lease concerning condemnation of the building that would potentially terminate the lease, and whether that was a violation of law.
Compounding that, the three parties involved did not come to court Friday with a clear plan to support the relocation of the tenants - many of whom did not want to leave and said they could not afford to rent elsewhere. This came to the great frustration of Judge Irene Bagdoian, who called a recess Friday morning and still wasn't satisfied with the plan.
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“I’m now getting angry and I’m getting angry because this should have been worked out. I gave you sufficient time to do so and my anger is directed at all of you because you apparently are losing sight of the fact that these are real human beings who are worried about where their pillow is going to be tonight," Bagdoian said Friday afternoon after she had already taken one recess to allow the attorneys to try to reach an agreement.
The city has pledged to support the residents, including paying moving expenses, but Bagdoian scolded the attorney over her concern that the city has purposely refused to work toward agreement with the owners of the building over the last two years.
She also drove home the point that the tenants were her primary concern, above all other interests.
"I’m worried about those children, about those families about those disabled people who don’t know where they’re sleeping tonight and through this weekend and in the coming days and weeks. My goodness people you should be concerned about that and if not shame on you," she said in court Friday.
Bagdoian was taking issue with the existing proposal, which would start moving tenants out of Water's Edge and into another building at 388 Ocean Ave. starting Monday. She told attorneys that the plan was not specific enough, leaving out details on the exact timeframe in which people could be moved into which units.
The legal team for Water's Edge said their client was actively working to get units ready for occupancy, but said they would need through the weekend to do so and wanted the judge to order the city to hold off on the previously set 5 p.m. move out deadline.
Bagdoian said she would only do so if she saw a comprehensive plan agreed upon by all three parties. If not, she said she would make an order to move all the tenants into hotel rooms in the interim. She expressed a lack of confidence in the attorneys' ability to reach an agreement and said she was already drafting her order.
