If you have been paying attention you must have noticed that flyers at Southbridge Towers are running about 10 to 1 pro-privatization. This does not mean that there is an overwhelming demand for privatization at SBT. What is happening here is the same as what is going on in politics nationwide, where money now equals free speech and the few people with lots of money can give the illusion that their interests are the same as a lot more people with much lesser resources. The constant drumbeat for privatization does not represent the thinking, much less the economic situation, of the majority of people at SBT.
The flyer above reads like some sort of joke and it is hard to figure out what the people behind it are trying to say. This one either falls under the umbrella of hoping to start a rumor or just plain ignorance.
FYI, there are no guarantees for anything in life. And certainly unproven privatization has fewer guarantees than Mitchell Lama, which has already proven itself and has worked well for over 40 years. The Mitchell Lama program was renewed 10 years ago for 30 years – that means we have at least 20 years left in the program. It is more than likely in 20 years that the Mitchell Lama program will be renewed, unless we have gone private – or private and bust.
southbridgetowers 
Privatization is a method of the affluent to become more affluent by fooling the average Joe all these years that a few hundred thousand dollars will fall into their bank accouent and they will have freedom to get or do what ever they want. When the reality of this farce starts to rear it’s ugly head, there will be anarchy by those who were taken for a nice ride. They will say “what have we done”?
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Where’s the beef? Where’s the beef in the offering plan? The Plan is like a soy burger pretending to be a steak. The Mitchell-Lama “contract” this cartoon plagiarist is looking for is called the MITCHELL-LAMA LAW. You want it in writing? Read the LAW. You want a guarantee? You’re not going to find it in the offering plan, but you can find it in forty-three years of real history. Even Stewart Saft and Dean Roberts, SBT’s own corporate counsel, conceded SBT is in better fiscal and physical condition than other Mitchell-Lama co-ops or rentals. In the first version of the Red Herring Saft wrote in a footnote that SBT would continue to function well as a Mitchell-Lama.
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The many affluent cooperators here who are pro privatization would not be qualified for Mitchell-Lama by today’s M-L guidelines, yet they have a vote. A yes vote could ruin the “Mitchell-Lama Qualified” average cooperators who will be hit hard by the inevitable high increases in Maintenance. Adequate Flip tax income, every year, which we are counting on is a speculative joke at best but the major increases in property taxes are a reality. What will happen when the supply of sellers drops of to near zero? Will a money trees grow on the roofs? Our commercial property taxes have already doubled. How far away can much higher property taxes on apartments be? By that time the affluent will have moved to their other apartments or homes, those fooled will be screaming that what they were promised was not true and those who have some common sense can say “I told you so”
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