COVID-19 was a good thing
Most people will disagree but COVID-19 gave an advantage to some people at Lawrence City Hall. It was an excuse to delay or forget to do things they had no intention of doing in the first place.
Since March 4th of this year, I sent a Freedom of Information Act request regarding certain “favors” granted to people interested in building or renovating a home; for example, building plans that were out of compliance with the actual current/final build. They were supposed to submit a response within 10 days but COVID-19 came to spoil everything. Time has gone by and no answers. Now, because it’s been over 90 days, I must start the process all over again.
Well, the struggle continues…
The Columbia Gas saga
Last week, Pastor Luis Piñeyro of Capilla Evangélica Hispana en Lawrence contacted me regarding a letter that is part of the settlement with Columbia Gas. This letter was dated August 20, 2020, and it was due on or before September 4, 2020, or their claims will be finalized.
Pastor Piñeyro had been in conversations with other businesses receiving the letters because they were still due their claims. Merchants and Pastor Piñeyro in this case, couldn’t understand the meaning of the section “valid and approved in the amount of $0.00” since it is all zeros. The company was requesting additional documentation and they all said that the required documents had been sent.
I have not been involved with this problem and wondered how much help would I be able to provide but I now hear that the Federation of Latino Businesses and Lawrence Partnership are not the places where people can go for help.
One of the attorneys handling these claims advised them returning the cover letter and marking the I DO NOT AGREE portion.
They had a different system for compensating residents and businesses so I wrote to the attorneys in Philadelphia and the Claims Group out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
I questioned how this allocation of funds has been made regarding the businesses and would appreciate a response to this question and my concerns about these letters to reply to the community that may be questioning the same things.
The attorneys were prompt to respond that the August 20th letter to commercial claimants contained an error in the return date. They will be sending out a new letter with the corrected date of October 4, 2020.
It’s a wonder why it took them that long to admit their mistake and offer to send a correction letter with the new date.
They are working to ensure that live, personal assistance will be available between now and the October 4, 2020 deadline.
Something that was not answered was my question about the system used to allocate these funds.
In the case of the church Capilla Evangélica Hispana, the losses have been tremendous. Since the gas explosions, they had to dismantle everything and move to a smaller site to offer their religious services, while paying storage rental for their belongings. Their music school and theatre school had to shut down, which were sources of income for the congregation.
