By Luis Piñeyro
The gas explosions of September 13, 2018 seem to be something that happened a long time ago and most Lawrence residents believe that everything is solved. A walk through the commercial area of South Lawrence reveals the businesses that have not been compensated for the losses they suffered and those that remain closed.
On March 6, the Hispanic Evangelical Chapel Inc. held a meeting with local business owners and residents in general. The purpose was to discuss the reality and current conditions months after this tragic event. The church Capilla Evangelical Hispana Inc., is located at 5 Wolcott Ave. in Lawrence, MA, which was also affected by those events.
The business owners of Lawrence have gone through innumerable struggles compared to neighboring towns that were also impacted. The difference is that all the shops in Andover and North Andover were ready and working much before those in here, therefore their losses were lower.
Through this forum, we wanted to be heard and share the reality that our businesses face, which are the engine of our economy in the City of Lawrence.
Our city continues to suffer due to the lack of empathy and unfair treatment received through the claims process of the responsible company, Columbia Gas. The worst thing is the silence that overwhelms them.
And we ask ourselves, what are the measures that have been taken to invest those millions in the case of the City of Lawrence?
What steps are being taken so that another incident like 9-13 does not happen again in the City of Lawrence? Although this time it could happen in the north side of the city.
In the meetings held by those entities receiving the 2 million dollars, have they invited a representative of the commercial sector to ask how they believe that this money can be distributed?
How can we maintain a communication and a public record in the distribution of assets given by Columbia Gas?
Luis Suazo from Suazo Market at 50 Inman Street, said he lost $8,000 in products and Columbia Gas paid him only $3,000. “Nobody is doing anything for this city,” he said at the meeting.
Another establishment that was closed for 72 days was Cavallo Restaurant causing a loss of $11,000. “They told us that Columbia Gas was going to monitor us for 6 or 8 months,” said Luis Cavallo. On many occasions, the advisors were changed several times without leaving a record of the work done by the previous one.
Columbia Gas alleges that only 800 claims remain active of more than 24,000 that have been filed including 200 stores. They have already paid $95 million in total with $29 million to 2,400 businesses. Recently, they have granted $10 million to be distributed among the 3 cities where only $2 million belong to Lawrence.
The feeling in the community is that there is a lack of support from our municipal government. Mayor Dan Rivera did not attend the meeting where he could have heard the merchants directly. However, the mayor was available for interviews with newspapers and radio in Boston. He said that his administration is developing a plan to distribute the $2 million from Columbia Gas that goes to Lawrence.
To that end, a coalition of several non-profit organizations such as EparaTodos and Lawrence Partnership has been created. Derek Mitchell, executive director of the Lawrence Partnership, explained that part of those $10 million is already paying for regional efforts. One example he presented was the hiring of an advertising agency called CTP Boston to conduct a regional campaign.
If customers are not returning to business, what can this advertising agency do? In many cases the public does not know if they are open.
Now EparaTodos wants to educate businesses to improve their marketing practices with the portion allocated to administer Columbia Gas’ funds.
Other merchants affected were present. Eusebio Hernandez from Hernández Meat Market spoke about the consequences that shop owners are suffering due to the absence of consumers. And how the south feels like a ghost town at night.
Antonio Batista, known as Amable, of Union Supermarket and Restaurant spoke how the uncertainty of everything that happened after the gas explosions, have unleashed an exodus of stress between the commercial sector and families.
Can the CTP Boston regional campaign solve our problems?
