Brazil Street Residents Upset With City Over Sewage Disaster

MELROSE, MA — Residents of the street where a sewage backup displaced several of their neighbors for at least weeks expressed disappointment with the City during a neighborhood meeting Wednesday night. Ward 5 Alderman and Brazil Street resident Shawn MacMaster was joined by Alderman At-Large and fellow Ward 5 resident Mike Zwirko in leading the meeting to update residents and let them air their grievances in the wake of the June 20 disaster that ruined four homes.

MacMaster filled the residents in on the latest, including previously unreported news that the City is covering costs associated with the cleanup and demolition, along with lodging until at least July 8 and storage pods.

Mayor Gail Infurna confirmed Thursday in a statement the City is "paying for the cleanup immediately without waiting for insurance claims to go through."

MacMaster, when asked by a resident how the City communicated with him last Thursday, also revealed that the administration didn't reach out to him immediately - despite him being the ward alderman who lives a few houses up.

"I didn't find out until later that night," MacMaster said.

Infurna's statement said her office and administration responded "first thing Friday."

None of those affected were at the meeting, which was specifically meant for those on the upper part of Brazil Street. The sewage backup damaged homes at the bottom of the street, and there was no impact farther up.

Rick Greski, a resident of Brazil Street for 37 years, was among those disappointed with the City's response.

"Nobody came down to these people about anything. Shawn found out about it real late at night," Greski told Patch. "The next day, there were still no city officials down here.

"I would have liked to have seen the mayor's office down here or somebody representing the mayor's office saying 'we know we have a problem here, we know that our crew caused this problem.' To me they tried to shuffle it under the rug," Greski said.

The City has not claimed responsibility for the incident as an independent firm studies what happened, but several residents said DPW workers told them they exerted too much pressure in trying to fix the backup, resulting in the blowout.

"DPW responded promptly when they were called, but unfortunately, when they began clearing the clog, the sewage traveled in the wrong direction," Infurna said Thursday. "DPW staff acted quickly and stopped the flow within minutes."

Greski's son, Michael, has lived on Brazil Street for 32 years. He echoed his father's concern about who was told what and when.

"I'm disappointed to see that city officials didn't really address the problem until nearly 40 hours after it happened," Michael Greski said, referencing the City sending out only a brief statement until Friday night, after coverage of the incident spread on the news. He also noted how long it took for MacMaster to be notified.

"To me it just it just speaks volumes as to the communication issues at City Hall all the way down to this neighborhood," he said.

Michael Greski was also among those questioning whether the response would have been the same on, say, Country Club Road.

"There's a lot of discussion in our nation and in this community about disparity," he said. "I think a lot of that comes down to this is on the other side of the community, it's not as wealthy, there's a lot of blue collar workers, and the need to address our needs feel far less and that's unfortunate. As taxpayers and citizens and a community, it's important we be there for one another. And the city failed here."

Infurna's statement said her staff followed the same standard protocol it would in any neighborhood.

"I understand that any damage to a home has an emotional impact and the remediation process can be frustrating," she said "We have been in contact with residents around the clock and have done everything we can to ease the situation so residents can return to their homes as soon as possible."

The beat-up condition of Brazil Street was another thing on residents' minds.

Pedja Stojicic, who moved from Serbia, said he saw better streets back home.

"I would just second the idea of first helping our neighbors down there and really responding to their needs," Stojicic said. "When we moved, we looked at the street and it didn't look quite nice. We wondered how in a nice community like Melrose — why this street is not being treated with the same attention [as others]?"

Before the neighborhood meeting, children at the bottom of the street sold lemonade for a fundraiser for the victims. It was another instance of the residents rallying to their neighbors' aid, even when they felt like the City wasn't.