Delivering for Londonderry – The Magic View

As many of you know, the Magic View Motel had been used by the state for years to put up unhoused people. The problem was that the facility was not adequate for their needs; there were absolutely no support services provided by the state and there was no shopping within walking distance. More importantly, the poor mental and physical health of the folks living there, combined with drug use and violence, placed significant and unsustainable demands on local services (Rescue Squad, Neighborhood Connections) and the Town.

As Pete Cobb, President of the Londonderry Rescue Squad said in his letter to the State, “Since it was opened as a homeless shelter the Londonderry Volunteer Rescue Squad (LVRS) has dealt with suicides, drug related deaths, assaults involving guns and machetes, robberies with assaults, countless drug overdoses, and about every mental health issue that you can imagine. This doesn't include the many calls for these same patients that we pick up and treat walking along Route 11 or at the village stores and facilities. One of these patients this year was found DOA beside Route 11 after being missing for what I believe to be 9 days.”

Many first responders were concerned for their own safety when going to the Magic View. This was not appropriate for an all volunteer squad.

Pete wrote, “We had phoned and submitted many formal complaint requests to the State and different agencies for something to be done. Nothing happened, until last summer when the Neighborhood Connections, The Town of Londonderry and our Representative, Chris Morrow got involved. They contacted the right agencies and emails started circulating and site visits were done.”

In addition, Neighborhood Connections was severely stretched by supporting this population. Executive Director Thom Simmons: “Neighborhood Connections was placed in the impossible position of conducting triage at the motel, providing food, clothing, transportation, medical referrals, and investigating housing options for more than 50 families in one season.”

The Town of Londonderry sent an official letter to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to ask for financial support or for them to discontinue use of the motel. In my role as Representative, I spearheaded the conversation with DCF, including hosting a meeting with the Commissioner and several of her staff at the Motel. I needed to be quite insistent in support of our viewpoint. After numerous meetings and communications over the course of the fall, the state agreed to discontinue use of the Magic View for their Emergency Housing program.

As Mr. Simmons stated, “Chris took a lead role in insisting that the state reconsider what it was doing to the motel residents, and to the stretched resources within the Londonderry community, culminating in our ability to testify before a state legislative committee handling these issues. The result is that the facility has been deemed inadequate to house medically vulnerable persons, and even better, has led to statewide changes in the overall program, especially as it related to the elderly and disabled.”

This was a truly collaborative community leadership effort. I would like to thank Thom Simmons and Pete Cobb for bringing the issues to my attention, and Ailleen Tulloch and Tom Cavanaugh from the Town for their consistent efforts. This successful effort was an unequivocal victory for the region.

Helping constituents, whether a town, an organization or a person, is an oft forgotten part of being a Representative. But it is an important and meaningful part of the job. Making the right connections in state government takes time and diplomacy, and after one term I know who to go to when a constituent needs help.