Enactment of more stringent housing code regulations have brought some relief and the city has attempted to enforce theses codes more effectively. It has distributed a brochure about code enforcement and a Spanish language version is in preparation. Despite these efforts, participants in the meeting held the common impression that the inhabitants of housing in ghetto areas are paying excessive rents for the inferior housing.
Other participants complained of the difficulty of securing mortgage money form local banks and of the inequities that arise when public authorities seize private property under the laws of eminent domain.
Schools
The most frequent complaints about the public schools were that:
* The open enrollment system is ineffective and cumbersome, and that the Boston School Committee has no intention of doing anything about de facto school segregation. Its refusal to abide by the provisions of the Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Ace has caused mounting frustration and anger in the Negro community.
* Many teachers in the Boston public schools lack sympathy for or understanding of the Negro student and have low academic expectations of him.
* The schools in the Roxbury-South End areas discourage parent participation, and Boston's parent-teacher organization, the Home and School Association, does not provide for adequate parent involvement. The Association was frequently referred to disparagingly as a "company union" which does not deal with the problems of the school.
* The schools have made no effort to teach children about the role of the Negro in America, and Negro History Week tends to be a sham.
* Many parents denounced the quality of education provided students attending the predominantly Negro schools as well as the excessive emphasis placed on discipline and the use of corporal punishment.
* The Boston school system has neglected its responsibility to Puerto Rican children. There were no special courses for them and, in many in-stances, older children were forced to attend lower grade classes in order to learn English.
Welfare
It was generally felt that welfare officials and workers were discourteous to recipients, especially to Negro and Puerto Rican recipients. Participants repeatedly cited hostile and punitive attitudes of public welfare officials.
Among specific complaints, the following were notable:
* No literature in either English or Spanish. It was noted that other cities have published such handbooks setting forth uniform roles of eligibility. This lack of information regarding their rights has made many recipients bitter.
* Many welfare recipients are financially penalized when they or their children seek training or employment. Furthermore, the low wages which an unskilled male worker can earn, as opposed to the benefits paid to large families, create a temptation for the husband to leave home so that the wife may become a recipient to Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
* Little effort has been made to establish day-care centers so that mothers can take advantage of job training or employment opportunities and, thus, break the cycle of dependency.