PEABODY — Congressman John Tierney got out his hardhat yesterday to pay a visit to about a dozen volunteers working on several Habitat for Humanity of the North Shore projects in downtown Peabody.
"These volunteers work incredibly hard," he said. "It's a serious issue making sure housing is affordable. More and more, (Habitat for Humanity) is one good way to do that."
Workers are now finishing up a large duplex at 5 Park St. — the Burgess family has already moved in, and the Carmagos family will move in later this month. There are also three buildings being renovated or completely rebuilt at 12 Park St. Workers were framing one of the buildings yesterday, and later this month a church group from White River Junction, Vt., will spend a week in Peabody framing another.
"It could be 2013 before we're done with the whole project — it's the biggest we've ever done," said Gary Cowles, the vice president of the North Shore Habitat board. Cowles and others were working on the elaborate exterior molding at the house on 5 Park St. yesterday.
The entire project cost about $1.5 million, of which the city has chipped in $700,000. Peabody used $500,000 from its inclusionary zoning fund and another $200,000 in Community Preservation Act money.
Tierney said he was asked to come down and see the project firsthand. He posed for photos and gave a few swings of the hammer before departing.
"It's very exciting to be building your own house," said Edwina Lopez, who with her partner, Ervin Saldana, and their two boys will be moving into one of the homes at 12 Park St. Like the other seven families, the couple will purchase the house for just $125,000 and will receive a no-interest loan with no money down. In exchange, they must put 400 hours of "sweat equity" into the house.
"We do everything. You don't know what you're going to do until you get here. It could be painting or moving bricks," Lopez said.
"The fact is, the homeowners put their sweat and tears into this. Nothing is for free," Tierney said.
Hundreds of volunteers and businesses have worked on the building at 5 Park St. since 2009, everyone from crane operators to painters, metal workers, roofers, architects, students, church groups and many more. The property and materials were essentially the only costs for Habitat.
Other issues
While in town, Tierney briefly addressed the controversial Secure Communities initiative and the controversy surrounding his Democratic colleague Anthony Weiner of New York.
He didn't take a strong stance on either.
As for Weiner, the congressman who this week admitted to sending risque photos of himself over the Internet to a young woman, Tierney, like other Democrats this past week, was mum when asked if Weiner should resign.
"That's between his constituency and him. I have no vote in his district," Tierney said. "It's between them what he should do."
Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania became the first Democrat to join a chorus of Republicans in asking Weiner to step down yesterday.
As for whether Massachusetts should be subject to or adopt the controversial Secure Communities program pushed by the Obama administration, Tierney said local officials should make the decision.
"That's between the mayor and governor to work out how to approach that," Tierney said. "It should be up to local officials. I'm willing to the let them take a look at the data and to make that judgment."
Secure Communities is a controversial federal program that relies on the help of local law enforcement to help detect illegal immigrants. Local police would send the fingerprints of every person arrested in the state to the FBI to be cross referenced with immigration databases. The idea is to catch criminals who are here illegally and get them out of the country. Proponents say it's about time the U.S. get rid of dangerous people, who aren't supposed to be here in the first place. Opponents say non-criminals and victims could be swept up in the new policy, making them fearful of reporting crime or abuse. It's also unclear whether minor violations could lead to deportation.
This week, Gov. Deval Patrick came out against the plan, but it's unclear if he has any legal say in whether the program will move forward as planned in 2013.
"There's nothing wrong with identifying serious criminals and making sure they are removed from the country," Tierney said. But the question is how to do that without affecting innocent people or interfering with local police departments, he said.
The federal government also needs "to clarify" the rules and let states know if there is even an option not to participate as the Patrick administration has indicated, he said.
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