‘Gut punch’: Brockton business owner makes emotional decision to leave. Here’s why

BROCKTON — You don’t get more Brockton than Howard Wright. He’s the son of a Brockton firefighter and a Brockton High cafeteria manager. But after 21 years running a business downtown, he’s out.

“I’m proud to have started my business in Brockton,” an emotional Wright said Thursday in his nearly empty former office on School Street. “I love Brockton. I don’t like what I see right now.”

Downtown will lose 12 jobs as Wright moves his tech-support company to Taunton.

“Wright Technology Group has decided to relocate to ensure the well-being and security of our team,” Wright wrote in an email to other downtown business owners.

Wright’s decision is the latest blow to downtown. Some business owners and residents say they can’t stay amid the negative consequences of so many people living on Brockton’s streets.

Mayor cites safety efforts

Responding to the departure, Mayor Robert F. Sullivan highlighted recent efforts downtown. He said the city and police department have launched several “beneficial safety initiatives,” with Police Chief Brenda Pérez increasing directed patrols and police presence. Other strategies include sending the Department of Public Works downtown every day to clean up and sweep the streets. The mayor also has a social services director, Jazmine Bradsher, working daily to help the city’s homeless.

“As Mayor, I thank Mr. Wright for his long-standing dedication to the City of Champions and wish him all the best in his future endeavors,” the mayor said in an emailed statement.

Why is Brockton booster leaving the city?

For Wright, the end began two years ago. One afternoon his daughter, Alexandra Wright, left work and a homeless person wouldn’t let her get to her car in the nearby lot, Howard Wright said. She wasn’t hurt, but after the scare they arranged escorts to the parking lot for her.

Homelessness is nothing new to downtown, of course. But the increased volume of homeless activity in recent years had Wright considering abandoning his hometown. The final nail, though, was that Wright doesn’t see the city as having a plan.

“It’s apathy,” he said. “It’s apathy from our government and the finger-pointing.”

Wright said the mayor told him in September that turning downtown around will take time. What he wanted to hear was a timeline and “clear articulation” from the city on an economic development plan.

“I don’t get the feeling from anyone at the city that this is a business-friendly environment,” said Wright. “No one in the city is saying, ‘We don’t want you to go.'”

‘We failed Wright Technology Group’

Another city official was blunt about the impact of losing another downtown business to safety fears. “It’s clarifying,” said City Councilor Jeff Thompson. “It’s a gut punch.”

Thompson represents downtown’s Ward 5. “We failed,” he said in a Wednesday interview. “The number one duty of our government is to provide safety. We failed Wright Technology Group.”

Wright wrote that the decision to leave wasn’t made lightly. He said he was “proud to locate it in Brockton” when he started the business in an incubator space from the Metro South Chamber of Commerce. He later moved the business to a space downstairs from the Old Colony Planning Council, between City Hall and several sites where homeless folks gather. “Unfortunately, there have been a few incidents recently that have impacted my staff feeling safe coming to the office,” Wright wrote. “Life is hard enough without having to fear coming to work.”

Wright thanked the Chamber and Mary Waldron of the Downtown Brockton Association for their efforts to improve the situation. Even so, he said he has to go. “The city has been unable to make any significant changes to improve the safety in the area,” he wrote. “Which is why we are relocating our business out of Brockton.”

Where in Taunton is Wright Technology moving to?

The business is moving to 12 Taunton Green, into a building that is the former home of Santander Bank.

Situation is ‘markedly improved’ at Station Lofts

One longtime downtown stakeholder said he’s seeing improvements at his property. “It has markedly improved,” said Jason Korb, principal of Capstone Communities LLC, which runs the Station Lofts.

Korb said when he checks security cameras, he’s not seeing the same level of problems with uninvited visitors or drug use at the 124 Montello St. apartment building. “To the mayor’s credit, he’s always been very, very responsive and wants to do the right thing,” he said.

The bright spot comes after an “all hands” meeting this summer that included Sullivan, Pérez and several other city officials. Brockton Police increased their patrols in the area. “Things were really, really bad,” Korb said.

It’s better now, Korb said, in part from police asking people to move along.

Will council override mayor’s veto of camping and loitering laws?

Residents, advocates and local politicians have for decades worked to return downtown to the vibrancy it had in the 1950s and 60s. One recent effort is a local law prohibiting camping. Sullivan vetoed it and a related draft law against loitering.

Sullivan has long said he’s the mayor for all Brocktonians, housed and unhoused. In his veto message, he said, “I cannot support any ordinance that seeks to criminalize homelessness.”

The city council may take up the laws again as soon as Monday, Dec. 23. At least one city councilor would need to change their vote to override Sullivan’s veto of the camping provision. Councilors could also change the draft laws to gain the mayor’s approval.

‘I’m disgusted with this city’

Other downtown business owners face the same decision: Stay or go. Sandra Martin of Elvera’s Cafe says the city does not support businesses the way it should. “I’m disgusted with this city,” she said around closing time Thursday. “Where are our rights? You’re running this place into the ground.”

She’s had break-ins at her coffee shop and been underwhelmed by law enforcement’s response. She tells of a man assaulting a woman outside her door and that when she intervened, he warned her that he knows what time she arrives and leaves each day. Human feces regularly need to be cleaned up at the entrance to the office next door to her shop.

“They’re going to lose a lot of people,” she said. “And they don’t even care.”

‘If I can come back, I’ll be back’

Wright isn’t saying he’ll be gone forever. His lease in Taunton has friendly terms, he said, that would allow him to move back to Brockton if he becomes convinced the city has a detailed plan to address the reasons that drove a Brockton kid to leave the city he still loves.

“If I can come back,” he said amid the half-filled moving boxes, “I’ll be back.”

Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on X at @HelmsNews.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton business moving to Taunton amid homelessness turmoil

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