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Shakedown fund? Embattled Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson pushed local housing developer to commit big dollars to a mysterious charity of which there are no official records
Roxbury developer Scott Webster has been doggedly pursuing plans to build a stylish new apartment building in place of a older and not particular distinguished structure on a neighborhood lot his family owns.
But while he’s a charitable guy, Webster didn’t bargain being pushed to pledge hundreds of thousands of dollars to a local group he had never heard of by City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, whose support he hoped to win.
The head of Triple W Development balked after his lawyer couldn’t find any record of the group, despite the fact that public charities and nonprofits are required to file extensive paperwork with state regulators.
But in early 2023 Webster reluctantly agreed to pay $200,000, to be spread out over a decade after the proposed 1 Elmwood apartment building opened, to the mysterious District 7 Boston Fund Inc. to support unnamed “social, educational, and cultural programs,” according to Boston Planning & Development Agency records.
“We just like doing things the right way,” Webster said of his very understandable hesitation and concerns.
The odd, if not downright eyebrow raising, revelation comes as the Roxbury pol faces a slew of federal charges related to a brazen kickback scheme.
Fernandes Anderson allegedly agreed to pay out a $13,000 bonus to a staffer and relative of hers. In exchange, the aide agreed to give back a big chunk of the bonus to the city councilor.
The whole grubby transaction culminated in a June 2023 meeting in a City Hall bathroom, with the staffer handing over $7,000 in cash to Fernandes Anderson, who stuffed the bills in her pocket, the feds contend.
As for motivation? Fernandes Anderson was drowning financially, hit with bank overdraft fees and and missed rent and car payments, according to federal prosecutors.
Her reckless attempt to pad her payroll with family members also contributed to her monetary woes, triggering a $5,000 fine from state ethics officials.
As for the $200,000 deal that Fernandes Anderson cut on behalf of the mystery organization, that took place several months before the June exchange of cash.
And in contrast, the city councilor’s request from the Roxbury developer for an outsized contribution to the so-called District 7 Boston Fund was perfectly legal.
In fact, it’s a routine part of the “community benefits” process under which City Hall extracts cash and other goodies from developers for various neighborhood and community causes as a condition of approving plans to build everything from new housing to lab space.
What makes the deal that Fernandes Anderson forced upon the 1 Elmwood developer stand out is that the organization the city councilor claimed to be raising money for is not a known entity.
In order to raise any significant amount of money, a nonprofit or charitable organization has to file with state regulators. But no listing of Fernandes Anderson’s District 7 Boston Fund Inc. can be found on the state attorney’s list of approved public charities.
Now there is a very similar sounding District 7 Community Fund Inc. registered with the attorney general’s office, but that group wasn’t approved by state officials until this past March.
That was more than a year after the deal brokered by Fernandes Anderson between the 1 Elmwood developer and the other, similar sounding group.
The fund’s president, Louis Elisa, told Contrarian Boston that Fernandes Anderson had been helpful getting the organization launched and winning funding from the Boston Foundation.
However, Elisa, president of Roxbury’s Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association and a former regional director of FEMA, said he did not have any knowledge of the $200,000 agreement that Fernandes Anderson helped inked with the developer of the proposed 1 Elmwood project.
For his part, Webster, the Roxbury developer, said the agreement to contribute to the organization pushed by Fernandes Anderson came after he approached the city councilor in hopes of winning her support for his project.
That didn’t pan out. Webster said he never heard back from Fernandes Anderson after City Hall gave a green light to Webster’s proposed apartment project back in February 2023.
The agreement by the developer to contribute $200,000 to the group promoted by Fernandes Anderson was part of the conditions under which the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s board gave its approval to the project.
In fact, Webster was later disappointed when Fernandes Anderson came out against his proposed apartment building.
Still, despite approval by City Hall’s development arm, 1 Elwood was forced to endure a long and contentious review of its design by a neighborhood historic preservation panel, one that only finally wrapped in late October.
Webster is now working on firming up a financing package for his planned six-story building, with hopes breaking ground on the project in the third quarter of next year.
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