Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A number of federally owned buildings in the Commonwealth may soon go up for sale.
As the Trump Administration continues to try cutting government costs and slashing the federal workforce, nine federal buildings in the state were put on a “non-core properties for disposal” list. They include buildings in Andover, Waltham, New Bedford, Cambridge, Fitchburg, Pittsfield, Fall River and Boston.
While there are over 400 buildings at risk of being sold nationwide, the two in Boston are the Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Federal Building and the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. Those are used as offices for the Drug Enforcement Agency, Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of State and Homeland Security.
Mass. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey both have offices in the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. In a statement, Sen. Warren criticized President Trump for trying to “dismantle our government, piece by piece.”
"This plan raises serious concerns. Which Trump-friendly billionaires could profit from the sale of these federal assets while working people spend more time and money to access critical services no longer in their communities?” said Sen. Warren in the statement.
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Selma Melendez said she was shocked to learn the John F. Kennedy Federal Building may soon be sold.
“As an immigrant, I came here to help my parents with their papers and it’s crazy. Wow, I’m in shock,” said Melendez. “Well, I hope they relocate to a better place.”
Melendez wasn’t the only one who regularly walks by the building to be surprised by the news.
“I guess it would be weird, [since I walk] by it every day, it would be bizarre to think of it as something else,” said one woman.
“We’ll see what happens. I don’t really understand it at all. I’m probably as baffled as anyone else right now,” said one man.
WBZ NewsRadio’s James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.