Published as a letter to the editor in the Mansfield News 8/2007 and also reported to the Mansfield Town Clerk and Selectmen.
by Robert Gillis

If you live near Mansfield Massachusetts, read on. This is more of a local issue, but I have already reported this to the Mansfield Town Hall, Selectman, Town Clerk, Mansfield News and the Herald. This really bothered me.

I am writing to complain about the “Clean Machine” Laundromat at 242 Chauncey Street in Mansfield, behind Bertuccis and at the end of the plaza with the Blockbuster Video and classic pizza.

I went in there Saturday afternoon – no one was there and both front and back door were open.

Of the 42 washers, 18 are out of order. Some have “Out of order” written in PEN on the washer.

Of the 24 dryers, 11 are Out of order. Some dryers don’t even have covers doors.

Then I inserted $1.25 into one of the supposedly working dryers. It heated, but didn't spin.

What is far more disturbing is what’s written in huge print all over the restroom. Not only are there sexually explicit drawings all over the wall, but there is HATE SPEECH saying bad things about Muslims and lots of use of the “N” word. These writings are HUGE and cannot be missed.

There is no contact information of any kind inside this establishment. No one was on duty.

This is a place where (presumably) parents take their children to do laundry. To have the children exposed to this hate speech and large, sexually explicit drawings is wrong.

The place looks abandoned. Some of the graffiti even says, “You left the doors open again last night.”

I Googled the business and there were two reviews, one written in December 2006:

"I've never been in a Laundromat where so much equipment was NOT working! At least they have the decency to put "out of order" signs on most of the broken machines. Dryers were poor. Took me 3 hours to do 3 loads of laundry, including one re-wash when a machine's spin cycle didn't work. No manager on duty." -- (http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3715578398)

Sounds like nothing has changed in nine months.

At the very least the offensive writing should be painted over, and with nearly 50% of the machinery out of order, I’m wondering if the business has been abandoned?

Mansfield is a wonderful town but Clean Machine needs to be cleaned up or closed down.

Will keep you posted if I hear anything else.

---

UPDATE: The building is owned by a realty trust. I received a very nice letter from one of the trustees who apologized but said that the tenant is responsible for the interior of the store and there was little she could do, but she would pass along my letter to the tenant. I appreciated her quick response and hope the tenant will at least paint over the hate speech.

---

UPDATE 10/14/2007: The bathroom has been painted and there is no longer any graffiti or hate speech. The broken condition of the washers and dryers is the same.