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February 1 - 8, 2001
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Keeping the faith
Worcester Interfaith and other community activists want City Hall to focus more on neighborhood quality-of-life issues.
By Chris Kanaracus
Worcester is an "All-American City." The title was bestowed at a convention in Louisville, Kentucky last year and received heavy play in the local media and practically every city document you can find. But did the committee handing out the awards know that Worcester, a city of 170,000, has only two branch libraries (at one time there were five), while cities like Providence have nine? Or that more than $4 million worth of sidewalks are slated for repair? Or what about the shocking lack of affordable housing throughout the city?
The knee-jerk reaction to those questions might be to blame the economy: but even with the current downturn in the markets and with the Bush administration talking recession, this rings a bit hollow. After all, we've enjoyed years of unprecedented prosperity.
Yet we'd be remiss to imply city officials haven't infused cash into new areas, or that concrete revitalization efforts haven't occurred. It's just that much of the focus for the past 10 years has been on the downtown area, with hefty tax breaks and funding thrown at projects like Medical City, the Worcester Common Outlets and the convention center. Union Station's rehabilitation, contrary to popular belief, involved little city money, and was paid for with state and federal funds.
Then there's the view held by some city officials: that visible, broad-based political will from the public for neighborhood-based things like branch libraries and better sidewalks hasn't really materialized, and therefore have moved down the priority list.
Indeed, strong political will for neighborhoods hasn't been a factor -- until recently. About one year ago, Worcester Interfaith, a group that since its formation in 1992 has organized a series of community action efforts involving 20 area churches, began their most ambitious effort yet. During the following 12 months, organizers held 40 "house meetings," -- informal gatherings of church members and their neighbors -- to discuss which neighborhood-based problems were a priority (see "Close to Home" sidebar). The effort soon snowballed to include not only churchgoers, but also existing advocacy groups like the Regional Environmental Council and social agencies such as Dismas House, a shelter for ex-convicts. Overall, organizers claim to have reached nearly 500 people with the meetings, and from them the top five issues affecting life in Worcester's neighborhoods: branch libraries, sidewalk repair, affordable housing, community policing, and youth activity programs. Along with delineating the problems, the group, informally dubbed the Neighborhood Initiative, have prepared literature outlining possible solutions.
"To be heard, you have to band together,"
says Mary Keefe, a member of the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association and a co-chair of the Initiative. "Coming together like this is exciting. It's fun. And we may actually be able to do something."
Maybe. Actually finding the funding for their ideas still lies ahead for the group. There's much to suggest that it will be a challenging one. Worcester, by most accounts, is financially solvent, but the city budget currently has little wiggle room, despite having swelled from about $200 million in 1990 to $403.7 million today. But much of that new funding comes in the form of state-supplied education reform cash, which can't be used for other purposes. And over the next couple of years, things could be squeezed even tighter by factors like pay raises for city unions and the possibility the city will have to shoulder millions of dollars in excess land-taking costs for the Medical Center project. Currently, officials are hoping to cover the shortfall via state funding.
Realities like those don't faze the Initiative, who want the neighborhood programs they desire to become permanent parts of the tax-levied city budget. Year-by-year funding from federal community block grants and the like are welcome, they say, but amount to Band-Aids. "If we can't effect change now, when [the economy is] supposed to be doing well, we'll be taking a big step backwards," says Bill Bernhart, an Initiative member and Worcester firefighter.
Judging by the broad base of support in attendance at the January 21 convention, the Initiative can bring to Hoover a strong mandate -- Hispanic churches like Bautista Casa de Oracion, environmental groups like the Regional Rainbow bridge
Environmental Council and sundry neighborhood associations have all joined the cause. Neighborhood issues tie in indirectly to what we've always done," says Peggy Middaugh, director of the REC. "Sidewalks, quality of life. . .all these things make people more aware of their environment."And unlike many neighborhood groups, the Initiative isn't exclusively a gray-haired affair: Angela Quitadamo, 22, helped research the issue of branch libraries.
A chance meeting with Kartheiser at her church, Trinity Lutheran, shortly after graduating from college last February led to Quitadamo becoming a Worcester Interfaith leader. "Interfaith brings so many people together. That's why I was interested. You've got a group? We'll take you."
Her work with the group, says Quitadamo, has given her a fresh perspective on Worcester, from which she intended to leave after graduating from UMass-Amherst last year. "There's just so much going on here that I didn't realize," she says.
Realizations like Quitadamo's, say other organizers, will remain intact even if the Initiative's agenda doesn't become reality. "We're desperate. Change has to come, even if it's only philosophical," says Bill Bernhart, a Worcester firefighter and member of Blessed Sacrament Church. "We really want to de-mystify the way city government works."
At the root of it, says Bernhart, is the way he says the political process often works here in Worcester. "People say they want to do something, that they have a great idea. So they call the newspaper and get their name in there. But then nothing ever happens. In order for things to get done, you have to start a year ahead, which is what we did."
- C.K.
Still, Initiative members stress that their effort is in the early stages. While they've met with police, public works and library officials in the course of researching the five areas of concern, only casual talks with city councilors and the mayor have occurred. Getting their endorsements, says Interfaith's organizer/director, Frank Kartheiser, is next. "These are more than reasonable proposals, that we think would make an excellent first step towards helping out neighborhoods in this city," says Kartheiser.
Though the Initiative isn't lacking for passion or numbers, it may need some work on its overall focus. Some of what it proposes wouldn't necessarily involve the city, nor is anything revolutionary. For example, the group's proposal for increasing affordable housing -- an incredibly broad topic for anyone to tackle -- in part seeks to unify the many community development corporations, private sector groups and city departments already working on the problem. Also, it calls for support for pending state legislation such as the Enabling Act, which would allow cities and towns to block owners of federal- or state-subsidized housing from converting the units to market rent properties. Certainly, though, affordable housing is an area worth looking at: currently, according to city figures, an average two-bedroom apartment in Worcester costs more than $700, and public housing has a waiting list of three to five years.
And other ideas, such as the desire for a detailed community policing model, might be hard to attain for some time. Currently, a "community liaison officer" works out of the Pleasant Street Network Center, keeping close ties with that neighborhood. The Initiative wants to see the program expanded to other neighborhoods, and say it can be done with existing staff levels. But Worcester Police Chief James L. Gallagher says currently, there isn't enough manpower for such an undertaking. "I'm not sure where they arrive at that, but I'm always willing to talk."
All that said, some demands, such as branch libraries, seem to have existing support from the city. The Initiative has estimated that roughly $600,000 per year, plus initial startup costs, would allow branch libraries to be opened in each of Worcester's five city council districts.
Currently there are two branches open, a full-service one on West Boylston Street and a smaller one aimed primarily at children, in the Great Brook Valley housing project on Lincoln Street. Worcester Public Library director Penelope Johnson says while her goal has always been to restore branch libraries, the actual cost is hard to determine: "I'd be very hesitant to cost out what a library might require until I knew what level of services people would want."
Branch libraries, says Johnson, will be a part of the library's new strategic plan, which is timed to coincide with the planned reopening of the main downtown facility in October. That location, based at Salem Square, has been closed for almost two years while a $23 million renovation and expansion process is underway. Currently, library operations are housed in a sprawling converted factory building on Tremont Street.
Some sources consulted for this article suggested branch libraries haven't come back simply because people won't actually use them. But Johnson disagrees, saying since the West Boylston street library re-opened several years ago, visitor counts and circulation activity have grown. The Great Brook Valley branch, which opened two years ago, has become busier, too, says Johnson, albeit with room for improvement.
The group also want officials to add more after-school and summer programs for area youth. Many privately funded youth programs do exist, from local Little Leagues to Sports Alive!, which solicits donations from area businesses.
October 5, 2000. It's a bleak, rainy Tuesday night, the sort of evening that screams for a hot dinner, a blanket, and the remote control. Yet about 20 people have made it here to Aldersgate Methodist Church on Main Street near Webster Square for a "house meeting," where they' plan to discuss the issues in their neighborhood -- Main South -- that matter to them most. Closer to home
The gathering is a virtual grab bag of ages and backgrounds: David McMahon, the twenty-something director of Dismas House, a transitional home for ex-offenders, Judy Langlois (who looks to be in her early fifties) head of the Jeremiah's Inn homeless shelter, Reverend Gary Richards, pastor of Aldersgate, and Linda Gressner, a middle-aged woman who lives in a nearby assisted-living dwelling.
The meeting starts with a short group prayer, then moves on quickly to a roundtable discussion of the neighborhood's strengths and weaknesses. On the "good" side are things like the successful Java Hut coffee shop and the new Sav-A-Lot grocery store in nearby Webster Square Plaza. Negatives include the vacant Showcase Cinemas theater around the corner, a lack of affordable housing, sporadic gang activity, and perhaps most of all, continued problems with prostitution. "They did a good job taking care of it in the Piedmont area," says Skip Wilhelm, who lives in Auburn but is an Aldersgate parishioner. "But I think it had the effect of moving down here."
Some in the group, like Wilhelm and McMahon, are far more articulate than others; some are practically non-verbal. But nobody can offer concrete solutions to the problems. Just complaints. A reporter, invited here to observe the goings-on, is beginning to wonder why he came at all.
He soon realizes that complaining, then figuring out which gripes are most important, is the entire point of the meeting. A fair number of the people here tonight seem as apolitical as you get: not unconcerned or naive, mind you -- just in need of the realization that they can actually affect change.
But when organizer Frank Kartheiser signals an end to the meeting, it's hard to tell exactly what's been accomplished, the discussion having been mostly abstract. Pressing on, he asks each member of the group if they'll choose an issue to research and then present their findings at a second meeting in about one month. Some raise their hands immediately, but others hesitate and mumble quietly to themselves. Soon enough, though, everyone says yes.
- C.K.
Those aren't enough, say Initiative members, though they offer only limited proof, pointing to the service offered by Friendly House on Wall Street, which has 400 spaces for children but invariably fills up the first day, and to a similar (and similarly crowded) program at Clark University.
Pushing for youth programs is nothing new for Interfaith. Last year they convinced the Parks Department to add Parks Plus recreation programs in 5 city parks. But the program was meagerly funded and some say actual usage was lower than desired. Regardless, the Initiative's plan calls for 6 Parks Plus programs this summer, including two in the afternoon, to be tied into existing MCAS tutoring programs that are currently held at more than 20 city sites during daytime summer hours.
The one issue that everyone can -- and should -- get behind are sidewalks. Putting aside Worcester's ample pothole population for a moment, there's probably not a person reading this that hasn't tripped and/or fallen on a chunk of broken-off asphalt at some point. Currently, the Department of Public Works estimates it would cost $4.3 million to fix every sidewalk currently under petition for repair, not to mention that figure could grow by a projected $1 million each year. But with just $200,000 actually allotted annually, do the math: in a worst-case scenario, it could take 20 years to get your sidewalk fixed. The Initiative proposes that the city increase the sidewalk repair budget to $1 million per year. "Let's at least get this thing under control," says Mary Keefe.
For sure, this all amounts to a varied but logistically complicated wish list. Yet we get the impression that given time, the Initiative's efforts will bear fruit. How so? Perhaps it's just a feeling. But for the past several months, the Phoenix has followed Interfaith's progress from sparsely attended, marginally productive house meetings held last Summer and Fall to January 21, when a crowd of about 100 representatives from 40 churches and neighborhood groups came together at Aldersgate Methodist Church on Main Street to discuss and "ratify" their agenda.
While essentially an internal action -- no city officials were formally invited -- there was a folksy, welcoming atmosphere at the so-called Neighborhood Convention. At the front door, visitors were handed a round name tag that read "Hello Neighbor/!Hola Vecino!" Throughout the evening, the crowd broke out into spontaneous applause, and for a nightcap, Chuck Demers of the folk duo Chuck & Mud led the audience in a spirited (albeit a tad precious) version of "This Land Is Your Land," with the lyrics modified to include Worcester.
The convention was a strong symbol of success for Worcester Interfaith, which has led other grassroots actions in the past, but with mixed luck. Of particular disappointment was 1995's "1% For Youth" campaign, which sought to have one percent of the city budget set aside for youth programs. Some programs were added as a result of the effort, but nothing close to Interfaith's original goal.
Interfaith has shown its organizing clout in other areas, though. In 1999, they convinced local trade unions to ensure 50 percent of all new apprenticeships in 1999 and 2001 would go to women and minorities (see "Force Be With Them," June 11, 1999).
The larger point, though, is that neighborhood groups haven't been galvanized en masse like this in some time. Certainly, influential activists like the ubiquitous duo of William J. Breault and Barbara Haller have always had a strong voice in city affairs. But by and large, activism in Worcester recently has seemed passionate but a bit segmented. "[The Neighborhood Initiative] is probably the most comprehensive thing we've done. And this time, I think we may have more allies than churches. It's not just church-driven," says Worcester Interfaith president Rev. Wally Tillman of Pleasant Street Baptist Church (see "Rainbow Coalition" sidebar).
It should be said that the churches involved with the Initiative have something to gain from better neighborhoods; namely, more parishioners. Gary Richards, an Interfaith leader and pastor of Aldersgate Methodist Church, admits as much -- in fact, he brings it up first. Collateral impact
Richards says the problem with his congregation and others in the area isn't with anyone's level of dedication, but with the fact that many parishioners are older, and new ones are in shorter supply than he'd like. Currently Aldersgate has 220 members, down slightly from past years.
For Richards, fighting for neighborhoods was a necessity. "We've realized that the transformation of our churches can't occur in a vacuum. I have a firm belief that inner city churches are only going to survive if we have a healthy relationship with our neighbors." And, says Richards, that attitude goes for the entire city. "We have a common concern," Richards adds. "I care just as much about Vernon Hill as Webster Square."
Still, there's an outside possibility the Neighborhood Initiative will meet opposition due to its religious affiliation; some might charge this whole thing amounts to a recruitment effort for area churches. Richards acknowledges this possibility. But overall he is circumspect. "It's a sad statement that what we're doing seems to be a radical notion. But of course there's some self-interest there. If we don't do it, how are we going to survive?"
- C.K.
Current conditions at City Hall present an interesting situation for the Initiative. With the hiring of Chamber of Commerce official and School Committee member Philip J. Niddrie as chief development officer, the office of Planning and Community Development will undergo some streamlining. Under current plans, OPCD will be separated into three distinct departments, one of which will be Neighborhood Services, headed by veteran City Hall-er Paul LaCava.
LaCava will also chair a cabinet composed of city officials and rank-and-file citizens, which will advise the city manager on issues like those explored by the Initiative. There's even a bit of crossover between the Initiative and the Cabinet: Marjorie Purvis, an Initiative leader, is a member of both. Is there a train wreck on the horizon?
Purvis says no, and adds that one way to expedite the conversation between the Initiative and the cabinet would be to examine strategic plans that have already been assembled in past years for neighborhoods like Peidmont Street and Green Island. The plans cover many of the same areas as the Initiative's agenda, but haven't been fully exploited. "I'd like to work with the [cabinet] to review those plans, and see if we can't `cross off' some of these things. Because progress has been made. . .it's going to be hard to push together and create a plan that crosses over all the neighborhoods."
Beyond the cabinet, getting council support is where Initiative members come across as somewhat tentative, expressing hope as well as a subtle wariness. To a point, this is natural: they wouldn't have organized in the first place if they felt satisfied with their leaders. But hostility probably won't get them anywhere, either. And one might wonder why the council wasn't asked on board much earlier in the game.
Mary Keefe says the council shouldn't expect confrontation. "We weren't intending to exclude the council. We first had a campaign of house meetings to hear from regular people. When you're trying to be grassroots [in nature], it gets kind of complicated when you get politics involved [at an early stage]. But we don't want this to backfire. . .we want to work with the council and get everyone on board with these issues."
In the opinion of Mayor Raymond V. Mariano, the council already is in agreement with much of the Initiative's mission. "It's not like we haven't already been on board for years on some of these things . . .There's not a single council member to my knowledge that wouldn't support things like this."
For example, Mariano says increasing the sidewalk repair budget has been a constant topic for the council for several years (a look through archived council meeting minutes and Telegram & Gazette news articles confirms this), while agreeing sidewalk repair is a major problem. He points to the $23 million addition to the downtown library as evidence of the city's support for libraries (the city's share is about $13 million), yet admits more branches are a good idea. But he defends the current level of city-sponsored summer programs as being the highest in 20 years.
To be sure, it's hard to imagine any city council member slamming the door in the Initiative's face. But broad council support is but the first step, as Mariano points out. "The city council cannot put money into the budget. If we don't get these recommendations from the city manager, there's nothing [the council] can do about it."
To a point, Mariano is correct: under Worcester's Plan E form of government the city manager is appointed by the council but retains most of the power. Yet the council isn't a completely toothless body: they can fire Hoover at any time, and can cut money from the budget. In any case, say Initiative leaders, they plan to meet with Hoover within two weeks.
What's really going to work in the Initiative's favor, says councilor Lukes, is patience and a bit more political savvy. "First of all, I wouldn't expect any miracles in this year's budget. I think we're talking two, three budget cycles from now. And from what I can see, [The Initiative] don't seem to have quite learned the political process yet. . .the budget is a reflection of the constituencies and priorities [elected officials] see and deal with the most on a daily basis. If you look at the major actions taken by the administration over the past ten years, they've been primarily towards the business community, city employee unions, the teacher's unions. These [groups] are throwing parties and raising funds for people. Change comes from a very fundamental level of getting people elected or re-elected based on commitments." Whew. Needless to say, Lukes, a 15-year council veteran, rarely scores union endorsements.
Yet Lukes has a point. Good intentions and honest wishes like those of the Initiative are a long time coming, but if their efforts are to make the transition from the grassroots level to the status quo, playing at least a few innings of inside baseball might be unavoidable. We'll be watching with interest.
Chris Kanaracus can be reached at
ckanaracus[a]phx.com.