The incredible shrinking senior center

Plans to build a Vernon Hill center have quietly been cut back, and City Hall has yet to come up with the cash to run it. The problem is, local leaders seem a bit hard of hearing.

by Joe O'Brien

For Liz Mullaney, longtime director of Worcester's Executive Office of Elder Affairs, the senior center is a sometimes lonely struggle. In her cramped office, on the first floor of a Pleasant Street senior-apartment complex, Mullaney recounts her eight-year battle to build a center for Worcester's huge -- and increasing -- elderly population.

She recalls the times she pled her case to three city managers; negotiated unsuccessfully to launch a center in different locations; and begged for money from various city and private agencies to fund a spot for the city's 35,000 elderly residents who (unlike seniors living in many Massachusetts communities) don't have a dedicated and central place to take classes, to receive health care, and to socialize. And despite what looked like a sweet deal to build a center on Vernon Hill -- thanks to a 1996 agreement with OrNda (and now Tenet), which handed over one of its buildings as part of its Worcester Medical Center (known as Medical City until Tenet purchased it) tax break -- Mullaney finds she is still fighting.

When the city's $4.3 million center is finally built, the Providence Street building will stand as a monument to Mullaney's and other senior advocates' persistence. But as the center's first phase of construction wraps up, there are still unanswered questions about the involvement of Tenet and, more important, about the success of the center.

For in the past several years, the project has been quietly reduced from its original optimum size of 70,000 square feet to 31,000. And though the city says that the center will be expanded, there are no plans or money to do so. Further, City Hall has allowed Tenet to use 20,000 square feet more than agreed to under the tax-break terms -- and thus has lost out on an opportunity to collect much-needed rent to fund the operations of what seniors had envisioned as one of the most comprehensive programs in the state.

"City leaders need to keep their eyes on it and keep their hearts in it for the long haul," says Ann Walsh, a senior-center committee member.

THE GROUND-BREAKING ceremony this February, attended by more than 250 people, was long-overdue for the Friends of the Worcester Senior Center, says President Robert Maher (not to be confused with St. Vincent's president Robert Maher). That's because Maher says the fight for the senior center really began almost 40 years ago, when he approached then City Manager Francis McGrath and asked to start a council on aging, the first group in Worcester dedicated to seniors' needs. McGrath approved on one condition: seniors would have to do it without city funds. It's a response that Maher would hear often from local officials.

"Everyone was for it," says Maher. "But no one wanted to do anything to help make it happen."

Undeterred, Maher pressed on, and in 1992, now organized under the name Executive Office of Elder Affairs, advocates announced plans to search for a senior-center location. The group identified the following priorities (based on a survey of the elderly population): the center should be located downtown for easy public-transportation access; it should have at least 70,000 square feet; and, third, the center should offer a range of services and activities that were -- and still are -- spread across the city.

In 1993, the group approached then City Manager Jeff Mulford and the city council with its plans. The reception, perhaps fueled by the city's financial crisis of the early 1990s, brought Maher back 30 years.

Again, Maher heard there was no funding for the project.

By 1994, hopeful that the economy would rebound, seniors identified what they thought was an ideal location: the Kresge building. Located across from City Hall, the Main Street site had space enough to accommodate the planned activities and would require few major renovations. The building was on the market for $500,000; and an estimated $1.5 million was needed to convert it. But councilors balked at the price (the current center is expected to cost $4.3 million!). Councilors also argued the building was sure to be purchased by a deep-pocketed corporation and thus spur downtown growth (coincidentally, it remained vacant for five years). Instead, the city administration encouraged seniors to move into the Worcester Galleria basement, a proposal they rejected because of the exorbitant renovation costs, the fact that it had no windows, and because the space was available for rent only.

In January 1995, the former Lincoln Square Boys Club surfaced as the next potential site, an attractive option because of its ample space and its proximity to downtown. Again, though, seniors found they were at odds with officials -- this time with the Worcester Voke School, which had taken over the building. Seniors were uncomfortable being pitted against students and believed that the negotiations were headed in a direction that would have resulted in inadequate space, so they ultimately walked away from it. But the loss was crushing. Seniors thought their dream was doomed.

But in spring 1996, City Manager Tom Hoover came to the rescue. In the middle of negotiating a complex tax-forgiveness agreement with OrNda (later purchased by Tenet Healthcare) over the construction of Medical Center, the city had been asked to provide $40 million ($20 million in city funds, and $20 million in state funds) to clean up the downtown site and another $40.4 million in tax forgiveness for the for-profit OrNda to be wooed to its satisfaction to complete a massive, downtown medical center started by St. Vincent's before it was purchased by OrNda.

During negotiations, OrNda offered up an enticement: one of its buildings, the former St. Vincent's Nursing School, to be used as a senior center. OrNda also offered $1 million toward the cost of building/renovating it.

For seniors, it was a deal that looked too good to be true. The site itself was actually three connected buildings with more than 102,000 square feet; it had a courtyard and ample parking, and OrNda agreed to pay for heat. Two of the buildings would be ready to renovate right away, and the remaining building, which housed hospital offices, would be available after Medical Center was built.

Although committee members acknowledged that its location was less than ideal, most believed that adequate transportation could help overcome that drawback. So seniors joined forces with Hoover to fight for the huge tax break. And with their lobbying power and clout, seniors' support was enough to push the tax-break deal over the top.

Seniors finally had their center.

Now they just had to find a way to fund it.

AFTER A PROTRACTED battle with city officials, the council agreed to borrow $4.39 million to renovate 31,000 square feet at the Providence Street site. Plans call for two large multipurpose rooms, classrooms, activities rooms, a computer center, an employment-counseling office, and a health clinic. The Elder Affairs office and the Retired Senior Volunteer program will be relocated there. The third floor will not be renovated during what's being dubbed "phase one," but several agencies have indicated they could relocate there once, and if, it's renovated.

The "front building" (the third building at the center, not planned for renovations at all) currently houses Tenet offices, which -- according to the tax-break agreement -- will be vacated one year after Worcester Medical Center opens.

"It's not everything we wanted but people will be impressed when they see the variety of services at the center," Maher says.

The tragedy here has largely gone unnoticed. The project has been cut down several times due to budget constraints. While the administration cites the costs of renovations as the main reason, there are others.

Most important, the city has been burdened by heavy borrowing for Union Station, the school department, and even the $20 million for Medical Center.

Other money sources, namely, the federal community block grant funds, which have been tapped for construction of centers in communities like Cambridge and Millbury, are already committed to other projects and, therefore, not available to Worcester.

Though City Councilor Mike Perotto, chairman of the council's elder-affairs subcommittee, says the city will expand the center, there is no specific plan on what will happen with the approximately 70,000 square feet left unrenovated after phase one is done. Better yet, there's no money to renovate it.

And no one knows what will happen with that third building when Tenet moves out. Because the building is not handicapped accessible, it will be very expensive to bring up to code. Seniors had hoped agencies like Elder Home Care could move into the soon-to-be-unoccupied building but that won't happen unless the building is renovated.

Then there are the basics. Several seniors who've worked on the center's plans have quietly voiced concerns over where the money will come from to run the center's day-to-day operations. The current plan has Mullaney's office staffing an entire center and overseeing its operations, all within her existing budget.

Considering that the Executive Office of Elder Affairs has a tiny budget ($224,000 to cover operational and staff expenses) and currently does not pay any rent for its Pleasant Street space, this plan sounds unrealistic.

What's particularly puzzling is why the city hasn't asked Tenet to pay for the approximately 20,000 square feet currently being used at the site by the hospital. Under the tax-break agreement, Tenet can use 30,000 square feet for $1, but the hospital is reportedly using at least 50,000 square feet. Though not willing to confirm the exact square-footage and the time it's been in violation of the tax-break deal, St. Vincent's spokeswoman Paula Green acknowledges that there have been several changes in the senior-center plan.

But Green says that St. Vincent's has done things for the city too. The hospital helped cover the costs of relocating a YMCA day-care out of the building so construction could begin, Green says, citing that as one example of the hospital's willingness to help the city transform the building.

"St. Vincent's has worked hard to accommodate the city's needs by vacating areas of space as needed," she says.

Councilor Perotto, while acknowledging that the free space is a legitimate issue, says the city does not currently need additional resources to run the center because it is not even open yet.

"The city manager has budgeted enough dollars for the operation of the center," he says. "And the city manager is committed to the project."

While the center is scheduled to open this fall, Maher says the city administration and the council need to know that, "We can't take this opening for granted because there are more bridges to cross and work to be done."

It seems that there are several important things that need to happen to make sure the project continues ahead. First, the city needs to get behind the senior center's ongoing fundraising efforts. Specifically, Worcester corporate leaders need to play a role in raising much needed funds. The fundraising goal is $250,000, but that seems low. By comparison, the town of Millbury (with just 12,228 residents to Worcester's nearly 163,000 residents) raised $110,000 for its center. Worcester should be able to do far better.

Second, the council and the administration need to make sure that they hold Tenet accountable to the tax-break agreement (a number of parking spaces should be turned over to the center, though the hospital has been unclear so far as to who will actually be allowed to park in them). Further, the city should insist that Tenet pay for the additional space that it's occupying. That way, the city can set aside the money to help defray the center's operating costs.

Finally, the councilors should be making plans now to fund the construction of the center's third floor and determine the best way to renovate the front building. Having these spaces available for rent to other businesses (particularly those who serve seniors) will provide critical revenue to support the center's operational costs.

Back at the small office on Pleasant Street, Mullaney and her group of volunteers continue to fight their often lonely battle to make the senior center a place that Worcester can be proud of.

Now the time has come for the city's political leaders to make sure that it happens.

Joe O'Brien can be reached at joescastle@aol.com