Green Island folks object to Oak Hill's encroachment

Mullen Sawyer

By Chet Williamson

It's much ado about nothing — yet everything — at the same time.

Former members of the Green Island/Vernon Hill Community Development Corporation (CDC) held a meeting Tuesday night at the PNI Club on Millbury Street to discuss the possibility of regrouping. "[Our] CDC went downhill and never picked up," says former board chairperson Maureen Schwab. "We are picking up where we left off."

The Green Island Community/Vernon Hill Corporation, or the Canal District CDC, as it later became, exists only on paper. It was founded in 1987 with a mission that sought to "provide residents, businesses and property owners with opportunities to increase resources that will improve the area's future by encouraging participation and pride in the Green Island/Vernon Hill neighborhoods."

In November 2004, the group's executive director, Debra Lockwood, resigned. In April 2006, the organization — by that point, all volunteers — unceremoniously closed the doors to its rented space at 3 Lafayette Plaza, leaving only questions in its wake.

"It was a mess," says Bob Largess, the unofficial mayor of Millbury Street and former board member. "What went wrong? Who is to blame? I don't know. The fact is, the CDC stopped doing what it was supposed to be doing and the city stopped funding it. Board members were pointing at the city and at each other. There was a hornet's nest of activity."

Among the more than 20 people in attendance were State Rep. John Fresolo, City Councilor Barbara Haller, City Councilor candidates Maritza Cruz and Lynne Simonds, Ronald Charette of the South Worcester Neighborhood Improvement Corp., and Scott Hayman, director of housing services.

Also on the meeting's agenda was a discussion of the neighboring Oak Hill CDC at 74 Providence St. and its recently appointed Executive Director, Mullen Sawyer. "There was an article in the July 3 issue of the Telegram & Gazette where this guy, Mullen Sawyer, starts talking about how he is going to reinvent the wheel down here on Green Island," says Schwab. "This meeting is a response to that.

"He mentioned that he had spoken to people in the neighborhood, but what had remained of the [Green Island CDC] membership was never contacted. We feel it is in our best interest to get together and talk."

Schwab says, "A group of us decided to call this meeting, not just me. It was in response to some grumbling that I heard. It's an exploratory meeting. We don't want someone from Oak Hill coming down saying it is a done deal without having the courtesy of talking with some of the people in the neighborhood, who were actually involved with the CDC."

Contacted for comment, Sawyer says, "What I can tell you is we had asked NeighborWorks America to give us some funds to look at expansion. We would look at community need around economic development, youth development, job training and then housing development. It was like a neighborhood assessment. That's how that started."

Sawyer added that he is not interested in "taking over anything or telling people what they should be doing in their community. I'm a full disclosure kind of person. What I made clear is the Green Island section has some very prominent neighborhood leaders who have served for years and decades. Oak Hill has no intention of coming in and telling them what to do."

Dennis Hennessy, the director of City Manager's Division of Neighborhoods and Housing Development, says he did meet with Sawyer to discuss Oak Hill's expansion plans, but "did not come away with any definitive reorganization plan. We thought it made sense to take a look at that. They have a good strong relationship with the national Neighborhood Works Center, which is involved with us and Oak Hill with the City's Homeownership Center. They were going to bring some resources to bear."

Hennessy added that the city group also met with Schwab and other stakeholders in the Canal District. "We made them aware that we were going to endorse the concept of seeing if Neighborhood Works would fund a feasibility plan in terms of the expansion of the Oak Hill CDC in that area."

Under the leadership of former director James Cruikshank, the Oak Hill CDC had requested $100,000 per year for three years from the Neighborhood Works America program. "Unfortunately, we did not receive the expansion funding, which would have allowed us to do a more comprehensive evaluation and assessment," Sawyer says. "It would have brought money into town to do that specifically. It would have been an opportunity for the residents of Green Island to be served with the planning process that was funded by a national concern."

Sawyer says he only recently received the news and no one from the Canal District CDC has yet been notified. "They don't know that we didn't receive the funding. It just happened. That should defuse the whole thing."

In the meantime, there is the issue of revitalizing the CDC. According to Hennessy, the Canal District CDC is not in good standing as a 501c3 non-profit. And, due to its failure to conduct audits and internal controls with the city, they are no longer recognized by HUD (U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development).

"They are not in a position to apply for or receive any other public funding because of their status as a 501c3," Hennessy says. "The charter itself is jeopardized."

Schwab says, "This neighborhood is not for sale. I think that before somebody says that the CDC is over and done with the members should really have a chance to look at it and decide when it is over. I really think this meeting is an opportunity for anybody who is still interested in taking an activist role in this particular neighborhood — to speak up and see whether or not there is even a chance of doing something like that." o