ARCHIVES OF LEAD STORIES
January 15, 2004
Neighbors question merger
of CDCs
Yawu Miller
When the interim board of the Quincy Geneva Community Development
Corporation rolled out their plans for a merger with Nuestra Comunidad
CDC in December, they gave a detailed accounting of their decision-making
process.
The merger, they argued, would bail out the ailing Quincy Geneva
CDC, and bring the resources of the larger Nuestra Comunidad to
the Grove Hall community. But a number of Grove Hall area residents
are saying no thanks to the proposed merger.
Now in addition to the interim board of Quincy-Geneva, the Grove
Hall residents have formed a parallel board organized in opposition
to the merger.
“We feel that the proposed merger would be detrimental to
community empowerment,” said parallel board member Chris
Thompson. “Basically, all it does is establish a monopolistic
group that doesn’t have the best record of community empowerment
and participation.”
Thompson and others on the parallel board say the interim board
members rushed their decision to merge with Nuestra without listening
to community opposition to the move. Thompson, who quit the interim
board to form the parallel body, said their process was flawed.
“We don’t see it as representative of the kind of
democracy that we practice in our community,” he commented.
Members of the parallel board say they met with neighborhood organizations
and tenants of the Quincy Geneva properties before making their
decision.
“Our meetings to solicit input started way back in the spring
last year,” said Ken Wade, chairman of the interim board.
“We had a series of community meetings. People expressed
their concerns. We took their concerns into account.”
The interim board took over last year after former executive director
Senessie Kabba was fired. Interim board members are alleging that
Kabba misappropriated funds and have filed a civil suit against
him.
The interim board originally looked at three possible scenarios:
closing down Quincy-Geneva, re-opening the CDC and re-building
it and a merger.
Since the board made its decision to pursue a merger with Nuestra
Comunidad, Wade says they again began meeting with neighborhood
organizations.
“We’ve been getting folks who have asked a lot of
questions,” Wade said. “We have not gotten any sense
that the community is opposed to the merger.”
Project Right organizer Jorge Martinez, however, says that during
a December meeting where the interim board presented its plan,
there was considerable opposition.
“There were 17 organizations in that room,” Martinez
said. “They were not at all happy with the idea of the merger.”
The parallel board members say they are not entirely opposed to
the idea of a merger, but said they were opposed to a merger with
Nuestra Comunidad.
By any objective assessment, the merger would not be between equals.
While Quincy-Geneva and its staff of two are still reeling from
a financial crisis that undermined the confidence of its funders,
Nuestra Comunidad is a healthy, thriving CDC with more than 30
employees.
Parallel board member John Barbour said the interim board should
have looked at the possibility of merging with other community-based
organizations like the Neighborhood Development Corporation of
Grove Hall or the Roxbury Multi-Service Center. Quincy-Geneva
has 386 units of rental housing — a formidable bargaining
chip in any merger negotiations.
Members of the parallel board say Quincy-Geneva could also form
a temporary alliance with another entity, rather than a permanent
merger.
The merger with Nuestra would produce a super-sized CDC with more
than 700 units of rental housing and a footprint extending from
Lower Roxbury to Franklin Park.
The parallel board members, many of whom are members of the Garrison
Trotter Neighborhood Association, say that the merger would create
a strong CDC and weaken the power of the neighborhood associations.
“The major concern is not only process, but why are we giving
an asset to another organization,” said Dan Richardson.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
While the Grove Hall residents say Nuestra Comunidad is not the
issue, their opposition to the merger underscores the differences
between that organization and those in the Grove Hall area.
Nuestra’s portfolio includes affordable
owner-occupied housing, large commercial projects and a large,
single-room occupancy building. Their projects have gone up in
the Dudley Square area and along the northernmost section of Blue
Hill Ave. — areas that were blighted with vacant buildings
and vacant lots.
Some Nuestra projects, including the Dartmouth Hotel — which
will house studio apartments — have generated considerable
community opposition.
In the Grove Hall area, there are fewer vacant lots and noticibly
more neighborhood organizations, some with more than 30 years
of history. Many of the parallel board members belong to the Garrison
Trotter Neighborhood Association, which has at times opposed affordable
housing projects in the area.
With fewer developable vacant lots and a decidedly active network
of neighborhood organizations, the Garrison Trotter neighborhood
isn’t exactly fertile ground for a CDC, let alone a mega-CDC.
“I don’t feel that a super CDC with development rights
from Dudley to Grove Hall is in our best interests,” Thompson
said. “I don’t see the same level of citizen participation
in their area as I do in Grove Hall.”
Despite the opposition of the parallel board members, Wade expressed
confidence that the merger would proceed.
“We understand the concerns people have about not wanting
to lose a valuable asset,” he said. “As we continue
our dialogues we will make sure all those issues are addressed.”
Back
to Lead Story Archives
Home
Page
