The Martin Luther King Business Empowerment Center @ Chandler Street & Dewey is being disolved due to insolvency and all assets including the building are possibly if not already being aquired by South Middlesex Opportunity Center also known as SMOC.
SMOC currently owns the former PIP Shelter (People in Peril) building that is now for sale on Main South and they operated the PIP Shelter for many years. I suggest you all do your own google searches of PIP Shelter & SMOC.
The PIP Shelter was closed because after twenty plus years of wreaking havoc on the Main South neighborhood it was clear that putting a full blown wet shelter in a dense business & residential urban neighborhood was not the correct course of action-WHY HAS THIS THINKING CHANGED and is putting in a urban core neighborhood clearly on the rebound the right thing for Worcester?
The Below are just a few of the incredibly POSITIVE organizations, business & residential happenings in this neighborhood that will be effected by this move....we are talking about an incredibly VIBRANT diverse urban neighborhood on "The Move"...and happening organically NOT via huge subsidies, grants or even massive city intervention!
* EVO Restaurant
* Living Earth
* Baba Sushi Restaurant
* Pet Barn
* Walgreens
* DeAngelos
* Rocco's Fine Suits
* Suney's
* Dunkin Donuts
* NEW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AREA
* Ted Williams Baseball League
* Worcester Youth Center
* TD North Bank
* John & Son's
* Beaverbrook
* Elm Park
* Pho Hein Buddhist Temple
* Crown Chicken
* new Halal meat market at Chandler & Dewey
* Keystone Plaza
* White's Cleaner Class A office space
* Webster Five
* tons of mom & pops on Chandler Street
In as much as many in the Chandler Street Business Association have been told by city officials that no definitive decision has been made as to what SMOC's intentions are for the MLK Bldg.....sources have told us that the PIP Shelter now called a triage center at the UMASS Hospital on Queen Street (where it should be kept for every reason the city and UMASS touted as a National Model to the citizens of Worcester & the Nation) is moving as of October 2011 to the MLK Building.....a full blown wet shelter for the most inebrient!
Three weeks ago we were welcoming 1500+ to Chandler Street for a music festival....NOW we are in for the fight of our lives economically and quality of life, if this full blown wet shelter triage aka PIP Shelter is moved to the MLK Bldg @ Chandler & Dewey Streets.
There will be a informational meeting on Monday July 25th 6:00 pm at the Pho Hein Buddhist Temple on Dewey Street to discuss this new development in the Village of Piedmont-Worcester, Massachusetts. We encourage all to attend - this is a City of Worcester issue NOT a lone neighborhood issue! Please pass this on to all that you know.
Sincerely
Paul Collyer
Chandler Street Business Association
(617) 283-3292
WRRB/Telegram District City Council Forum 10/18
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This forum is for all district council candidates; all candidates are here
today. Format: 14 total questions, 4 questions across districts (for all
candida...
6 months ago
20 comments:
The ongoing PIP drama of the late 1970s through even present times deteriorated--economically, socially--the entire area for decades.
Yet we aren't hearing much about the triage center now. Some people don't even know where it IS?
Does anyone have an idea, for instance, on how many police calls were needed for the PIp versus the triage?
Anonymous
I agree there have not heard of many isues atthe triage center located at the former Worcester City Hosital.
here is my question then. if the triage center has no problems, why can it not move back to the 33,000 square feet building on Main Street already owned by SMOC?
Bill
A Couple comments here.
According to city treasuers office, the last payment MLK Ctr has made to the city was in the year 2000. Yes they're a non profit so no RE taxes paid to city, but what about water bills?
Seems to me last winter we had a T&G expose on so called Mirco Business loans made to various entities in Worcester and how many of them were not being paid. If my memory is correct, MKL had such a loan and was it subsequently forgiven? If so, what strings were attached to the forgiveness, if any?
Does any one individual actually own the NOn profit entity MLK Center? Who, if anyone, stands to benefit from such a sale to SMOC?
In 2007 the "old' MLK center possibly came to an end and a "new" MLK Business. Empmtn Center II was founded with a New Britain Ct address. What's up with that, if anything?
In 2004 according to "Google" the ZBA granted MKL an extension of time re: parking lot issues/ requests. What if anything became of this request and what of possible new requests for parking issues once a triage center is established there and most importantly is the current parking in compliance for a so called triage center (with 33(?) beds planned) I assume this is some kind of Hopstial/medical usuage?
Look for possible ZBA filing by SMOC in the not too distant future as proposed purchaser of the site? Do we know any abutters who would be opposed and FYI to be an abutter with standing you need to acutally abut the site.............being across the street dont count. If SMOC needs parking variances for a triage center an abutter can stop such a variance....of course than SMOC just buys them out with a price in excess of fair market value.
This city is going no where but downhill.
i JUST LOOKED at an outdated zoning ordinance. There is no zoning usage called a Triage center but there is one for convalenent/nursing homes which requires 1/3 parking space for each bed. If this is deemed such a facility and if this 1/3 rule still holds then SMOC needs only 11 parking spaces if they are going to have 33(?) beds.
I'd be curious to know if there just happened to be 11 spaces at MLK now? Afterall 33 beds seesm to be a rather odd number unless teh above rationale may apply ??
Only person who can stop this is Jim McGovern...maybe Tim Murray. As I said before, time to get Tim & Jim both back to the Village of Piedmont for a "Homecoming" I am sure they'll both have lotsa time in August when many peopel traditionally break bread down in W Yarmouth.
The hospital is an entirely different environment to a dense urban neighborhood where there are many nooks and crannies to hide in as well as numerous business locations to panhandle at and parks to hang at. The hoslital is a perfect location for this.
My wife works at CHL where the triage center is and there has been next to no major issues. The benefit of it being there is that the people in need of assistance have resources at their doorstep. There's definitely less trouble there than when it was on Main St.
We both are highly against SMOC potentially using the MLK Jr. building as the new center. It'll turn the intersection into a very undesirable/unhealthy area.
SMOC needs to hear our voices on this for sure.
The triage center is a far different animal than what the PIP was...educate yourself on what you are complaining about so you dont look so ridiculous. The closing of the PIP and the new approach was and still is a national model. The homeless population has dropped significantly, and remains very low. The triage center will only let people leave if they know where they are going and for how long, as opposed to the PIP, which forced everyone out after breakfast. The PIP was a place where anyone could crash...go about their lives, and then repeat the cycle with very little oversight. The triage center has a lot of oversight, and focuses on transitioning these people into normal, productive situations. This is a NIMBY type rant from Paul, which i can understand, but lets at least get the facts straight.
Anonymous you say "the closing of the PIP......is a national model".
For the benefit of us NIMBYs please elaborate with the details of thsi "new national model" that took the city 3-4 years of planning to come up with.
Where else is this new national model being used? I trust it's at least been tested and vetted in South Middlesex County?
Thank you.
Anon;
My rant is refective of no less than fifty immediate property owners who have been calling..stopping by my office.and.residenc......spin this anyway you like....this is a.wet.shelter going into a major property.on one.of the busiest intersections in the city......a building that should be a.cornerstone for the neighborhood...but again NOT in Worcester.
Anon
We have been fighting shite.for.twenty years..far from a NIMBY rant
Jordan was just on and said it is not a big deal...if it isn't than why can't it go back to Main St.
Signman:
I agree, If the triage center is running so great and looks nothing like the old PIP.
Why can't SMOC put the triage center back into the 33,000 square building that they already own on Main Street?
Bill
Anyone interested in sox tickets for sat night?
Jordan Levy is same cat who broadcasted that he would no longer be getting his coffee.downtown at dunkin donuts cause of vagrants in the doorway....when students downtown comment in a t and g article that they feel unsafe.or.now this.issue he tellz folks "no problems, be happy"....shill
Bill, I will guess that it might have to do with parking. Now I rarely pass by Main St & Carleton Sts but it seems to me the area is blanketed with buildings and very little if any parking spaces.
Where did the folks who ran the PIP used to park?
Imagine if the airport ever came to life and all the out of towners driving to & from teh airport are routed via Chandler & Park Avenue. What a sight this major intersection would become with bums panhandling there. Of course SMOC advocates will tell us the triage patients whereabouts will known 24/7.
Wish i could find a few newspaper articles telling us about how great the PIP shelter will be for Worcester back when it opened in when????????....and how it will have an allowed occuPANCY OF ONLY 60 drunks and w/in a few years there are 160 sleeping there on winter nights while the city turns a blind eye to its own violations, meanwhile over at Salisbury and Forest St we have the city code dept camped out at 200am on Sunday morning looking to bust 4 unrelated college kids living in a single family house.
What f'ing joke this city has become......but fear not faithful taxpayers Robin Hood (City Sq) is coming bearing gold for all teh believers.
Someone has to come down really hard on Havana jim and The Dough boy or teh Village of Piedmont will regret the arrival of thsi latest social service experiment....opps I mean nat'l model. Send the drunken bums to to Lynnfield, Mass. or Beech Hill in up in Cow Hampshire. Let 'em dry out there.
Hey how about a full over pass and clover leaf at Park and Chandler and everything w/in 200 yards gets taken by eminent domain and razed to make a path for the new roadways? Massport will need it to build a cargo road to the airport.
Now Clive and Pedone are drinking the Kool Aid in todays (7-20) T&G.
Clive would have us believe the MLK center has been so successful that it must now close up. Clive measures success by how much a non profit can suck off the taxpayer teet. The teet dries up and the so called entrepeneurs at MLK cant handle it. Priceless!
Maybe Pedone would be even more enthused about SMOC if they opened up a facilty on Grafton St.
I am telling you CBA folks you have get Havana Jim back over there this summer and read him the riot act. I told youse all last year you let the enemy into your fold and this is what ya get. NEVER EVER invite a Trojan Horse like McGovern into your tent. The camel gets his nose under the tent and disater soons follows. Mc Govern can stop this thing.
When will you folks who are more politically savvy than I ever dreamed of being going to learn. I warned you on re: McGovern last year and re: Joe OBrien in 2009...yet you wanna givew these jokers face time. Now your only hope is to politically jack Mcgovern up against the wall. If I was a betting man, I;d say McGovern never shows. For your sakes and the for the best interests of Village of Piedmont, I hope I am wrong.
State Rep Pedone's comments are reflective of CSBA....we support productive job traing facility but not a triag....we all would love a high end law firm Senor Pedro Jahn.... Aint happening....talks on-going between city,state and feds....plus othe local parties....I am cautious in saying that this may get worked out in our favor.
This has become much bigger than the CSBA Senor Pedro Jahn......many are concerned about this possible relocation of the triage center from the UMASS hospital grounds to the corner of Chandler & Dewey.....you get to rant from afar...I had to miss Brimfield last week with Wee Will Wo Wo.....and had thought about taking a pretty lass from Boston to the house in Pensacola this week:)
Paulie, dammit I have never been able to flee to Brimfield for the Flea Market. I almsot made in in May.
Then I figured I'd try it in the fall but a few weeks ago I was enlightnen to the fact it's also held in Mid summer, but alas I was busy drinking from the Doggie Bar in downtown Chatham for part of last week, sO i never made it to Brimfield. This fall for sure as well as Eastern States Expo and Topsfield, too.
OK now for my CBA, SMOC, MLK post.
So here's what I just pasted from City treasueres website re: MLK center.
"LAST PAYMENT RECEIVED: 04/19/00 IN THE AMOUNT OF 3379.69
Order CML Online Now"
Sooooo............MLK center used no water betweem April, 2000 and today ? I am hoping this is a misprint. But if it aint, dare i ask how MLK operates w/o water? Maybe somewhere, somehow some water usuage fees were waived.
Not only that but city website is showing NO water billings to MLK chandler St address for the last 3 fiscal years? Maybe the old envelope building had a well??? ....but if so they still have to pay sewer discharge portion of water bill
Shaun, when you get back from Happy Hampton Beach, inquiring minds need to know how it is that apparently no bodily discharge functions OCCUR and no water libaTIONs ARE COnSUMED at MLK? Got MILK? :)
Maybe they own other real estate on Dewey St and water comes in that way ? If they do, I cant find it??????
Shaun, inquiring minds also need to know who, if anyone, could be in line for a cash windfall if and when MLK sells to SMOC.
Paulie as a promoter, may I sugggest you get up to Group Therapy in P -Town and have THEM do up some bumper stickers. My thinking was something like this but of course others may have better ideas:
"KEEP SOUTH MIDDLESEX OPPORTUNITY COUNCIL IN SOUTH MIDDLESEX NOT SOUTH WORCESTER"
imo smoc IS ONE OPPORTUNITY WORC SHOULD PASS ON
Personally I like "pass the pip"
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