To the Editor:

The Dorchester Reporter's April 10 story," History Serves Both Sides in UMass Dispute" provided a snap shot into the past and the present on not only the UMass systems campaign over the past five or six to build student housing, but the lack of a substantial relationship between the residential community of Dorchester. Since the University was established in 1974, UMass has built and maintained a partnership within the Harbor Point neighborhood. While I applaud that, it is not in and of itself significant enough to absolve it of the lack of a substantial relationship with the Dorchester community as a whole.

The further question is, now that UMass has withdrawn its proposal to build student housing, can we build a "town-and-gown" relationship and move forward.

While I applaud the Reporter for extensively covering an important issue like this, we cannot afford to let this matter slip from our consciousness until another violative rift develops between the residential community and UMass-Boston results in more front page stories. Unfortunately, I don't believe we can without examining the past and the present reality of the relationship before we try to move on into the future. So I'd like to reference another article from your April 10 edition, "Original UMass Trustee Statement on Columbia Point" and see where we've come since that document was written 30 years ago this June.

1. What is the explicit admission policy for students in the immediate area? What is UMass's annual outreach efforts for informing area students about this explicit admission policy and its corresponding flexible techniques for identifying qualified students? Should information like this be distributed annually to civic associations and agencies like Project DEEP, the Dorchester YMCA, the Vietnamese American Civic Association, the Haitian Multi-Service Center or the Col. Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club and its affiliates: the Paul McLaughlin Youth Center and the Walter Denney Youth Center. Maybe this information could be published each fall by the Dorchester Reporter as a community service to the residents of Dorchester.

2. Where does UMass stand in minimizing their transit use costs through the use of their parking fee revenue?

3. A companion question for the above is does UMass's parking fee schedule today reflect their commitment from 30 years ago to "discourage unnecessary automobile use, particularly at peak traffic hours"?

4. Given the university's commitment 30 years ago to, if necessary, "change class schedules as necessary to minimize the traffic volume" in our neighborhood, has UMass had the City of Boston's Transportation Department and Mass Highway review and comment on their traffic volume recently?

5. UMass committed 30 years ago to cooperation between the campus and City agencies and community groups to discourage conversion (or I would suggest the rental of a housing unit to a student(s) originally from outside the impact area) of local family dwellings to student occupancy. Does the university meet with city agencies to discuss locations where students are living? If, not, why not. Can we find out exactly how many students currently reside inside the impacted area? Personally I understand that about 250 or more students are living at Harbor Point and I do not have an issue with that, because they're renting market rate units, I would hope.

6. Is UMass still excluding housing allowances from their financial aid calculations? We understand that in the case of students who prove a demonstrably need to establish their own home within the high impact area exceptions will be granted on a case by case basis.

7. Will UMass recommit to their commitment of 30 years ago to provide, "Active exploration and assistance to city and community efforts to provide additional housing with no special privileges for students?"

8. Will the university expand their efforts to engage local businesses to bid on supplies and services put out to bid by UMass?

9. Will the university expand their efforts to maximize job opportunities for local residents both through direct hiring and through contracting with local businesses? Will UMass-Boston advertise job opportunities in the Dorchester Reporter like I have seen them place recently in the Bay State Banner? Will they inform our Health Centers, Community Development Corporations or other non-profits, so they can post these job openings in their buildings?

Thirty years ago, in June of 1973, the UMass board of trustees adopted a statement of policy, that in part said, "The opening of the Columbia Point campus of the University of Massachusetts at Boston is an event of high potential for the University, its neighbors and the metropolitan cities and towns." It further went on to say, that it would "require the strenuous, creative and cooperative efforts of many people both within and outside of the University". Here's my own effort at trying to increase the potential of our community, UMass-Boston, Columbia and Harbor Point including the Kennedy Library, the state archives building and the Bayside Exposition Center.

All of the above institutions bring about one million visitors a year to Dorchester and have been doing so now for a number of years. This includes everything from UMass's upcoming graduation, to this week's presentation by the Kennedy Library of the Kennedy family's "Profiles in Courage" awards to the recently concluded Flower Show held annually at the Bayside Exposition Center. This doesn't include the 1,000 to 1,500 employees who work daily on the Point's or UMass's 1,500 to 2,000 students who go to school every day. So my first proposal is:

1. To install interactive kiosks, which would highlight Dorchester restaurants from the Blarney Stone, the Seafood Palace, Nanina's to C.F. Donovan's. I could continue on with the great Cape Verdean and Vietnamese restaurants finished off by the Taste of India. The quality and depth of our restaurants is finally increasing and could increase tenfold. Businesses would pay a fee to advertise on these kiosks, which would also highlight other institutions like the Franklin Park Zoo and festivals like the Uphams Corner Street Festival the Kite Festival held annually at Franklin Park and both the Dorchester Day and Caribbean Parades. People also might be interested in viewing the street where Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy grew up and the Lower Mills home of the first chocolate factory to be built in the United States. In addition other service businesses from A to Z could be listed on these kiosks promoting businesses from automotive repairs to the Franklin Park Zoo. Either the Dorchester Board of Trade or even the Dorchester Reporter could manage these kiosks for a fee.

My second proposal has to do with the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs:

2. I would like to see the McCormack Institute study the unfair costs that residents of urban areas like Dorchester, Brockton, Lowell and Springfield have had to bear for both automobile and homeowner's insurance. This renowned institute could focus on these two issues, which have been of particular interest to Dorchester residents for the past several years. Do you, like me, wonder why we still have the FAIR Plan when the number of multiple alarm fires in Dorchester have been going down for the past several years? Why are these insurance companies allowed to continue to abuse urban areas like Dorchester with these high rates? These topical issues would appear to fit within the Institute's mission of contributing to an informed public discourse on public policy formulation and problem solving focusing on UMass-Boston's urban mission.

3. I propose that UMass's Small Business Development Center establish relationships beyond what they have already established with the six (6) Main Street Districts and with four (4) community development corporations. The Center could with these groups hold a business fair not unlike the one that the Bayside Exposition Center held (a Bridal Fair) this past winter that highlighted local businesses involved in the wedding industry. Hats off to the Corcoran Family and Catherine O'Neil for coming up with this positive event, that involved all of Dorchester with a major institution down on the point.

4. My final point has to do with UMass and whether they will be as engaged with the community and its civic associations as they have been since February of 2002 when Chancellor Jo An Gora held gave her first "State of the University" address to local civic leaders

Thirty years ago the board of trustees made a pledge, that is still valid today, that when they started the process back then to site UMass Boston here in Dorchester, that they had "done so by working closely with state and local officials and neighborhood groups to anticipate and help solve a variety of problems." That sentiment is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago when "town and gown" came together in a breathe of optimism to herald an asset, that could have significant potential benefits for the communities (as the trustee's put it so delicately 30 years ago), that are adjacent to the Columbia Point Campus and to address promptly any problems associated with the University's new location. May I suggest that just as the board of trustees concluded their statement of policy 30 years ago, "Common work with the neighborhoods as partners, not adversaries, is essential." The trustees went on to say, that "We foresee substantial opportunities for student, faculty and staff involvement in community-based activities and projects."

I would like to conclude by saying that both Columbia Point and Harbor Point are part of Dorchester and always have been. When I walked into the community reception that the Corcoran family held for the second year in a row I was stunned because it was like a reunion with over 400 residents from all over Dorchester present. Under Chancellor Gora, UMass-Boston has increased their involvement throughout Dorchester as highlighted in their recent first-time-ever publication of Outreach - Building Communities through Community Partnerships, but some might question was that one time issue or commitment. Like a lot of things in life, efforts to develop community partnerships like this need to be viewed over a longer period of time. What we are talking about is not just what is good for the institutions at Columbia Point or what is good for Dorchester, but what can the institutions and the residents and the businesses do together to make Dorchester and even better place to live, work and yes, Alice, even to go to school. I hope 30 years from now our legacy to the future generations of Dorchester is a neighborhood, that is the best neighborhood to live in first; because of the people then because of institutions like UMass-Boston, the Kennedy Library, the Col. Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club, Project D.E.E.P., the state archives, and the Bayside Exposition Center.

Sincerely,

Tom Gannon

Fields Corner