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Article Launched: 10/02/2006 11:35 AM

Neighborhood activism at an all-time high -- in some sections of Lowell

By MICHAEL LAFLEUR, Sun Staff
Lowell Sun

LOWELL -- While neighborhood activism has never been stronger in enclaves like Centralville and Pawtucketville, downtown, the Acre and South Lowell, it has taken somewhat of a hiatus in other sections of the city, such as Belvidere and the Highlands.

The key to where the activism is strongest, local neighborhood group leaders say, is whether or not issues are inflaming the residents of that particular area. Lately, opposition to housing construction projects has been the biggest motivator of neighborhood groups.

"Development issues have really helped to keep us active," said Jerry Frechette, president of the Pawtucketville Citizens Council. "Most people, they become active because something is going to affect them directly. They come out because something could affect them in a negative way or it has affected them in a negative way."

The city's Centralville section, home to the highly vocal Centralville Neighborhood Action Group, also has been a hotbed of activity in recent years. Group President Ann Marie Page credits housing development there as well.

"When there's a hot issue, everybody shows up, everybody's at the meeting," she said. "Then when things quiet down, they disappear again. That's the way it is with any organization, really."

Neighborhood groups' lobbying has driven a variety of changes at City Hall, from an overhaul of the city's zoning code to the televising of Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals meetings.

The city provides logistical support to local neighborhood groups through the Division of Neighborhood Services, an arm of the city manager's office. Neighborhood Services Coordinator Michael Demaras attends essentially every neighborhood meeting in the city.

City Manager Bernie Lynch, who took office July 31, has tried to encourage neighborhood groups' participation in government. Now, City Councilor Edward "Bud" Caulfield, chairman of the council's neighborhoods and traffic subcommittee, has begun holding quarterly sessions with all neighborhood group leaders in the city.

The first such conclave was held last week.

Its one down point was the lack of activism in the city's Highlands section. The Lower Highlands Neighborhood Association has been defunct since 2003, and the Highlands group meets only on an as-needed basis.

"Unless there's an issue, people don't want to either get involved or come out just to meet and hear about what's going on," said Highlands Neighborhood Association Co-Chair Nancy Judge. "We would try to have guest speakers and all of that, but it got to the point where it was just the board."

Jane Ginsburg, last president of the Lower Highlands Neighborhood Association, said her group ultimately folded for the same reason.

"I've still got the paperwork if anybody ever wanted to start it again," she said.

Still, Highlands activism does exist.

The Friends of Tyler Park group, concentrated around the Westford Street green space, has been quite active lately, and a group of neighbors who live in the area of a proposed Lowe's Home Improvement Center, at 790 Chelmsford St., have banded together to form the Upper Highlands Preservation Society to oppose that project.

Meanwhile, the Belvidere Neighborhood Association has dissolved.

Belvidere resident Kelly Joyce and some other neighbors now are in the process of forming a replacement group.

They are tentatively calling it the Better Belvidere Neighborhood Council and are scheduled to hold their first meeting and elections on Oct. 14 at the Sullivan Middle School, 150 Draper St.

"I feel that maybe we've all become a little too complacent in Belvidere to think there's nothing going on," said Joyce, who also is involved with the Friends of Shedd Park organization.

There also has been a renewed sense of activism in the city's downtown since the founding of the Downtown Neighborhood Association last April.

DNA President Kathleen Marcin said the idea at the outset was to bring longtime downtown residents, most of whom are elderly, together with newcomers who have arrived within the past few years -- as more and more downtown buildings have been converted to condominiums and apartments.

"From my perspective, people in our neighborhood have shown tremendous interest in being involved in just trying to improve the neighborhood," she said. "A lot of it has to do with the fact that it's a very, very small neighborhood, and in general we live collectively in complexes, so we probably tend to see and talk to our neighbors a little bit more than people that live in a single-family neighborhood."

Frechette gives a great deal of credit to the Pawtucketville Citizens Council's executive board for maintaining the organization even during lulls.

"The key is to have a core group of people that keep it active during the non-issue times," Frechette said. "Then you have a system in place for when there is an issue. That's worked out well for us, it really has."

Lowell's oldest neighborhood group, the Coalition for a Better Acre, is in the midst of a period renewed vigor as well.

"Activism always ebbs and flows depending on a lot of things -- the economy, particular issues that are burning for people locally," said CBA Executive Director Laura Buxbaum.

Michael Lafleur's e-mail address is mlafleur@lowellsun.com.