No consensus, but as a membership drive mtg. success

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Feb. 21, 2019) Little progress was made in terms of a public consensus on the future of the multipurpose building at last Friday’s Berlin Community Improvement Association meeting, but, as a general membership drive, the session could be called a success.

BCIA Chairman D.J. Lockwood began the session, as he did during the previous meeting last November, with a history lesson.

He said the land on which the multipurpose building sits and which once housed the Flower Street School, was deeded seven times from 1925 to 1962, based on information from the Worcester County Commissioner’s office. The Flower Street School served the African-American community prior to desegregation and the multipurpose building was a part of the school, although it was not the main schoolhouse.

Lockwood said property eventually came under county Worcester Control, and in 1971 the county placed an advertisement in the Democratic Messenger three weeks prior to a public auction. The BCIA won the auction with a $700 bid. In today’s dollars, according to Lockwood, that’s about $4,700.

The nonprofit organization exclusively operated the multipurpose building until about 1983, when the Booker T. Washington Lodge, later the Masons, and Shore Up! signed on to help with maintenance and upkeep.

Lockwood said the multipurpose building was a “happening spot” for community events during the 1980s, both for Baby Boomers and Generation X, and that’s why many remember it fondly. Today, the building is considered almost unusable because of age and disrepair.

“A lot of us have emotional ties to the multipurpose building and they’re not really historical facts to go with it – it’s more of an emotional hold,” he said. “This is why we have to build a strong BCIA – because I don’t want to see anything like that happen again in our backyard. That building should not have went the way it went.

“If you don’t see how fast our community is growing, just look right over there,” Lockwood continued, gesturing toward downtown Berlin. “With our community changing, we have to change … if you try to make something stay the same, it’s not going to happen. It’s impossible.”

Lockwood said the committee now finds itself in “a very unique situation,” wherein town officials have offered to build a new community center at the multipurpose building on the site if the organization is willing to deed it to the town. In exchange, town officials have pledged to create a community center advisory board to include several BCIA members.

A meeting with Mayor Gee Williams and other town officials was scheduled this week and BCIA board members are learning toward deeding the building, Lockwood said.

If and when that happens, Lockwood said a strong Berlin Community Improvement Association could then focus on its original mission. According to the organization’s articles of incorporation, the BCIA was formed “To establish and operate an association of civic minded people residing in the northern part of Worcester County, Maryland, to serve the community by meritorious public and civic works designed to make the community a better place in which to live; and to offer and provide educational, recreation and social activities for its members.”

Lockwood said it was a special time when both the town and the school system, the latter of which has pledged meeting space, was willing to partner with the BCIA.

“This is a membership drive and we need people to be a part of our community – not just driving through,” he said. “I live on Flower Street … I’m a lifetime citizen of Flower Street. There’re not too many more lifetime citizens of Flower Street in here.”

There were, apparently, two more in the audience.

“Being a lifetime citizen of Flower Street, I’m ashamed of myself riding by that building,” Lockwood said. “I feel bad about it, so I’m going to take every step I need to take to push forward.

“I’ve had a lot of calls [and] some emails talking about gentrification – watch out for that,” he continued. “When I was a little kid riding my bike, I don’t want to get in trouble saying this, but there were some restaurants that would not let me come in. And my money was the same as anyone else’s … all I wanted was an ice cream or a soda.

“That’s not the same Berlin. That separatism? The great divide? [Route] 113? That’s no longer the same,” he said. “I believe in partnering with the town and also having a blue ribbon school system – look at the possibilities for our kids. The possibilities of creating a magnificent center for our kids, that’s what it’s about for me.”

One woman in the audience said she was there because her grandparents would have wanted her to be. She said the multipurpose building was important because it was formerly part of a segregated school and, if it were torn down, something should be done to preserve its history.

“There has to be something in this town to show that black people actually lived there and prospered there,” she said.

Lockwood said many in the room and on the BCIA shared those feelings, and he promised, “none of that would be lost.”

“If we agree to a partnership with the town, there’s all kind of deed restrictions,” he said. “We would make it so no one could do anything besides what it’s stated for. We also could memorialize [the building]. That’s when us, as a group, comes in.”

Another woman said there was a certain fear factor in the community.

“D.J. mentioned about places that he couldn’t go … I lived it,” she said.

“There used to a be a camp on Flower Street – that history is gone,” she continued. “Flower Street School is gone. I went there.

“We, as a people, are used to losing because there are not enough funds,” the woman said. “You can’t come in with some sugar and think you’re going to smooth it over, when people are used people buying their land, taking their land, and it’s happening all over.”

Others said they either did not trust town leadership, wanted a bigger seat at the table, or that keeping the building under direct community control would allow members of the public to pursue grants for revitalization.

Berlin Councilman Dean Burrell said he also has emotional ties to the multipurpose building, as one of the first dates he went on with his wife was to a sweetheart ball held there.

Burrell went on to say he’s heard “crazy rumors” about the town’s plans for the building, none of which were true. He said the town has been using taxpayer money to hold the building together for many years, but the Town Council would not be good custodians of that money if it continued to do so.

“The multipurpose building is actually falling down,” Burrell said. “[There’s] no more license for children to participate in activities in there – they couldn’t even have the Head Start graduation in there anymore because of its condition. Something needs to be done, but the town cannot put taxpayer money into a place we don’t own.”

Burrell said the Head Start program, currently housed on a satellite building on the property and operated by Shore Up!, would continue if the town controlled the site. Burrell is a former director of the program and fellow Councilman Elroy Brittingham is the current chairman of the Shore Up! board.

“No one’s talking about putting the Head Start program nowhere, because we know how important the Head Start program is to our community,” Burrell said. “That program is next to our hearts … and if we can do something to help that place, we will.”

Burrell said the town was going to build a new community center no matter what, but the multipurpose building site seemed like an ideal location.

“We thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful to utilize that spot?” he said.

Brittingham said there was already money set aside for preconstruction work and the town owned other land nearby that could be used for parking.

“When we looked at it and we talked to BCIA, we realized that they needed help with their building, so why have a community center right down the street from the multipurpose building? Why not come together and have one campus [and] one building, with overflow parking?” he said.

Burrell took the opportunity to praise Lockwood, who he called a man with vision.

“When D.J. talks about membership, he understands that in order for BCIA … to do those things that he talked about in those articles of incorporation, he needs the community behind this agency,” Burrell said. “That’s why he has asked you here this evening.

“You don’t want to miss this opportunity – this is an opportunity for Berlin, this is an opportunity for our community to do something positive,” he continued. “And I can’t think of no other better place to have a community center in the Town of Berlin than on that site.”

Burrell said the town would use the same guidelines for a new community center as with as any other town-owned facilities.

Gabe Purnell, who has been involved with the BCIA for several decades, said it was his understanding an advisory board for the new community center would include five members, three of which would come from the BCIA. He said that board would operate like any other town board or commission.

Purnell also invoked Dr. William Henry Park on Flower Street as a model of a how a town-owned, for-the-community facility could be run.

“That’s the model of what happens,” he said. “The town owns it … and we use it.

“Not only did they replace the basketball court, they put up bleachers. They put a bathroom out there and they’ve even talked about putting lights out there.

“They did everything we wanted, plus we didn’t even ask for a bathroom – they put that out there!” Purnell added.

Burrell said some during the meeting were “talking like the Town of Berlin wants to take something from you.”

“That’s not the case at all. This is an opportunity … to have a facility that serves you,” he said. “The Town of Berlin is not trying to take a thing from nobody. And you talk about having say and having participation and all that kind of stuff – well you have the vote! And if things aren’t going the way you think it should be, go vote! Go vote what you think.

“I’m telling you that this is an opportunity and, folks, you don’t want to miss this opportunity for us,” Burrell continued. “It’s not a Berlin-Town thing – it’s a community thing. And don’t let this opportunity pass our community by.”

Lockwood ended the meeting by saying it was not the last before the BCIA deeded over the property, but should instead be thought of as the first meeting for a new, reinvigorated membership.

Several dozen membership forms were passed out, and nearly all appeared to be returned, with $10 fees included and all the necessary information filled out.

For more information on how to become a Berlin Community Improvement Association member, contact Lockwood at djlockwood334@gmail.com.