Mayor hasn't deviated from plan to close Buttonwoods Center

Mayor Scott Avedisian is moving ahead with the plan to close the Buttonwoods Community Center on March 1 even though the City Council has a resolution under consideration to keep the former school open and some seniors who use the facility are questioning the rationale of the move.

Ward 7 Councilman Steve McAllister, who introduced the resolution that was co-sponsored by all his colleagues in attendance, wants to explore sources of funding to make improvements. He believes there are opportunities for grants to make roof and other repairs that the mayor has cited as one reason to sell the building. Avedisian also cites low usage as a reason to relocate what senior activities are held there – card clubs and bingo – to either the Pilgrim Senior Center or the JONAH building in Oakland Beach.

The center is also home to the city’s Department of Human Services. Space is being leased by both Westbay Community Action and Comprehensive Community Action (CCAP) for adult and teen job training programs run by the two agencies. The city’s wellness nurse has an office in the center.

But while programs can find other homes, there is an attachment to Buttonwoods for some, not to mention its convenience. McAllister said seniors have told him they wouldn’t get out and socialize if the center closed.

“I love that room,” George Gange says of the windowed room where he and about 60 other seniors get together on Thursdays to play hi-lo-jack. Gange has been coming to the center for the past 10 years. He can’t understand why the leaky roof and other maintenance issues weren’t addressed.

“That place could be sparkling,” he said. “If they close it, it’s just going to rot away.”

As for the decision to close the center, Gange asks of the mayor, “Why doesn’t he talk to other people? He seems to be doing this on his own.”

A visit to the center Wednesday found people congregating at noon for bingo that would start an hour later.

“This is like my second home,” said Lynn Carr, who couldn’t recall exactly how long she had been coming to play bingo on Wednesdays, maybe 10 years. Eileen Ricci arranges her week around Wednesday bingo. She works at Greenwich Bay Manor but has arranged to get Wednesday off so she can play.

“It’s not about the money,” Ricci says of the game. Rather, she explains, it’s the camaraderie.

Shirley Morales of North Kingstown, who runs Buttonwoods bingo as well as ones in East Greenwich and North Kingstown, sent a petition to the mayor to keep the center open about three weeks ago. Morales said Meg Underwood, director of the Pilgrim Senior Center, has been in contact several times and is working on another site. She doesn’t see Pilgrim as an option since bingo is played there twice a week already.

“They would have difficulty fitting us in because so much is going on,” she said.

In an email, Avedisian said the card clubs could be accommodated at the Pilgrim Senior Center and that bingo would be relocated to JONAH in Oakland Beach.

According to a breakdown of costs provided by the administration, rent paid by Westbay and CCAP totals $26,400 but is $47,986.60 shy of meeting annual center operational costs totaling $74,426.60. The largest chunk of that cost – about $35,000 – is for maintenance personnel followed by an electric cost of $17,445.98 and natural gas costs of $10,787.25.

The costs of center repairs is projected at $463,000, which includes replacement of the sprinkler system at $250,000; a roof at $60,000; $67,000 for a roof top air conditioner; and $50,000 for a boiler.

Gange doesn’t doubt that that is possible. He believes there will be parking problems at Pilgrim, not to mention congestion in the building. The Buttonwoods Center, he points out, is used by other groups such as the Red Hats as well as for community meetings. It is a polling location.

“You don’t move people around like chess players,” he said.

The mayor has the authority to close the center, but will need City Council approval to sell it. His plan calls for the solicitation of requests for proposals on the use and sale of the property.