Democrats from N.Y. object to party venue

It was an idea straight out of the sunny convention playbook, to host welcome parties for state delegations in Boston neighborhoods. But local Democratic National Convention organizers were taken aback when a letter arrived from the New York State Democratic Committee, objecting to its South Boston party site because of the neighborhood's "history of racial turmoil and tension."

Officials at the convention host committee say they've spoken at length to prominent New York Democrats since the letter arrived this spring and will not move the party from South Boston. A New York state party official yesterday said the issue "is absolutely being resolved."

Still, some politicians from South Boston and elsewhere in the city, told about the letter yesterday, said they weren't pleased that the Empire State was slinging arrows at Boston's reputation.

"This is not your grandma's Boston," said state Senator Dianne Wilkerson, a Roxbury Democrat, who said she wishes she had been able to talk to New York officials about their concerns. "If the standard is you couldn't go anyplace where something bad has happened before, there would probably be a whole lot of places in New York that we wouldn't want to visit."

The letter, signed by New York State Democratic Committee Chairman Herman "Denny" Farrell Jr., was sent on April 7, about three weeks after the host committee held a buoyant press conference to announce a list of party sites in Boston's outlying neighborhoods.

The idea, convention organizers said at the time, was to showcase some of Boston's quirky sites and local color, rather than follow the standard practice of holding the parties in downtown hotel ballrooms. So the California delegation was to party at the Franklin Park Zoo; the Virginia and West Virginia delegations, in the Menino wing of the Hyde Park Library. For the New York delegation, the host committee planned a clambake on the beach at the L Street Bathhouse.

Julie Burns, executive director of Boston 2004, said the match-up was based largely on logistics; New York's is the second-largest delegation, and the bathhouse, also known as the Curley Recreation Center, was one of the larger venues available.

But Farrell objected to the site, noting in his letter that the New York delegation is "very diverse," and full of members, including himself, who were involved in the civil rights movement.

"For those of us who were on the frontlines of that struggle, the prospect of celebrating in a neighborhood that so fiercely opposed integration is very troubling," he said.

A New York Democratic official said yesterday that state party leaders learned about the party sites from news reports and believed they should have been consulted about the site. Farrell, who is black, personally raised the issue, the official said.

But Chung Seto, the executive director of the New York State Democratic Committee, said convention planners responded quickly to the letter, and the dialogue was positive.

"The host committee and Mayor [Thomas M.] Menino have been most gracious in taking the concerns of the New York delegation very seriously," Seto said. "I think the letter just raises concerns given its history, but that doesn't mean that we're opposed to visiting the neighborhoods of Boston. . . . Including South Boston."

But Seto said she believed the party might be moved from the bathhouse because of construction and renovation costs.

Burns said the host committee still hopes to hold the event at the bathhouse. New York's, she said, is the only delegation to have raised objections about its party site.

"The states have been incredibly intrigued about this," she said.

Burns and Seto both denied published rumors that New York delegates had raised objections to the L Street Bathhouse site because the name reminds them of gay bathhouses.

But news of the letter sparked some bad feelings among South Boston politicians, staunch defenders of the neighborhood.

"I would suggest that that person has somewhat of a prejudice against South Boston," said Councilor James M. Kelly, who said people of many racial backgrounds use the bathhouse today.

And state Representative Brian Wallace, a South Boston lawmaker, said the host committee shouldn't cling to the South Boston site. "If they don't want to be here, then they shouldn't be here," Wallace said. "People are bending over backwards to make them feel at home and then they're making statements like that. It's really unfortunate."