Plaza a round peg in public square

Residents decry recent redesign of common space at Villa Victoria

Three days into the first heat wave of the summer this month, only three men were sitting on black metal benches at Villa Victoria's Plaza Betances, while a few elderly residents of the 435-unit affordable housing development sought shade on the sidelines of the recently redesigned plaza.

"By this time last summer, domino tables would be placed by the trees," a 26-year Villa Victoria resident, Carmen Nazario-Vega, said.

"We used to have a staging area where impromptu church activities would be held and the youth would put on shows. The old folks would play guitars in the evenings. Now nobody sits there; there's no staging area and no shade."

Sandwiched between two buildings and a row of stucco-walled villas on West Dedham Street, Plaza Betances reopened last month, in time for the 35th annual Festival Betances, billed as the oldest Latino community arts festival in New England and scheduled to be held in the plaza July 18, 19, and 20.

But some residents complain that the $1 million renovation, featuring circular patterns of multicolored pavers weaving throughout adjoining sidewalks and landscaped areas, failed to preserve the plaza's Latin flavor. Among many points of controversy between residents and management was the removal of more than a dozen mature trees.

Police, however, say the new plaza improves public safety. While the old tree-shaded, domino-playing plaza was an oasis from the heat, it was also plagued by drug dealing and open drinking and loitering, especially inside a maze of walls that police say made it difficult for them to monitor illicit activity and prevent homeless people from spending the night.

Acknowledging the need to modernize a crumbling plaza, some residents maintain that the walls near West Dedham Street could have been excavated without disturbing gathering space at the back of the park.

Residents say they don't know how festive Festival Betances will be without the walls that festivalgoers used to stand on and lean against.

"I want to know: Where is everyone going to stand?" asked Sheila Moreland, who works at the technology center abutting the plaza.

"It's going to be easier [for police] because we don't have walls with people hanging on and hanging behind them," said Captain William B. Evans, who commands the South End's police station.

"Even riding up West Dedham Street, we can see back through the entire plaza. Before, we didn't know what was going on behind those walls."

Nazario-Vega said this rationale suggests that the nearly 40-year-old plaza needs to be policed more than any other city park. She also said too much weight was placed on public safety when planning the new plaza.

"They could've kept the same concept of community, which is conscious of Latino [culture]," she said. "It doesn't have a Latino theme. We do not have circle plazas. Our plazas are square; we have different levels."

Nazario-Vega, who is chairwoman of the Tenants in Victory organization, said residents shot down four versions of the redesign during the community process, which was initiated in 2002 by Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion, the nonprofit organization established to support development and empowerment at Villa Victoria. (Nazario-Vega is also an IBA board member.)

Lack of funding eventually stalled the project, designed by architect Andres Rojas, and it didn't get off the ground until the city's Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund kicked in $60,000. The remainder of the tab was picked up by ETC Development Corp., a subsidiary of IBA that manages Villa Victoria. Another hurdle was cleared last year when the Boston Housing Authority handed over management rights of the plaza to ETC for the next 25 years. Previously, the BHA, which owns the property the plaza sits on, policed the plaza, and ETC's private security company didn't have jurisdiction over it. Now a security guard monitors the plaza from 4 p.m. to midnight and at various times beyond those hours.

Security aside, controversy over the plaza heightened last summer during a tenant protest spurred by swirling rumors that the large Villa Victoria sign prominently displayed at the gateway of the original plaza wasn't going to be reinstalled. The new design didn't incorporate the monument until residents complained. Gina Martinez, ETC's new executive director, not only guaranteed that the sign will be resurrected but also said ETC is working on installing new domino tables as well as two checkers and chess tables.

"Clearly, the process that took place for the renovation was not necessarily the most inclusive process that ETC undertook," Vanessa Calderon-Rosado, IBA's chief executive officer, said earlier this month. "That being said, I think under the new [ETC] leadership, there are definitely efforts to truly engage the community more, getting them to feel proud and happy about the plaza because, at the end of the day, it's for the community.

"A day like today - because the trees are so small and don't provide as much shade as they used to - there's not that many people out there. But there will be. I'm sure you'll see a good number of people using the plaza again."