Community center inspires rally

Nearly a hundred people gathered in front of the South Boston Court House in the afternoon drizzle, drawing honks of support from drivers. The city announced Wednesday it plans to pull funding from the Walsh Center and seven other centers across the city, turning over the facilities to private groups that will run programs at the centers.

Sixteen-year-old Joey Sweeney, a junior at Boston Latin Academy, and Eddie McGuire, 18, , a senior at the Boston Collegiate Charter School, organized the rally after the cuts were announced. Within days, more than 800 people — including students, parents, residents, and community leaders — had joined the Facebook group McGuire created to help save the center.

“We thought it was up to us to save it,’’ Sweeney said.

McGuire said teenagers in South Boston have no alternative if the center closes.

“I don’t understand why they’d close the Walsh Center when it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing,’’ McGuire said in a phone interview. “You’re just going to put these kids on the street with nowhere to go.’’

But Daphne Griffin, executive director of the Boston Centers for Youth and Families, said the city is working with the South Boston Association of Non-Profits and the Gate of Heaven Catholic Youth Organization to take over manning the South Boston facility.

“We are not closing the door to services,’’ she said. “There’s not going to be a padlock on the door . . . that’s not an option. There are too many people that use it.’’

Griffin said information about the transition, which will happen before July 1, may not have trickled down to the teenagers who use the facility.

“These conversations don’t happen overnight,’’ she said. “But it’s never a bad thing when you have young people engaging like this.’’

Karen Florentino, who has three teenage daughters who use the center, said the sometimes rowdy students won’t have an outlet for their energy.

“They’re going to be on the street corners causing havoc,’’ she said. “When they’re bored, they try other things.’’

The Tynan Community Center, which is four blocks away, will remain open, but it has a smaller facility and fewer programs for teenagers, Florentino said.

“Some of these kids are latch-key kids anyway,’’ Florentino said. “They go home to nothing. And this place is something for them.’’

Mitch Newcomb, 17, said he has been going to the center, which used to be called the PAL after the Police Athletic League, since he was 9, playing basketball after school with his friends.

“We grew up here — it’s our second home,’’ he said. “The next generation isn’t going to have that.’’

Chris DiMaggio, 11, carried a sign that read: “Where do you expect us to go now?’’ He and his four friends chanted “Save the PAL!’’ and cheered every time a car honked. They said they won’t be able to spend time together if the center closes because they go to different schools.

“We’ll lose friendships because we’re not going to see each other,’’ DiMaggio, who goes to Boston Collegiate Charter School, said.

Eleven-year-old Billy Czar, who goes to Richard J. Murphy K-8 School, agreed: “We’ll all be devastated.

“We’re hoping Mayor Menino will wake up and smell the coffee and see that the people don’t want it to close,’’ Czar said.