Clark University - Clark News summer 2004
Summer in the city (fall 2004)
Students take their learning to the streets and neighborhoods of Worcester
By Tammy Griffin-Kumpey
As a university in an urban neighborhood, Clark strives to address the needs and concerns of contemporary urban life, so it¹s typical of Clark students to be engaged in projects that benefit the local community. This past summer, 16 Clark students helped the city with redevelopment efforts, environmental issues and community initiatives.
Revitalizing the city
Worcester, like many cities throughout the United States, faces the problem of dwindling open space and is examining ways to clean up and reinvest in once-developed, then-vacated properties known as brownfields. A partnership between Clark and the city is paving the way for efforts to redevelop brownfields, whose redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. Reinvesting in these properties takes development pressures off of undeveloped land and improves and protects the environment.
The results of a Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping project, born through the participation of Clark geography professor Gil Pontius in Worcester¹s Brownfield Roundtable and the city¹s GIS Manager, Shane White, will help Worcester take a proactive approach to revitalizing brownfields. This summer, Clark graduate students Stephen Metts, Catherine Cox and Deb Sinha, along with recent WPI graduate David George, collected and compiled different types of data from various sources‹including those of local, state and federal agencies‹piecing together one comprehensive picture to help target properties for redevelopment. Thanks to their work, information that was once hidden in various sources will soon be at the fingertips of developers and city planners.
"This information will help the city tremendously as it entices new business to the area," says White.
Each data source is its own layer, its own map, Metts explains, all of which make up the final map. White offers the hypothetical example of a property with a history including an underground storage tank, a toxic spill and major construction.
"This work has tied all of this information together‹that¹s the power of GIS," White says.
"It gives people a good head start for their data collection of a certain site or area that they¹re thinking of developing," says Cox. With everything that is known about the city¹s parcels all in one spot, the city can better estimate more quickly and easily what it would cost to prepare a certain site for a particular redevelopment project, and market that site to appropriate developers.
"Most people seem to know about the big sites‹the city has had its eye on them for a long time," adds Sinha, who says the project has also uncovered a wealth of smaller properties. According to Sinha, the city is running out of big parcels of land to develop and is now investigating ways to group together some small parcels into a size that would be more amenable to redevelopment. Previously, the information on these parcels was too scattered for such an approach.
"This work will definitely be a valuable asset to the city as it goes forward with its redevelopment efforts. Worcester¹s future depends on how quickly it can react to the present and take full advantage of getting these properties back on the tax rolls," says George.
MAD about community
Making A Difference (MAD) Scholars‹student leaders who have shown an exemplary commitment to community service‹enrich the Clark community through their exceptional volunteer efforts. In addition to receiving a $44,000 four-year scholarship, MAD Scholars are awarded a $2,500 stipend to support summer service projects in the Worcester community. Several MAD Scholars used their stipends this summer to help the community flourish.
Ethan Prosnit ¹05, for example, volunteered with the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center as a community-outreach intern. He helped organize a community dinner to bring together longtime residents and area business owners with new members of the community, many of them new immigrants. "It¹s a very diverse community, and it was really interesting to bring them all together," Prosnit says.
He also organized neighborhood block parties. Prosnit received special permission to close down the street four times this summer so kids of all ages could have a safe place to play, ride their bikes or beat the summer heat with a big water-balloon fight. "The kids in this area don¹t have a lot of places to play so this gave them a safe alternative‹the kids really loved it." These events ended with families enjoying free popcorn at drive-in style showings of films like "The Goonies" and "Spirited Away."
MAD scholars Scott Silver ¹06 and Adam Tomczik ¹06 used their stipends to create a documentary film showcasing ethnic neighborhood restaurants. A love of ethnic cuisine and desire to portray some of the best attributes of the Main South neighborhood fueled their project. Tomczik says working on the film, "Across the Sea and Onto Your Plate," was inspiring.
"This documentary is about people making it. It¹s about people reaching for the American dream and succeeding," he says.
Tomczik and Silver are excited that their film was shown to students during first-year orientation. "Scott and I wanted to create something that would last and have a lingering impact on the community and those who view it," says Tomczik. He cites executive assistant to the president Jack Foley¹s comment at the end of the film: "Worcester doesn¹t jump out and present itself to you. You need to actively investigate and explore every nook and cranny."
When MAD Scholars Amanda Graizel ¹06 and Jonathan Blumenthal ¹06 signed on to help the Boys & Girls Club start up a new drama program, they had no idea what they were in for. "As with any start-up program, there are bound to be some kinks," says Blumenthal. Graizel agrees, saying there were a few minor bumps in the road, including switching scripts three weeks before the show¹s opening.
But as they say in show biz, "The show must go on." And it did.
Graizel worked feverishly as production manager and acting coach, helped with props and costuming and took on a role as "pinch" actor. Blumenthal handled the lighting and sound, everything from tracking down equipment borrowed free of charge from Clark¹s Visual and Performing Arts Department, to training a group of teens to use it. Teens ages 11 to 15 from eight different area schools, participated in the production.
Even with the kinks, Blumenthal and Graizel enjoyed the experience. "It¹s good for the kids," says Blumenthal. "It builds their self-confidence, they experience what it¹s like to perform in front of an audience, and they get to try something new."
Water HEROs
Think about environmental threats to the Worcester area, and drought doesn¹t immediately come to mind. Becky Alper ¹06, Zo Tobi ¹07 and Troy Hill ¹06, who recently presented their work on the Worcester community¹s water-system vulnerability to climatic fluctuations, admit they were surprised to be researching drought in Worcester and nine surrounding towns.
"I think the most surprising thing we learned is that Massachusetts has water issues," says Alper.
As fellows in the Human Environment Research Observatory for Central Massachusetts (HERO-CM), Alper, Hill and Tobi took a two-week, intensive short course at Pennsylvania State University before beginning their research on how area water systems will be able to cope with future stressors of extreme weather events, droughts, floods, population growth and development. Clark is one of four sites in the country that are part of the HERO network, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. HERO sites research and document long-term human-environment interaction.
Professor and HERO adviser Colin Polsky explains that these students are working on coordinated research with HERO sites at Kansas State, Penn State and the University of Arizona, and all are investigating the same basic questions of their regions: How likely is a specific site to adapt to droughts and floods? Can a particular area provide the amount of water that it demands? How sensitive are local water systems to changes in rainfall? What is the relationship between water demand and urban sprawl?
Alper, Hill and Tobi sought answers to these questions by interviewing developers, city planners, water-systems managers and advocacy groups in the research area, which included Worcester, Holden, Paxton, Shrewsbury, Leicester, Boylston, West Boylston, Grafton and Millbury.
"I think we all came into this project wondering why we were studying drought in Massachusetts‹we get so much rain here. But one of the huge things we¹re learning is that the equation is not simply Œrainfall equals water availability,¹" says Tobi, explaining that rainfall doesn¹t immediately seep back into the ground when it hits impervious surfaces like asphalt or concrete, but instead is transported elsewhere as run-off. Eventually, run-off will reach a destination and sink into the ground but not in the area covered by impervious surfaces, which can cause water shortages in those areas. Often, the run-off picks up contaminants along the way, resulting in heightened pollution in the locations where run-off is ultimately deposited. According to Tobi, the impervious surfaces also accelerate the movement of water during heavy rains, thereby increasing the chance of floods.
"I¹ve been impressed with the disparity among the towns even within this small study area," says Hill. For example, he describes Worcester as a big city with a huge tax base and a huge water supply. It¹s mostly developed and there¹s not a lot of developable land left in it, so growth explosion and water scarcity are not an issue. By contrast, towns experiencing exploding growth rates, like Shrewsbury, are encouraged to institute voluntary water restrictions.
According to Hill, the nearby town of Holden is experiencing massive problems and is currently enforcing a level-two mandatory ban. "They have reservoirs in Holden that Worcester owns the rights to," explains Hill. "And Holden just bought emergency rights to the water in its own town."
"It¹s a very complex, multifaceted narrative with a lot of different things in play, including the relationship among citizens, advocacy groups and local, regional and state officials," continues Tobi, who says they suspect the westward development-and-growth movement from Boston to the Worcester area might be affecting the issues of water quality and quantity that they are investigating.
The HEROs are writing a paper summarizing their findings and the pospects for effective future adaptation in the 10-town study area. The paper will also examine the dynamic interactions between structural and agent-level actors in hopes of discerning how these interactions affect adaptive capacity, and how the process could work more effectively. They plan to send the report to all of these towns and hope that their research and suggestions will help them prepare for a potential water crisis.
"Many of these towns, especially the smaller ones, just don¹t have the time, manpower and resources to do studies like this. I hope making these connections for them and providing this information will help them plan well for the future," says Hill.
Finding a voice
Through the Urban Development and Social Change Summer Fellowship Program, and working closely with geography graduate student Sarah Loy, Jared Swerzenski ¹05, Carly Coppola ¹06, Evan Wilson ¹06 and Caitlin Johnson ¹05 are helping the city breathe new life into a faded neighborhood.
City officials recently targeted a section of Worcester known as the Green Island district, which includes Kelley Square and such Worcester institutions as the Broadway Restaurant and Tom¹s Delicatessen, for redevelopment. Through a partnership with Worcester¹s Director of City Planning Joel Fontane, the students surveyed people in the neighborhood to find out more about the community. Over several weeks, the students interviewed 73 business owners and 100 residents and then compiled a report citing the survey and the needs of the neighborhood. The final analysis, they say, will give the people living and working there a voice.
"Because our sample is fairly large, we can make generalizations about what people in the neighborhood want or need and what they see as the advantages and disadvantages of living in the neighborhood," explains Johnson.
"The city can reference these perceptions and hopefully create policy that is best for the neighborhood, its residents and business owners," adds Coppola.
When Wilson first visited the neighborhood, he could easily imagine what it looked like in its hey-day.
"But this is now a neighborhood without any big institutional support. It doesn¹t have a university, or any large-scale churches, or other such organizations common to healthier neighborhoods," he says. "These are people who are struggling just to get by." A neighborhood rich in ethnic diversity, Wilson says he has been enlightened by community members, who have openly shared their views, hardships and experiences.
According to the fellows, the Green Island neighborhood has huge redevelopment potential, with residential housing conveniently nestled within the business district. This, they say, could translate into more nearby job opportunities for residents, as well as shorter treks to a grocery store or restaurant. The area is pedestrian friendly‹with delis, coffee shops, bakeries, restaurants and light industrial establishments within walking distance of each other. And it¹s adjacent to Union Station, where major redevelopment is already underway.
"It's a great experience to apply everything you've learned in the classroom, actually use all the tools that were once notes on a piece of paper, and know that your work will help the city and the people in the area," says Johnson.
"Each of these students, when they applied for the fellowship, impressed us as someone who wanted to make a difference and was concerned with social justice," says professor and fellows' adviser Sharon Krefetz. "These students have seen and heard from people, many of whom are working incredibly hard to eke out a living. They've witnessed this and have become much more aware of their responsibility to try to help."
"I think the experience has made me more compassionate about urban issues, urban poverty and people in urban areas without a voice. It's definitely made me more committed to helping people who are struggling," says Coppola.
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