Recreation Center Move Remains at Standstill

After seven years and two votes by East Providence residents, plans to relocate the city's Recreation Center into a new space remain stalled.

A vote was taken in 2002 to grant permission to move the center. It passed with residents, as they approved the moving of the center from its current Bullocks Point Avenue location.

A second vote was taken in 2004, approving a $5 million bond to relocate the center to Pierce Field. It also passed with voters. As it stands, the $5 million bond has has not been released.

With pool and ping pong tables sitting next to a WIC office on the building's second level, there is an obvious and added layer of complexity surrounding the standstill over the center's move.

East Bay Community Action Program (EBCAP) bought the building from the city in 2003, after the first vote was approved by residents. An organization that provides social services, EBCAP would like to expand its operations and make use of every inch of space. Where air hockey tables now sit will one day become a dental clinic, something that weighs heavily on the minds of those working toward the recreation center's smooth transition into a new space.

One of the people who is working hard to get the $5 million bond released from the City is Tammy Costa, chairperson of the Family Activity Center Today committee (FACT). According to Costa, the committee has about 15 members comprised of city employees and passionate residents hoping to build a facility.

"When you look at a city of this size, and you look at this recreation center, it really does not fulfill the needs of everyone in this city," Costa said. "We're looking for something that's a little bit more centrally located."

Costa also said that the number of program rooms has been cut down, due to EBCAP's need to fulfill their own programs, something Costa says she understands. According to Costa, who came on board with FACT in 2007, members of FACT went before a previous council in an attempt to have the bond released. The request was tabled for one year without the issue being revisited again after the table's expiration.

"When you speak to [members of the council] individually,  off the record, of course everyone wants what's best for the citizens, and they tell you how much they appreciate the youth, that it's needed; but when it came down to it, no one wanted to make that move," Costa said.

Costa and Recreation Center Coordinator Diane Sullivan said that the main reason council members were not releasing the bond was due to the poor state of the economy, saying that they were told it was not an affordable option.

Costa spoke further about the benefits of moving the facility to Pierce Field, saying that the adjoining fields are rented out, sometimes by sports teams. Without locker rooms, however, Costa speculates that the city is taking in a fraction of what it could be, something that having a recreation center on the property could easily fix.

Local residents are still holding out hope for the center's move, however. Among them is George Leonardo of Riverside, who actively uses the Bullocks Point Avenue center, along with his children.

"I believe this facility needs to be updated and get more equipment, so more people can use it," he said."Well, if the money was set aside, particularly for a new rec center, I know times are tough, but...," he said. "Why, does the city want to use it for something else? Why isn't it being used?"

A 20-year member of the recreation center, Leonardo said that if the facility were to move to Pierce Field, he would still utilize it, despite the current convenience of having it located nearby his Riverside home.

"Yes, it would definitely be worth it," he said. "It would be in the center of the city and closer for the people of Rumford, for everybody."

Despite not having reached its goal, FACT has been hard at work rallying for its cause. The committee meets once a month and tries to stay in the front of residents' minds. They had a booth at the K-Rob Festival and have even started fund-raising, raising $7,000 as a gesture to encourage the current council to release the bond.