Whittier St. residents reunited for weekend

Whittier St. residents reunited for weekend

Mattapan resident Marlon Williams is a son of Lower Roxbury. He grew up on Ruggles Street in the 1950s and '60s.

But when he met Donna Delaney in the Whittier Street housing project, his history became entwined in that of the development. On the basketball court in the center of the project and on the benches lining the playground, the two courted to the tunes of the Temptations, the Isley Brothers and James Brown.

Much has changed since those days. Williams and Delaney broke up and went their separate ways. Williams' home on Ruggles Street was demolished, as was virtually every other building in the surrounding Lower Roxbury community in the bad old days of urban renewal.

The entire neighborhood was razed to make way for three major construction projects -- the extension of Interstate 95, a planned Inner Belt highway and a campus high school -- projects that never fully materialized, largely due to the activism of Whittier Street tenants like state Rep. Gloria Fox.

Fast forward to 1996, a 50th birthday party of a mutual friend. Williams and Delaney caught each others' eyes.

"We were on the dance floor," Delaney says.

The old love was re-kindled and now the two are an item once again. And last Saturday, along with hundreds of former Whittier Street residents, the pair returned to the courtyard where so many Lower Roxbury residents formed fond childhood memories.

"We used to go swimming in the Cabot Street gym," Williams said, pointing in the direction of the long-demolished building. "We used to go to the store over there when we got through swimming."

Past and present Whittier Street residents enjoyed three days of reminiscing and re-connecting last weekend including a gala night, a cook-out in the courtyard and a gospel concert.

Past residents including luminaries Fox, singer Bobby Taylor and former judge Rudy Pierce turned out for the event.

"We've had doctors, judges who came out of my generation," said Vikki Middleton who moved into the development when it was built in 1952 with her parents and five sisters.

"It was a real community," said former resident Florence Hagins, who works with the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance. "Everybody was friendly. I could tell you every family that lived in every unit. It was that close."

One family was the Samzis, one of a handful of white families living in the development from the '50s through the '70s. Rick Samzi, who lived in the development from '52 until '73 said the feeling of family was all-inclusive.

"Back then it was a big family," he commented. "Everybody socialized from family to family, from street to street."

Samzi recalls basketball games and rivalries with residents of other developments like Mission Main and Alice Taylor.

"Back in those days people were tough, but they had respect for elders and for women," he said. "We had rivalries against Mission Hill. We had fights on occasion. But we were all friendly. Those were good days. You miss them."

For Gloria Fox, living in Whittier Street gave her an introduction into community activism. Fox became active in the fight to stop the state's planned extension of Interstate 95 through the center of the city along what is now the Southwest Corridor. Fox joined the Whittier Street Tenants Association -- the first housing project tenant association anywhere in the country -- under the direction of her mentor Pat Raynor.

"I ran the housing services agency here until I ran for public office," Fox said.

Now that the highway project has been defeated, Fox has turned her activism to fighting for improvements inside the development. While former and current residents at the reunion fondly recalled the playground and basketball courts that once occupied the center courtyard of the development, the courtyard is now under reconstruction.

Fox says the area also needs a new teen center to replace the old Cabot Street gym.

"We don't just want to bring it back, we want to do it better," she said. "It's a bi-lingual community now. The services have to be delivered in a different way. It's going to take more funding."

Fox urged Whittier Street residents to pressure the Boston Housing Authority to allocate more funds for the renovation of the development.

BHA Director Sandra Henriquez says the agency has been working with the Whittier Street Tenants Association on the redevelopment of the playground. So far, the courtyard has been re-surfaced and landscaping and plantings have been added.

BHA officials have worked with the Task Force to raise $10,000 of the $60,000 that will be needed to construct a new playground, according to Henriquez.

"We tried to repair the courtyard with the residents in mind, but also with the reunion in mind," she said. "Things are coming back, but it will take time."

Henriquez said Fox and other past residents should work with the current resident association on their renovation efforts.