Face-lift

Dudley Station gets a spruce-up while the Red Line rusts. Plus, Lawrence parents send kids straight out of town, and a troubled nursing home awaits the final verdict.

Cityscape by Sarah McNaught

What's so special about Dudley Station? Dudley -- a busy outdoor bus terminal built in 1901 -- sits in the heart of Roxbury, just a few blocks south of Roxbury Crossing. Completely refurbished in 1992 at a cost of $11 million, Dudley has now been chosen by the MBTA as the target of an intense cleanup program expected to cost more than $350,000. A cleaning crew will visit the station daily, and a private contractor has been hired to pressure-clean the facility twice a month.

And that's only the beginning. This summer the bus lanes and crosswalk areas at Dudley will be paved with a special type of asphalt that will not crack or buckle in the face of road salt and winter weather. Additional police officers have been assigned to the station to crack down on drugs.

But some people aren't so happy about Dudley's face-lift. Many feel that other stations -- such as the Fields Corner and Shawmut subway stations in Dorchester -- should get the extra attention before Dudley.

Shawmut Station has received little more than the occasional coat of paint in the past 25 years. The platforms at the Andrew and Broadway stations are washed about once a month. Fields Corner has become a haven for gangs, drug dealers, and vagrants.

Several local politicians and small-business owners, who have spent the past four years fighting to renovate these Red Line stations, are upset with the T's decision.

State representative Martin Walsh (D-Dorchester) has invited MBTA officials to accompany him to Fields Corner so they can see firsthand how poorly kept the station is. "I'll even drive so they don't have to take the train to Dorchester and deal with the problems," he says.

And two weeks ago, after MBTA general manager Robert Prince told state senator Stephen Lynch that the T couldn't change the timetable it has established for station renovation without the governor's authorization, the South Boston Democrat met with Acting Governor Paul Cellucci.

"I told him that the seven-year plan the MBTA has set up for three of the worst stations in the system [Shawmut, Fields Corner, and Savin Hill] will not do," says Lynch. "And the governor has made it clear that he is committed to making the reconstruction of those stations much more extensive and much quicker than what the MBTA proposes."

MBTA officials say they chose Dudley Station for the cleanup program because it handles such a high volume of passengers. According to T spokesperson Joe Pesaturo, 12,000 people travel through Dudley each day, compared to 8000 for Fields Corner and 3000 for Shawmut.

State representative Charlotte Golar Richie (D-Dorchester) has met with the last three MBTA general managers to advocate an MBTA bond bill that would assist in fixing up the three rundown Dorchester stations. But while the bill sits in the Long Term Debt Committee awaiting approval, the T seems to be making its own decisions about which stations deserve attention.

"We did tour Dudley Station two years ago, and it needed to be cleaned up, but at that time there was equal political pressure to fix up some of the Red Line stations as well," says Lilly Mendez-Morgan, Richie's chief of staff. "There are stations in Dorchester that we believe are the worst in the system, and those stations have received no attention at all."

"We're not playing favorites here," insists Pesaturo. "We are working with legislators on devising a schedule for the other stations. In fact, there is a painting project under way at Shawmut right now. Of course, we realize there are bigger problems at these stations than just paint, but we are working on it."

Mass exodus

Call it a coincidence. On the same day Lawrence will host its first-ever gay pride parade, 400 local children are being bused to Canobie Lake Park.

After the Lawrence City Council agreed, on April 11, to give a parade permit to the Gay and Lesbian Community Advocates of Lawrence (GLCAL), some local parents launched their own quiet protest. (See "Hate on Parade," News, April 17.) Calling themselves the Lawrence Children's Club, they have opted to send their kids to the New Hampshire amusement park rather than allow them to watch the "Lesbigaytrans Pride March" scheduled for June 14. Now, gay activists are fuming, upset that the march they called their effort to become integrated into the community has backfired.

"I realize that it's an individual's choice whether or not to attend the parade, but busing kids out of the city only sends a very negative message and confirms the inaccurate stereotypes we are trying to debunk," says Ingred Rivera, the GLCAL member who organized the parade.

Joseph Quartarone, president of the Lawrence City Council and the only council member who voted against the parade, says the purpose of the Children's Club is not to alienate anyone in the community but to give children alternative ways to spend their time over the summer months.

"My concern with the parade was safety -- nothing more and nothing less," says Quartarone. "I am still concerned that people may act up at the parade. Parents are also concerned about their children's safety."

One resident admits, however, that the sexual orientation of the parade marchers was the deciding factor.

"If it were a veterans' parade or an ethnic festival, then I could see why people would be mad at the parents," says Anita Perreira, a 46-year-old grandmother of two. "But this is a sex thing, and we don't need our kids learning about sex like that."

Saving a home

Employees of the Union Square Nursing Center in Allston, who have fought for more than three years to save the residence from closing down, have told the state they won't wait any longer for a resolution.

As previously reported in the Phoenix ("Nursing a Home," News, May 8), the employees want to purchase the financially troubled facility from its owner, New Jersey businessman Michael Konig, who has been barred from operating nursing homes in Massachusetts. They can't afford to take over, however, unless the state increases the home's Medicaid reimbursement rate and accepts a reduced payment for Konig's debts.

The state put the nursing home under receivership in July 1995, and it extended the receivership eight times. But on May 28, at the employees' insistence, the Suffolk Superior Court set a final deadline for the workers and the state to thrash out a deal. If an agreement hasn't been made by June 22, the nursing home will close for good.

The prospect of an end to the struggle is "a blessing" for the workers, says James Divver, Union Square's administrator. "We are just hoping the state will make a decision before the deadline arrives."

Sarah McNaught can be reached at smcnaught[a]phx.com.