THE WING Pinske gallery on William Street is just a few blocks from Judge Sabras courtroom, but it could be a million miles away. The storefront gallery features abstract paintings by co-owner Barre Pinske, a large lacquered bowl made entirely of twigs, various examples of wood sculpture, and the pice de rsistance a love seat made of painted, compacted Stop & Shop grocery bags. There is a snapshot of artist Pinske with Aerosmith lead vocalist Steven Tyler.
The gallery, which opened last summer, sees itself as setting the pace in New Bedford. "The artists are here," says co-owner Barry Wing. "We saw the same thing in Jamaica Plain and the South End." Wing, who grew up in nearby South Dartmouth, moved back to New Bedford after working as a realtor in Jamaica Plain. His local pedigree is impeccable: his great-grandfather founded C.F. Wing Company, a department store that reigned on nearby Purchase Street for almost 100 years until it closed in 1966. Wing pays a fraction of the rent he would in Boston, he says. The block of William Street where the storefront is located will soon be paved with cobblestones and renamed "Art Walk." To him, New Bedford is the future.
Its also the future for Jody Burr, a third-year graduate student at the University of Massachusetts College of Visual and Performing Arts, which opened in September around the corner at the previously vacant Star department store. After a stint living and working in Bostons Fort Point Channel, Burr is looking at studio space in New Bedford for next year. "Coming from Boston, I am a big advocate of New Bedford as a place for displaced artists from the city," she says.
Just across the street from Wings gallery is the old Merchants Bank building, home since mid November to New Bedfords newest eatery, the OceAnna restaurant and grill. The restaurant features a main dining area that resembles nothing so much as a grand ballroom, with two-story-high windows and ornate gilt work. (The former bank vaults now hold bottles of wine). The building had been decaying until the city fearing it would be turned into a flea market bought it for $100,000. Now owner George Karousos, the founder of the International Institute of Culinary Arts in Fall River and proprietor of four other restaurants, compares New Bedford favorably to Newport, where he also owns a restaurant. "New Bedford is beautiful and there is a real feeling for the old city here," he says.
These fledgling businesses do not seem to have suffered any negative effects from the goings-on at the high school. A week and a half after the arrests, OceAnna boasted 400 customers on a Thursday night; the restaurant barely had enough staff to handle the crowds, according to Karousos. And at Wings gallery, all the sudden attention focused on New Bedford actually turned out to be a plus for business. "There were a lot of reporters who came through to look at the art," he notes.
WHEN THE alleged school plot hit the headlines, City Solicitor George Leontire moved into damage-control mode. The son of a local druggist, Leontire spent 20 years practicing law in Boston. He returned home five years ago, when his childhood friend Frederick Kalisz Jr. was elected mayor. There are a lot of people in New Bedford who think Leontire actually runs the place. "Power behind the throne" might be a more accurate depiction. Thats the way the Standard-Times described him in a February 2000 front-page profile that hangs on the wall behind his office desk. "A tough-talking, brash, and dogged alter ego to the mayor, Mr. Leontire is seen by many as the power behind the throne, the bad cop to Mr. Kaliszs good cop," says the article.
In his late 40s, Leontire has become well known as an aggressive proponent of extending ferry service from New Bedford to Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket to further the citys economic development. The islanders oppose the idea, for reasons that many New Bedford residents believe smack of elitism, pure and simple. When you stroll with Leontire around downtown New Bedford, people come up to him and thank him for fighting for the city on the issue.
But when reports of the school plot hit, Leontire faced a new challenge. He and the mayor feared that all their work reviving the city and recasting its precarious image might vanish in a moment. Mayor Kalisz cut short a vacation with his wife and son at Disney World to tell New Bedfords story on the Today show and Good Morning America; Leontire squired a field producer from ABCs 20/20 around town. City Hall became a virtual nonstop spin zone. "The media interest was surreal," says Leontire. "There was no knowing which way the media would go. Ten million people were suddenly getting a glimpse of our community."
The city hired a Boston public-relations firm, Cone Communications, to burnish its image. A fact sheet on New Bedford was quickly put together, along with a videotape of the inside of the high school to emphasize what Leontire calls "positive visuals" the police resource office and the swimming pool. For good measure, Leontire distributed a six-page listing of cases of actual and threatened school violence nationwide. "The common characteristics in these situations are disenfranchised kids who come out of deeply troubled family situations," he says. "That is the common denominator not the community."
Soon enough, other events such as the murder of a school counselor at a high school in Springfield and a guilty plea by one of the two teenage suspects in the Dartmouth College murders began to push New Bedford off the front pages. In nearby Taunton, police are investigating three school incidents that took place last week: an alleged "hit list" of students and staff written on the walls of a boys bathroom at the Catholic Coyle and Cassidy High School (the list noted that everyone named would be killed by December 21); the arrest of a student at Taunton High School for bringing a knife to school; and the arrest of students at two of the towns middle schools for assaulting their principals. Suddenly, New Bedford didnt look so bad. A Boston Globe editorial complimented New Bedford for "creativity in school safety" because, in contrast to Springfield, it assigned uniformed officers to specific schools on a permanent basis. Increasingly, the consensus was that hype or no hype the system worked: New Bedford had averted potential tragedy with quick action. "What happened here was a teacher listening to troubled kids and a follow-up of information," says editor Hartnett. "There is no sign of dysfunction in New Bedford on this thing."
Adds Mayor Kalisz, "From the person on the street to Diane Sawyer, there is a realization that people planned, and things worked out well. The city was prepared. Resources were in place. Look what could have happened. It didnt happen."
BUT NEW Bedford is not yet out of the woods. The trials of McKeehan and the other alleged Columbine wanna-bes are still to come. The whole affair served as a wake-up call in terms of school safety and offered a reminder of the citys unfinished business: a school dropout rate of more than 30 percent, unemployment that remains above the statewide average, economic development that may be transforming downtown but hasnt had the same impact on the neighborhoods.
Still, a week after the revelations, New Bedford was preparing to celebrate. The occasion was the annual Christmas-tree lighting on the steps of the library just across from City Hall. At 5 p.m. sharp on a Saturday evening, the high-school marching band, dressed in smart red-and-cream uniforms, headed up William Street playing "Joy to the World." Santa and Rudolph arrived on an old-fashioned fire truck. Kids stood on their fathers shoulders for a glimpse of Miss New Bedford 2001, Miss New Bedford 2000, and Miss Taunton 1995 singing "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful." From the platform, Mayor Kalisz wished the large crowd "a year of health and peace." Then came the dramatic countdown: "Ten, nine, eight ..." Suddenly, the 35-foot Christmas tree between the library pillars shone with light. For a moment, at least, the future looked bright again.
Neil Miller is author of the forthcoming Sex-Crime Panic: A Journey to the Paranoid Heart of the 1950s (Alyson Books). He can be reached at mrneily@aol.com
