The abrupt announcement Monday that the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts would be immediately vacating a downtown New Bedford building, where it’s been housed for 22 years, has sent an unwelcome jolt through the Whaling City and entire South Coast region.
Nearly everyone seems to lament the sudden turn of events, and says the program’s exit will be a huge blow to New Bedford’s arts and culture scene and the city economy overall.
“We’re devastated like everyone else,” said Mark Fuller, UMass Dartmouth’s chancellor, who broke the news to the community in a letter released on Monday. “I don’t think there’s anybody that’s not very disappointed with where we find ourselves today.”
But there’s little agreement, amid the finger-pointing that has broken out, on who is to blame for that situation, which will see the program’s 200 students relocated to the university’s main campus in Dartmouth.
Since 2001, the arts college has been housed in a former New Bedford department store – the Star Store, an example of the kind of creative reuse of downtown spaces that emptied out amid the rise of suburban malls and decline of central business districts. The arts program had a 20-year lease to operate its programs in the building, and got support from an annual $2.7 million line item over that period in the state budget.
The agreement included an option for UMass Dartmouth to buy the building for $1 at the end of the lease. That’s exactly what state Sen. Mark Montigny, who helped lead the effort to bring the arts program to the city more than two decades ago, and other local officials wanted to see happen. But it never did.
Montigny became so concerned over university foot dragging on the issue that a year ago he successfully got a rider attached last to the fiscal 2023 budget requiring the university to exercise the purchase option.
Fuller says the University of Massachusetts Building Authority tried to execute the purchase option in August 2022, but the building owner raised “legal objections.”
Neither the UMass Building Authority nor building owner Paul Downey returned messages Tuesday afternoon.
The state continued to make rent payments to Downey after the lease expired in 2021, but that funding stream ended with the 2024 budget signed earlier month by Gov. Maura Healey. The House had maintained the annual $2.7 million appropriation in its 2024 budget proposal, but the Senate left it out, as did the final spending plan negotiated between the two branches.
“Budgets have priorities associated with them, and we just didn’t make the cut when it went through the Senate,” said Fuller, who said he had been hoping the funding would be included in the final budget.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said Fuller called him only “minutes before his public announcement” on Monday to tell him the university would be leaving the building. “To say that I reacted with surprise and dismay is an understatement,” Mitchell said in a statement.
He said all the “state entities and legislators” had several years to develop a plan for the acquisition of the building and funding of its ongoing costs. “The notion that the university’s decision ultimately hinged on whether a particular line item was included in the new state budget strains credulity,” Mitchell said.
Sen. Michael Rodrigues, who represents neighboring communities and helms the Senate budget committee, declined to comment yesterday. But he told The New Bedford Light that UMass is responsible for the current situation.
“The bottom line is the university doesn’t want the building,” he told the nonprofit news site. “If the university wanted it to happen it would happen. It’s that simple.”
Though he pointed to the legal issues that arose when the state tried to exercise the purchase option on the Star Store, Fuller, the UMass Dartmouth chancellor, acknowledged that taking ownership of the 125,000 square foot property would present a “huge challenge” to the school. He said the building would require $1.5 million to $2 million a year in annual support for operating expenses and capital maintenance projects.
Montigny said in a statement that the state and university failed to meet their “basic responsibility” to execute the building purchase and stop “squandering” public tax dollars on rent payments. His office said the state would have provided support for ongoing building costs, pointing to an $8 million authorization in a 2018 bond bill among other potential funding sources.
“This is a disaster. It’s a terrible thing,” Tony Sapienza, the president of the board of the New Bedford Economic Development Council, said of the announced exit of the UMass program. He said the visual arts college has been a “catalyst of the arts and culture rebirth in New Bedford.” He said the first floor gallery space in the building was one more addition to the city’s burgeoning arts scene, which includes the Zeiterion Theater across the street.
Sapienza said the 200 students that use the building also make a big contribution to the downtown economy and sense of vitality that has returned to the city. “Students eat, they drink, they participate in the community in so many important ways,” said Sapienza, who also chairs the board of directors of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
Though UMass Dartmouth says it’s moving quickly to relocate the arts programs to its main campus before the fall semester starts in less than four weeks, Sapienza said he and other leaders in the city aren’t giving up. He said it’s not too late to get Gov. Maura Healey and other state leaders to recognize the vital role the state can play in New Bedford by figuring out a way to reverse the decision. He pointed to all the money that has flowed into the state through federal COVID relief funding and other sources that could be tapped if there’s the will to do it.
“This is something that could be done,” he said.
MICHAEL JONAS
FROM COMMONWEALTH
In a pivot from the approach taken by the Baker administration, Gov. Maura Healey plans to seek federal funding to replace just one of the two bridges spanning the Cape Cod Canal first. Healey’s office said she’ll submit applications in the coming weeks seeking a total of $1.45 billion in federal funding, most of which would go to rebuilding the Sagamore Bridge. Replacement of the nearby Bourne Bridge would come second, according to the administration plan. Read more.
OPINION
Wellesley College math professor Ismar Volic says Boston should adopt ranked choice voting for its municipal elections. A new effort by voting advocates is being launched on Wednesday to get the city to adopt the system. Massachusetts voters rejected the system when it appeared as a statewide ballot question in 2020, but had strong support in Boston, winning 62 percent of the vote. Read more.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
A week after declaring a state of emergency over the influx of migrants to the state, Gov. Maura Healey’s office is not saying how much federal aid the state wants to bolster shelter services. (Boston Herald)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
A new city task force will focus on the small number of people perpetrating gun violence in Boston and zero in on the areas where it is most common. (Boston Globe)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Provisional data show a slight increase in suicides in Massachusetts last year, the first increase in four years. (WBUR)
The state will alert about 130,000 Massachusetts residents about a data breach involving UMass Chan Medical School that may have compromised their personal information. (Worcester Telegram)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
Could the sprawling nature of the Fulton County, Georgia, indictment of former president Donald Trump and 18 others make it harder for prosecutors to prove their case? (Washington Post)
ELECTIONS
An independent expenditure political action committee looks poised to spend money this fall to defeat Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, who has been embroiled in multiple controversies over the past year. The “Enough is Enough” PAC has filed with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, but has not yet reported any funding. (Boston Herald)
A racist and sexist effigy was left next to a campaign sign for a Haitian-American candidate for city council in Everett, but Guerline Alcy said she won’t be intimidated by the act. (Boston Globe)
Salem city council races are getting less competitive as the preliminary approaches, with a district candidate withdrawing and an at-large candidate failing to make the ballot. (Salem News)
EDUCATION
Boston’s plans to beef up two high schools, including significantly expanding their enrollment, will mean shutting down other high schools, a less-discussed aspect of the plan that has some raising questions about how students will be affected by such closures. (Boston Globe)
A state investigation determined a New Bedford charter school failed to respond properly to a fourth grader’s allegations of being bullied on a school bus by an older student. (New Bedford Standard-Times)
The Methuen School District does not have an accurate sense of how many students from immigrant families living at the Days Inn shelter will be attending classes in the fall. (Eagle-Tribune)
ARTS/CULTURE
Two local theater companies and the city of Chelsea are partnering to present free bilingual performances of “Hamlet” that combine English and Spanish in a production of the tale of the Danish prince. (GBH)
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA’s chief safety officer, Ron Ester, who has overseen efforts to address serious concerns raised by federal officials over the last three years, is stepping down at the end of the month. (WBUR)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Some parts of the Charles River’s upper watershed are seeing higher than usual E. coli levels. (MetroWest Daily News)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A man is suing Spencer Police, claiming they beat his head against a police cruiser after a medical incident in custody. (MassLive)
Springfield mayoral candidates respond to recent fatal shootings. (MassLive)
A new lawsuit alleges Worcester Police violated a Hispanic woman’s civil rights during a stop and search of her vehicle. (Worcester Telegram)