MLK chair: ‘All of this is ours’

A plan Long Beach proposed two weeks ago to invite a new vendor or vendors to use the iconic MLK Center in the city’s largely Black North Park section — a move that could force out the current personnel and programs — was met this week by vehement opposition from the center’s supporters and leaders. Its attorney called the move a “land grab.”

The city has complained that the Martin Luther King Center, at 615 Riverside Blvd., which dates back to 1968, has not paid rent in more than 20 years, is not serving the needs of the community as it once did and that its programs have diminished. But center officials counter that it has not had a lease since 1995, that it continues to offer robust programming for young people and seniors, and that requests to meet with city officials have gone unanswered.

At a City Council meeting on Tuesday night, MLK Center supporters rose to express their enthusiasm for the center, and condemned any move to invite nonprofits to share space in the building. The city is in the midst of a court dispute with the center over nonpayment of rent.

“I’m not sure why there is an RFP,” one center supporter, Tisizele Scott, told the council, referring to a request for proposal the city issued to organizations that might be interested in using the building. “It seems you want to take over the MLK Center. The MLK is a staple in our community. You say it’s not living up to the expectations of what you expect. But it’s not right for you guys to be dictating who should be in the building. I don’t know why you came up with this.”

Andrea Gauta, the center’s acting executive director, asked the city to withdraw its suit over the unpaid rent. She also asked that the city stop “spreading false information” about the center — that its hours of operation have been curtailed and its programs are now limited. MLK official passed out information sheets listing the center’ programs and hours to the attendees.

“The next time, I would like you to speak facts,” Gauta said, to cheers from the audience.

At the outset of the meeting, Police Commissioner Ron Walsh, the acting city manager, whose name appeared on the RFP, labeled as “false” speculation that the city wanted to tear down the center and build condominiums.

The city, Walsh said, wanted to “ensure that the center is providing services to the city. We want the center to be what it always was. People have to bid to do business with the government.” He added, “Things seem to have slowed down a little bit” at the center.

The rent dispute is nearing a conclusion, though both sides continue to trade charges that the other is being unfair.

On Monday night, about 200 people gathered in the center’s gymnasium to call for an end to the city’s RFP, which invited youth, recreation and other nonprofits to occupy parts of the center. In the RFP, Walsh referred to the building as the North Park Community Center. At the meeting, Walsh said the city did not intend to remove the words “Martin Luther King” from the building, but “North Park” might be added.

Those who objected to the RFP said that the building has always been known as the MLK Center, and that any other description might mean the elimination of the name of the civil rights icon.

Fred Brewington, one of Long Island’s best-known civil rights attorneys, who is representing the center, said the city was engaging in “revisionist history,” to cheers from the crowd.

“This is a land grab,” Brewington said. “There needs to be an enormous amount of pressure on City Hall to let them know we will push back.”

Brewington labeled as “a lie” contentions that the city offered to allow the center to buy the building for $1. He said the building belonged to the organization, and displayed what he said was a deed to prove that. He claimed the city had “profited” from the presence of the center over the decades, and that until recently, the city had not asked for rent money.

“You can’t all of a sudden, after all these years, say, ‘You us back rent,’” Brewington said. As a joke, meeting attendees passed a hat, and some placed dollar bills in it.

As the meeting ended, many of those in attendance broke up into committees, determined to raise funds to fight the RFP and to publicize what they see as the center’s plight.

The city and the center have clashed in the past, but the latest flash point came when the RFP became public, and was the subject of an online story in the Herald a week ago.

“All of this is ours,” Cedric Coad, the chairman of the center’s board of directors, said.

On Monday night, Gauta pushed back hard against claims by some in Long Beach that the center is open only a few hours a day, and offers little to the community. It is open early and remains open late, she said, to allow high school kids to play basketball “to keep them off the street.”

Gauta added that the center offers academic enrichment programs, arts and crafts, mental health classes, baking courses, swim lessons courtesy of Skudin Swim, breakfast programs, a “food rescue” program on weekends, classes for seniors, teen nights on Fridays and career guidance and counseling.

She said there was no need for the city to move some programs from its recreation department to the MLK Center.

City officials, citing the ongoing litigation over rent, have been relatively quiet about the RFP. But last week, council member Roy Lester said in a statement, “There was a time when healthcare, childcare, senior programs and so much more were offered at the facility. While the organization is certainly operating some worthwhile programs, it is falling short of past performance and the potential of the facility. This needs to change.”

James Hodge, a former MLK board chairman and now a candidate for a seat on the City Council, described as “incredible” any attempt to change to name of the facility to the North Park Community Center. The city RFP does not call for such a change.

The crowd on Monday included some original MLK Center board members. One of them, Denna Cruse, said, “I think it’s a shame they’re doing this stuff.”

Lucy Centeno, 69, who grew up in Long Beach, came in a wheelchair. “I am called a right-fighter,” she said. “I am called a big mouth. I am going to stay a right-fighter. But I want to say, this is a safe place. The kids are not drinking here. They’re not drugging here. This is a survival place.”