January 28, 2020

Plan to move welfare office in Worcester gets pushback

By Scott O’Connell
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER – Residents, social services representatives, city officials and lawmakers on Monday raised concerns about the state’s plan to move the Worcester office of the state Department of Transitional Assistance to the outskirts of the city, saying it will create hardships for Worcester’s poor.

The welfare department intends to move by the end of February from 13 Sudbury St. downtown to the Southwest Commons shopping plaza on Route 20 at Sunderland Road near the Shrewsbury line. The plaza, near the southern end of Lake Quinsigamond, used to be anchored by a Big Y supermarket.

At a community meeting Monday night at St. George’s Cathedral, Carlos Resto, assistant director of the DTA office in Worcester, said the decision to move mostly stemmed from accessibility issues – Sudbury Street is a steep hill – as well as a lack of parking in the area.

“Especially in the wintertime, it does become very difficult, going up and down the hill,” he said, adding that the new site is flatter.

In addition, Resto said, the DTA has shifted some of its functions online, so fewer clients need to go to the office in person. The number of people coming to the office “has drastically changed the last few years, and we expect that to continue,” he said.

Opponents of the move, who also spoke at a press conference before Monday’s meeting, said the agency might not have correctly followed protocol for such a move. State Sen. Michael Moore said the DTA did not notify lawmakers and other officials of the choice of the Route 20 location.

Their objection to the move, however, stems more from the difficulties the new location will pose to clients, both in Worcester and surrounding towns. They said transportation to the office will take more time and be more expensive, and that many clients rely on public transit.

“It’s a couple hours there, a couple hours back,” said City Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson, describing an average bus ride to for someone coming from the opposite side of the city. “I don’t think the people (who chose the new location) really thought of the hardship they’re putting on these folks.”

“Some of our clients don’t have $3 to pay a co-pay” for medical care, said Gina Plata-Nino, a staff attorney at the Central West Justice Center, let alone money for bus fare that could be twice that.

She and other critics of the move also pointed out that downtown is more convenient location for welfare clients, since many other services they also rely on are in the same area.

Beginning this week, Worcester Regional Transit Authority’s route 12 bus is scheduled to make eight trips each weekday from Union Station to Southwest Commons. The trip is scheduled to take 26 minutes, with the buses arriving at Southwest Commons hourly from 8:56 a.m. to 3:56 p.m., according to the WRTA website. Full fare is $1.75.

State Rep. Mary Keefe said the concern now for some of the social service agencies and organizations with overlapping clientele is that they will be called on to provide even more for the region’s poor residents, if many of those people aren’t able to make it to relocated welfare office anymore.

“This move is taxing on small nonprofits” in particular, she said. “It’s going to mean more (will be needed) from them, and they’re already maxed out.”

Jean McMurray, chief executive officer of the Worcester County Food Bank, said she expected some of the burden of the move to be shifted onto the food bank, since the Department of Transitional Assistance connects clients to SNAP, also known as food stamps.

“These are families, the elderly, people with disabilities,” she said. “Our prediction is this could cause more hunger, which we’re very concerned about, because we won’t be able to fill the gap.”

Residents who attended Monday’s meeting said the new location would create issues for the surrounding neighborhood as well, including increased traffic and potential parking issues. They also said it can be dangerous to cross the street near Southwest Commons, particularly for people with disabilities.

According to Department of Transitional Assistance officials, the Worcester location typically sees around 177 visitors a day. Based on a survey of Worcester office clients earlier this month, they said, about a third traveled to the center by car, another 30% walked, and 10% used public transit.

City Councilor Khrystian King, meanwhile, said the DTA doesn’t have to move so far from Sudbury Street.

“The state had opportunities to site this downtown, and they did not,” he said, adding that at the very least, there should have been more public discussion about the planned relocation. “Really what we needed to have was this community dialogue prior to this (point).”

That concern was echoed by residents who spoke at the meeting, who said they also felt blindsided by the state’s decision.

Moore said there is precedent for communities blocking such state department moves in the past. Plata-Nino said officials are “exploring possibilities” for a legal challenge.

Some speakers at the meeting also asked the state to consider opening a satellite welfare office downtown if the move does go through.