Boston City Councilor Jerry McDermott had some harsh words for the Boston College community this week - saying that the University should be "ashamed" for purchasing Archdiocese land in Brighton.
McDermott's comments came after Boston Archdiocese officials announced it would close the Our Lady of Presentation School (OLP) and move the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese to the property this summer. BC is set to purchase the tribunal building for $8 million in June 2006.
"Boston College should be ashamed," McDermott told The Allston-Brighton TAB. "For a nationally renowned Catholic university to play a hand in letting a Catholic grammar school close for their own gain is just unspeakable. They're [BC] no friend to this community and for them to pretend otherwise is just such an offense." McDermott backed OLP's parents' proposal to buy the school at market value and turn it into a nonprofit elementary school, community center, and preschool. The Archdiocese rejected the proposal.
"Boston College's position is that the Archdiocese is entitled to make its own decisions regarding its own property, and we support them in their right to do so," said Jack Dunn, University spokesperson.
Neighbors who attended a vigil last Monday booed the University for not supporting the community's proposal. BC was the only institution approached that did not offer a letter of support for the parents' efforts.
McDermott told a Heights reporter to call him in teh morning at city hall before promptly hanging up.
Dunn said that McDermott's accusations that BC is a bad neighbor are false.
"Councilor McDermott's words are not only regrettable; they are in conflict with the truth," he said. "For decades, BC's Lynch School of Education and Graduate School of Social Work have partnered with Allston-Brighton Schools in a nationally acclaimed model of effective community outreach. These actions, which Councilor McDermott has apparently forgotten, provide a true picture of BC's commitment to the community."
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