Mayor Walsh is preparing to sell the Nazzaro Community Center for private condo development, with an uncertain future also for the public playground in front. Generations of Bostonians have used this iconic public building and playground, for over 100 years. We are trying to save it. Please sign our change.org petition!

The Nazzaro Center is where our school children play at recess, bands for the North End’s famous feasts mobilize for their parades, community meetings are held at night, seniors gather, people vote on election day, and holiday parties bring our neighborhood together. As so many of America’s “Little Italy” neighborhoods disappear through redevelopment, Boston needs to hold on to this unique public resource and the legacy it represents.

Instead of renovating the landmark Nazzaro building and adding more sports facilities in a second location, city officials are saying that we have to trade one for the other. They want to build more luxury condos, and move all the North End’s community’s programs to the waterfront. This is a terrible deal!

• The North End loses its historic, central public gathering place used by generations in one of the city’s densest neighborhoods
• Boston loses a beautiful Renaissance Revival building, designed after the Medici Palace in Rome. It is a unique feature of this famous “Little Italy” neighborhood, included in professional Boston walking tours, architecture and history books.
• Putting all the North End’s community programs on the waterfront will deter many people, especially the youngest and oldest who need the community center the most, due to heavy traffic and flooding.

It is not right to force the North End to sell its crown jewels to get a bigger basketball court. Ironically, the late State Rep. Michael Nazzaro helped save the North End from the Boston Redevelopment Authority in the past. Now the city wants to abandon the historic building that honors his family name, once again saying “progress” means wiping out Boston’s unique culture. This original 1907 North End Bath House and Gymnasium building is one of the last such public bathhouses in America, a legacy of the immigrants who built this city and nation.

We think the city should fix up the Nazzaro building, preserving its community uses and architecture, while adding more sports facilities in a second spot. The North End’s expanding population and vibrant tax base certainly justify community programs in at least two locations, just as Charlestown, Beacon Hill and other Boston neighborhoods already have. The city-owned Fulton St. parking lot is a natural second site for a regulation-sized indoor basketball court and swimming pool, but the Mayor seems to be saving that for private condo development too!