Flint Neighborhood Association left out of Congressman Auchincloss CPF grant press conference.

Members of the Flint Neighborhood Association expressed outrage after they were left out of a press conference held in their neighborhood.

Congressman Jake Auchincloss visited Fall River Tuesday for a press conference hosted by Mayor Paul Coogan to celebrate a recent CPF grant of $1.6 million dollars awarded to the city to make improvements to the Flint neighborhood.

Auchincloss, Coogan as well as State Representatives Carole Fiola and Paul Schmid held the press event at 2:30 PM Tuesday at Gilbert’s Jewelers located at 1370 Pleasant Street. Auchincloss made brief statements about the investment in beautifying the neighborhood and Coogan addressed funding that would impact flooding issues at a nearby intersections.

Noticeably absent from the event was Carlos Cesar, President of the Flint Neighborhood Association. Cesar has been a decades long advocate for the Flint part of the city and the organization is one of the most organized, active groups in the community.

This media publication learned of the event via a press release directly from Mayor Coogan’s office:

Cesar, nor the Flint Neighborhood Association, received an email from Coogan’s office.

Speaking with Cesar at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, Fall River Reporter asked the community leader why he was not invited to the event:

“I would ask you to contact the mayor and ask him the same question.”

Cesar said he was not surprised.

“I have worked with many other mayors. Lambert, Correira, Sutter, Flanagan. When they do something good, I say thank you for their work. When they don’t do something good, I tell them.”

He recalled a time when he and former Mayor Sam Sutter had a disagreement. Cesar visited Sutter on the sixth floor and they “had it out.” The next day, his phone rang, and it was Sutter, calling to tell him there was a school on fire in the neighborhood and asked Cesar to meet him at the scene.

“We didn’t agree but he understood, like the other mayors did, that they are the leader of the city, but I am a neighborhood leader and I have a part of their city to represent. This administration doesn’t accept that.”

Cesar said that 36 years ago, former Mayor Ed Lambert stood in front of the very same store talking about fixing the storefronts in the Flint, and they never got done. He has no faith they are going to get done now.

“The money is already spent. I bet you this money is going to go to some study. Someone has a friend somewhere that is going to get paid to do a study about our neighborhood and our streets and that will be the end of that.”

Flint Neighborhood Association member and volunteer Amy Blanchette was furious that members of the group were not informed about the event.

“I think it’s absolutely unfair to leave out the entire Flint Neighborhood Association that has worked tirelessly for years volunteering in our city, often, losing out on time with our families, friends, and other obligations. We all care so much about our neighborhood and have been asking the city for years for help and funding to get the eyesore properties cleaned up or knocked down and create a more welcoming Flint Neighborhood for all. And now that Paul Coogan has the funding, he took it upon himself to have this big press conference with Jake Auchincloss and not even the decency to invite not even one of us board members to the press conference. This isn’t the administration working with its residents. This seems pretty one sided to me.”

Fall River Reporter has reached out to Mayor Coogan’s office for comment.