New Haven Independent

Bagley was one of a crowd of 35 gathered at the Dwight Elementary School on Edgewood Avenue Monday night to hear a presentation on how to revive the Q House. The meeting was the third of three public forums hosted by the Concerned Citizens to present strategies for filling the hole left by the Q House’s departure.

Poor management and low funds ran the community center into the ground in 2003, after serving the city’s oldest black community for over 75 years. The center’s demise has become a symbolic flashpoint for growing community concern over lack of opportunities for city kids.

Last year, Southern Connecticut Gas Co. initiated foreclosure proceedings on the Q House. The building went out to bid, and Bagley pounced: “I jumped on the opportunity to seize the real estate.” He said he offered “hundreds of thousands” of dollars to buy the facility, which has an estimated debt of $600,000. The sale fell through after a Q-House board member filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Then the state stepped in to see that historical archives, including from the civil rights movement, remain in public view.

That’s why Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (pictured with State Rep. Toni Walker) showed up at the meeting. “My mandate is to make sure those resources are used for the mission and purpose that they were given.”

As long as community groups are still trying to get the Q House back, and finding a safe place for the historical archives, Bagley’s sale is being put on hold.

Some people in the room had heard Bagley’s name, but didn’t know he was in the room. “Who are you?” asked one crowd member when he spoke up.

Bagley tried to spark dialogue with the Concerned Citizens. He wanted to know why he couldn’t just buy the building then work with the Q House alums to recreate a community center. Organizers steered the conversation back to their strategies for moving ahead. They waited to meet him, in heated groups, after the meeting.

Why would a real estate investor for Integrated Financial Services, who lives in Hamden and professes no affiliation with the Q House, want to take over the building? The idea meets resistance, he admitted: “The organization may be very concerned about where I go with my goals.” But “my goals are the same as theirs,” he said.

“I’m all for the concerned citizens group in their concept” — recreating a social, recreational, educational hub for the black community. He said he’s working alone. He said he’d keep the archives in their current use. But he was vague about his exact plans, stating only a general motive for his line of work, “The thesis is: at 15 and 16, I decided, I want to give everything back to the community.”

Meanwhile, a federal Department of Justice- appointed attorney has become the sole trustee of the Q House. A bankruptcy lawyer, Michael J. Daley (pictured at right) is now the only one with the keys. He’s been charged “to go in, liquidate the assets and move on.” But, he said, the Q House is special. “We want to preserve the community feeling here.” So he’s working on getting the artifacts to a safe place before the assets are sold off, and to see if he can change to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, where Dixwell Community House, Inc. could continue operating and not give up the building.

He’s open to community input: “You have to tell me if the goal is to keep the Q House or sell it to pay the creditors.” If a motivated group of people, with convincing funds to back them up, come up with a plan to revive the facility, “I think bankruptcy court can be persuaded to yield the assets to a community group.”

Cornell Wright, of the Parker Wright Group in Stratford, was hired by the Concerned Citizens as a consultant to assess community needs and come up with a Q House plan. Since not everyone believed in reviving the physical Q House, he suggested splitting up efforts into three prongs: One, a non-profit addressing the “concept” of the Q House; two, a non-profit focusing on reviving the physical Q House on Dixwell Avenue; and three, a foundation for black community engagement.

Listeners differed on whether the building should be forsaken: “It’s possible that we can bloom where we were planted,” said Jan Parker of the Concerned Citizens.

Jacqueline Bracey, Concerned Citizens co-chair, winced at the $600,000 debt. “We’re not going to put all our energy into a building that had so much debt. The concept of what the Q House stood for can happen anywhere — it doesn’t have to be in that building.”