What’s really going on at Waterford?

GARDNER — Mayor Michael Nicholson appeared on WGAW’s “Hotline Radio” with Steve Wendell on Saturday, Sept. 27, where he addressed concerns surrounding the condition of the former Waterford Street School, currently under renovation for public use.

During the broadcast, Wendell asked Mayor Nicholson to address social media claims that a Rooter employee had been in the basement of the former Waterford Street School to pump out “1000s of gallons” of water.

“The crawl space – everyone is calling it the basement – it’s really a crawl space,” Mayor Nicholson said on WGAW. “It’s three feet tall and it is meant just for the utility pipes, the sewer lines, some electrical conduits, but it is a clay floor, and what it is, there is a lot of silt that can get stuck into the intake pipes for the sump pump. So we just had them cleaned out. We have to do this once every six months because of the amount of silt that is down there and that’s all that happened in the past week.”

Following the interview with Nicholson, WGAW wrote the following on its website next to the interview with Nicholson from September 27:

“Nicholson explained work done at Waterford which did not include the removal of 1000’s of gallons of water as falsely reported on social media,” WGAW wrote on its website. “Various inspections, clearances, permits, and tests have been done and the building is safe for the public. Don’t believe the nonsense on social media.”

But Kimberly Blake, who is running against Nicholson for mayor, expressed disagreement.

Blake shared a video with News Link Live she said was taken by a Rooter worker on Wednesday, September 24th, which shows “thousands of gallons” of water being pumped from the basement of the Waterford Street School — directly contradicting the mayor’s characterization of the space as a mere crawl space. She further claimed the site is “riddled with asbestos, mold, and mildew.”

In a photo taken by Mayor Nicholson on September 8th — circulated to suggest the space was dry — he and City Council President George Tyros are seen seated in chairs inside the basement. But in Blake’s video taken 16 days later, the same chairs are shown submerged in standing water in the same location, suggesting that the basement had in fact flooded and was only photographed by the mayor after it had been pumped out.

Blake said contractors have since abandoned the job and have lodged complaints with the mayor, only to be “disregarded.”

Blake also referenced earlier claims that the mayor directed workers to seal off areas of the building to prevent people from taking photographs.

The controversy surrounding Waterford began in 2022 when the city announced plans to convert the long-closed school into a shared community hub for the Senior Center, CAC, Growing Places, and GAAMHA. The project hit a legal snag when GAAMHA, a state entity, discovered the property sat on Article 97-protected land—designated solely for municipal use—and threatened legal action after initiating renovations.

During his appearance on Hotline Radio, Mayor Nicholson also provided updates on other city projects, including the Maki Park renovation and the upcoming demolition of the Greenwood Street building, which he said was delayed by a week due to additional asbestos found onsite. He also confirmed that a third-party grant writing firm with a team of seven is now working on behalf of the city to bring in funding.

But Blake says the mayor’s eagerness to declare success at Waterford comes at a cost.

“Mayor Nicholson is endangering our most vulnerable residents just to claim he constructed a community center,” Blake said. “He has squandered a lot of taxpayer money and keeps deceiving residents about the project, even as evidence shared online by workers contradicts him. They aim to keep the truth from residents, which is why they dismiss everything posted online as “nonsense,” but facts cannot be disputed. Everyone wants to see our older buildings utilized, but not at the expense of people’s safety.”