At a community meeting held last week at Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative headquarters in Roxbury, Scippa apologized for, after purchasing several vacant plots of land on the tiny street, shirking some city requirements during his initial construction on the property.

And for all these things, Rocco Scippa, a controversial developer with a history of construction violations and financial impropriety throughout the state, is asking residents of Robey Street in Dorchester for forgiveness.

They plugged electrical equipment into neighbors’ homes and didn’t use proper fencing and signs at the construction site, residents said. They left hazardous materials and a portable toilet unsecured throughout the evening, attracting criminal acitivity.


In addition to upsetting residents, Scippa also ran afoul of officials by deviating from city-approved design plans.

The city approved wood-based siding for the first of the 19 buildings he planned for Robey Street. Scippa installed vinyl.

“I will address these issues,” Scippa said after the hours-long meeting with residents. “Let’s just move from August 10 on and do what we have to do to get it right.”

As penance for violating design plans, Scippa promised to provide new greenery and landscaping on the street.

But Scippa has much to make up for, according to residents who attended the meeting, including about a dozen Robey Street locals.

For nearly seven months, he attempted to build more than a dozen new housing units on the two-block street near Uphams Corner. Neighbors said Scippa and his associates have made the close-knit Robey Street community unusually tense, complete with threats and police reports. Since the construction site was not secure, neighbors said drug users would use the property at night.

“It’s disconcerting. It’s troubling,” said Glenn Quirion, who lives on the street.

Before the Robey Street drama, records show the state’s inspector general’s office had twice found Scippa responsible for financial impropriety related to construction, including in Billerica, where officials found in 2007 that Scippa owed the town more than $3 million.


Quirion and other neighbors said they were also particularly concerned about Scippa’s business partner, Kevin O’Neil, a former associate of convicted mobster James “Whitey” Bulger’s, who sits on the street throughout the day in his car and has made some residents uncomfortable.

“Knowing someone’s just sitting there, watching us, it creates a hostile environment,” Quirion said.

Robey Street resident David Venter said “if you’re going to do it, you need to do it right.” Dina Rudick/Globe Staff/Globe Staff

David Venter, a Robey Street resident, said O’Neil once threatened to physically harm him if he continued speaking out with complaints about the project.

O’Neil did not attend the meeting, but Scippa denied Venter’s allegations of physical intimidation and said O’Neil “can’t help that he’s 6-foot-4.” Multiple attempts to reach O’Neil directly were unsuccessful.

“I have a 12-year-old son and I can’t risk his life over this,” said Venter, who filed a police report, though no charges have been brought. Venter has also filed complaints regarding Scippa’s project to the city’s inspectional services department.

“I don’t want to get in the war. I’m too old for that. But when you get threatened, that’s a problem,” he said.

Joanne Moreira, who lives on the street, said she has voiced concerns to Scippa and O’Neil for months, and she now feels that the neighborhood meetings with city officials are necessary to gain community consensus on the project.

“We just feel uncomfortable,” Moreira said. “I just want to be a peacemaker.”


Civic leaders who attended last Wednesday’s meeting — including Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson, Inspectional Services commissioner William “Buddy” Christopher, Harry Smith of the Dudley Street initiative, and Kaira Fox, Mayor Walsh’s liaison to Roxbury — tried to acknowledge residents’ concerns while pushing for a compromise with Scippa.

One solution they agreed on is an Article 80 development review process with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which requires Scippa to present a single plan for all remaining housing units he plans to build on Robey Street, and to conduct studies to measure the project’s impact on the community.

Another compromise hashed out: Scippa must redo the detailing on two units he has already built because the work has been identified as shoddy and unaesthetic by residents and experts alike.

At the meeting, some residents were particularly sensitive to the inferior workmanship on the house and said Scippa was not respecting the integrity of Roxbury.

Jackson, who represents one part of Robey Street while Councilor Frank Baker represents another, said he would not stand for such disregard. Baker sent a representative to attend the meeting.

“The Article 80 process is the smartest thing for all of us to do here. The community component and the discussion of community benefits is what we need in the process,” Jackson said at the meeting. “We’re not going to take shortcuts. Every one of you pays taxes just like everyone else in the city of Boston.”

However, as Christopher reminded residents, Article 80, or any other BRA oversight, “cannot regulate” the behavior of Scippa, O’Neil, and their workers toward residents.


He encouraged the neighbors to stay in contact with City Hall officials and the police if they continue to have issues. Christopher has also promised to hold off on approving occupancy permits for Scippa’s Robey Street homes until the developer makes good on committments to community improvement.

“The mayor understands the importance of this; he’s not taking a second seat,” Christopher said to the group.

During the meeting, Scippa was respectful and responsive to the concerns of residents. But in an interview after the meeting, the developer shrugged off many of the community’s concerns as “fabrications.”

“I took a beating in that meeting from residents, but a lot of things aren’t true,” Scippa said. “It’s not my job to go into a neighborhood and get along with everyone. It’s my job to make money.”

This is the type of rhetoric that bothers Cynthia Peete, a neighbor whose electricity was used by Scippa’s workers. It also disturbed Moreira, who was unaware of O’Neil and Scippa’s controversial history before Wednesday’s meeting.

Venter and Quirion, the project’s most vocal critics, remained skeptical that Scippa would follow through on the promises he made before Jackson and Christopher.

“This is going to change Robey Street forever, so if you’re going to do it, you need to do it right,” Venter said.

Astead W. Herndon can be reached at astead.herndon@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @AsteadWH.