Salvador Pina, the new director of Wareham's Community and Economic Development Authority who signed on in March, is looking to make effective communication a hallmark of how he does business.

"A big part of being a good community development director is good communication with your parties and with your stakeholders," Pina said, looking out the tall glass windows of Onset's Pier View restaurant and envisioning a revitalized downtown Onset. "Confusion comes in when people don't understand how and why decisions got made."

Pina said that the Community and Economic Development Authority, commonly called "CEDA," has three major goals that it must achieve under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a primary source of funding for CEDA projects.

First, it must eliminate slum and blight, such as dangerous and abandoned pieces of property. Second, it must deal with emergency situations such as hurricanes and floods. Third, it must provide a service to low- and moderate-income residents.

The third one is most important, Pina said.

"I can't do a thing if I don't show a benefit to low- and moderate-income people," Pina said.

More generally, Pina explained, CEDA tries to create safe and accessible "gathering places" where people want to enjoy themselves, and, hopefully, where businesses want to come and create goods and services for that enjoyment.

"It's an art, not a science," said Pina, who was director of the Attleboro Office of Community Development before coming to Wareham. "You have to be able to come in and see what is important in a community and invest in it."

Pina works with the town's CEDA board, which is made up of volunteers, to achieve these goals.

Current ideas that Pina is tossing around in his head include renovating the bath houses on Onset Beach and creating a park on Lopes Field in Onset.

Pina envisions a boardwalk on Onset Beach near the bath houses, where a first-aid station could be placed and vendors could set up shop.

Pina, who describes community development as "starting in the center and building outwards -- think of it like a wave," said he believes that other areas of Onset could become locations for restaurants and entertainment.

Lopes Field could be turned into a safe and enjoyable "gathering place" that could also help a potential revitalization of downtown Onset, Pina said.

Pina has thought about planting trees at Lopes Field, putting in a water fountain, and creating a walkway where people can walk their dogs. A parking lot could be put in towards the back of the area.

Part of making any project work, Pina said, is communicating his ideas to the public.

"Try to vet it out before you do it. ... You get input and then you put it in the hands of the professionals," said Pina. "While your doing that, you still have to communicate with the people. There should be a schedule [of times that work will be completed] that's going to be distributed to everybody in the neighborhood."

Better communication could have helped the currently under construction Main Street "Streetscape" beautification project, Pina said.

For example, residents have expressed concern about whether Main Street is a good place for "bump-outs," or the projections of sidewalk into Main Street.

Pina said that there was a "lack of information about the advantages and disadvantages of bump-outs."

"By definition, they are going to inhibit vehicles," Pina said. "Ultimately what you want to do, is to make the stores be open and have activity, but in order to do that, you need the streets to be safe for pedestrians."

The bump-outs are also designed to slow vehicles down so that drivers look at the businesses on the street, Pina said.

Residents are also concerned about the loss of parking spaces due to the bump-outs.

Pina noted that there are approximately 800 parking spaces in downtown Wareham from around the Narrows Restaurant to CVS on Main Street. The Streetscape project is eliminating 14 to 20 of them.

Ultimately, Pina sees his task as making Wareham a bustling community  — not just during the busy summer months, but all year round.

"Business is as important to the community as … it is to the business itself," Pina said. "I have to figure out how to make Wareham a place to go in the winter… how to make it more viable in the off season."

Pina said he would like to make Wareham his last and best effort in community development — and he hopes the town will support him in that effort.

"I'd like to retire here. I'd like to really get a lot accomplished," Pina said, noting: "I can't do that without the support of the community."