Since November, the center has been off limits to Kenny Williams, the children he helps and his program, Urban Warfare.
TRENTON -- For about 10 years now, Kenny Williams has been piling pizzas in the back of his vehicle on Friday nights and driving to the Donnelly Homes housing project in North Trenton.
Inside the community center there, he lays out the pizzas for kids and runs an outreach program called Urban Warfare.
Through Urban Warfare, kids can simply shoot hoops or play video games, or, Williams always hopes, delve into more serious activities, like his literacy program or seek job training.
Either way, it's a safe haven for the children, and it's blossomed for years, he said.
But since November, the center has been off limits to Williams, the children and his programs, he says.
Over the winter, he initially accepted word that the building was having heating issues, and he suspended operations.
But now that it's getting warmer and the reason seems thin, and he wants answers from the Trenton Housing Authority, which runs the Donnelly Homes.
Conditions in housing development set one man on a mission
Williams said he suspects Executive Director W. Oliver "Bucky" Leggett is not being forthcoming about why the Urban Warfare program is still shut out of the center.
Multiple attempts to reach Leggett for this story were unsuccessful.
"It needs to be open to keep the relationship with the kids," Williams said. "Right now, they're out there dodging bullets."
Two Fridays ago, Williams loaded up the pizzas and went to the recreation center with plans to stage a mini protest, and see if he'd be allowed in.
Housing authority security guards initially barred him from entering, but then let Williams and Urban Warfare board member Dennis Laux in to speak with Leggett - without the children.
While the pizzas got gold, Williams said Leggett stuck to the heating story. A reporter was not allowed inside to see Leggett.
"He won't answer questions. He is not being direct and he's acting like this is his community center," Laux said. "It's not his. It's the community's, and the kids."
Laux said he is astounded by Leggett's continued lack of communication and apparent interest in working with an organization that's been a tenant for a decade.
"You need someone to help that community, not bring it down," Laux said.
In 'backward' move, THA appoints ex-director
Leggett, a former city councilman and mayoral candidate, assumed the leadership of the housing authority last July, a post he held decades ago.
He is currently paid $150,000 annually.
Leggett served as director from 1993 to August 2000, but came under fire by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for holding both the director and city councilman positions.
HUD said there was a conflict of interest because city council appointed commissioners who oversaw the director's job performance and set his salary.
In July 2000, HUD gave him an ultimatum to choose one or the other. He chose to resign from his then $115,000-a-year job as executive director to stay on as city councilman, where he was paid $17,000 a year for the part-time position.
Two housing authority commissioners who voted against Leggett's appointment last year said the move was a step backward for the authority.
Williams said he's getting the feeling Leggett simply does not care, and he's losing the connections with the young kids that he regularly used to see.
"Now they're lost and they don't know what to do," Williams said the children.
Discussing a recent wave of shootings recently, Williams said, "I am praying everyday that nothing like that happens to them."
"And it's getting warm out there," he noted.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.