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Mayor asks for six more months to clean up Methadone Mile, Boston Common
By adamg on Fri, 12/16/2016 - 9:28am
The Boston Sun reports that Mayor Walsh concentrated on the ongoing problems related to addicts and homeless people along Melnea Cass Boulevard and Mass. Ave. and on Boston Common at a recent South End Forum meeting.
We’re laser focused on it. It’s the same for Boston Common. We’re laser focused on Boston Common. That and the area here are the two hot spots. We’re meeting weekly internally on every aspect of the problem…You’ll still see homeless people, but we’re hoping to reduce it…
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Comments
It only took for the city to
It only took for the city to start renovating the south bay mall area and placing new storefronts and a movie theater for the city to be "Laser Focused" on the addict and homeless problem on Melana Cass BLVD. If it wasn't for the glamour and glitz that's coming to that area there would be no "Laser Focus."
South Bay Shopping Center
Glamour and Glitz? Im i missing something?
Not yet, but you will
There's a whole new Assembly Square-like thing being built, next to the current mall.
Such a joke
Folks in the entire South End have been taking to City Hall about this for two years. Why now is the Mayor suddenly "laser focused" on the problem? Reelection? Duh.
Mayor Walsh might be channeling his predecessor?
Maybe the mayor remembered who voted for him back in 2013? Focused on those areas first? Check the map. This is Boston politics after all.
Election Map
(Apologies if the link to WBUR doesn't work Still building my Uhub game).
Easy answer
Because it's almost time to run for re-election.
annnd....
....there's no job in a Clinton Administration waiting for him in 2017. [sadtrombone]
Call me naive, but I'm not
Call me naive, but I'm not sure how a mayor can solve a regional epidemic. It's not like he can single-handily reduce the number of people getting addicted. I'd think the better solution would be to seclude those who truly want help from their environment. Perhaps a Harbor Island detox facility that the state could help fund?
A Good Start
Would be to prioritize having shelters offering help to people in need. When Long Island closed the city did not respond properly. With a disproportionate response by the city to the closure coupled with the ramping up epidemic it was a perfect storm. At a time when the city needed to be able to provide more services they were providing less and continue to. They needed to be "laser focused" in the moment but instead, decided that they'd get around to it. Here we are 2yrs later and the city is asking for 6 more months.
What a load of crap.
Huh?
What are shelters doing now if not helping those who are in need?
Specialized treatment programs
Long Island had a number of treatment programs in addition to shelter, I believe, which were not replaced after the bridge was blown up.
Gotcha
So the original poster was saying shelters are needed, not that shelters aren't helping.
Yep
Specialized shelters/programs in particular, which have not been replaced to the level that many hoped they would be.
Laser focused?
Marty may or may not be laser focused. However the problem around the area or Cass and Mass is still a zombie zone. The only change I've seen is some cops in front of Cumberland Farms, sometimes, not other times.
The Common seems to have improved a bit.
Have they done anything?
I would like to know what they have done already other than occasionally picking up the trash on the connector. There are still the same large number of people outside of Cumberland Farms, there are still the same number of walking dead at the intersection of Mass ave. There are still people shooting up on the Connector.
I have seen a Boston health service police car parked several blocks away under the Boston Medical overpass with its lights on. It does not seem to do anything other then move people away.
The weather will remove some of the homeless from the street, but the homeless are not really the problem here.
So.... what else?
\\edit - Boston Medical
Wholeheartedly Agreed
From what I can tell, there has been a lot of talk and much less action.
And yes, the weather will remove some of the homeless. It will also claim a few of their lives. Just like last year. Thanks for closing the Long Island Shelter and not having a viable alternative, Marty!
They opened a new shelter at
They opened a new shelter at 112 Southhampton, which, unfortunately, just brought many new vulnerable people to an area already over run with addicts and dealers.
Sharp as a ....soft stool.
Laser focus? This morning with single digits out there, I once again drove past the small encampment made out of a shopping cart and a bunch of blankets and assorted crap that sits on the grassy, bike trail along Melnea Cass between Albany and Harrison. Hopefully, if there was someone buried under that pile of crap, they were still alive - but if they were out there all night, I don't know how they could be.
Sorry Mahty, but at this point you've got a failing grade when it comes to the homeless problem in that area and your buddy Prince Chahhlie is cutting funds for addiction treatment so don't expect any help from the Great White Dope.
Is this something new?
What is that? I have lived in the neighborhood for almost ten years, and in the immediate area for almost twenty, and have never heard of it.
Under the Boston General Overpass
I believe the commenter is incorrectly referring to BMC - I have never heard it referred to as Boston General either- sounds like a bad soap opera.
The "overpass" links BMC buildings and is located on Mass. Ave between Albany St. and Harrison Avenue.
BTW - six months to deal with this problem? Why doesn't the Mayor work harder than that. This neighborhood has been plagued with these problems for the past two years at least!
It confounded me
It reminds me of when some suburbanites and other tourists refer to something called "the commons" (I am a bit pedantic about that, though very forgiving to obvious outtatownas).
Many years ago I gave some tourists looking for "the Boston gardens" directions to the Boston Garden, realizing after they walked away that they may have been looking for the Public Garden (I now ask for clarification when people ask me directions).
Boston General
I believe that Charles Emerson Winchester III was on the staff at Boston General before being drafted and sent to Korea.
You don't know?
The Boston Gardens are right next to Nathaniel Hall.
Boston Medical - where the
Boston Medical - where the building crosses over Mass Ave.
Ahh, gotcha
I hope you'll forgive me, I wasn't trying to be pedantic, I'd just never heard of any such thing.
Poster is confusing MGH with
Poster is confusing MGH with the BMC.
Marty is right about "Shipping up to Boston"
The opiod crisis is getting worse and the only solution that suburban mayors and leaders have is the one way bus ticket to South Station.
You will find many more
You will find many more people from the surrounding cities and towns in the shelters and the programs. than native Bostonians. People come from all over MA, and other states as well. Time for other towns and cities and States to step it up.
lasershow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IQysLLU0Z4
Their solution will be hiding
Their solution will be hiding the problem or dispersing it.
Good enough for me. These
Good enough for me. These people do not want help. Talking about providing treatment is like talking about the tooth fairy or unicorns.
They need to be kept from harassing citizens and causing harm to the neighborhood .
troll.
.
Methadone Mile is an
Methadone Mile is an understatement. It's several miles long, at this point. Melnea Cass is more obvious because there's open space and you see people conspicuously standing around when you drive by. Mass Ave, W. Springfield and Worcester Street have all become not great places to walk your dog at night, plenty of push-in robberies, car break ins an assaults that don't get much discussion.