Sue Sullivan speaks as residents wearing "Build the Bridge" shirts listen.
It was bad enough when the Long Island Bridge shut and even more drug addicts began congregating in the area of Mass and Cass, Sue Sullivan said. But now, the area has become a haven for drug sellers and people quick to settle a beef with a knife or gun, the head of the Newmarket Business Association says.
Sullivan, local business owners and nearby residents from Roxbury and the South End gathered for a press conference today on Southampton Street, across from the city shelter and Atkinson Street, which have become a vortex for violence, they said. So far this year, Sullivan said, there have been two murders - one outside the shelter, one at Mass and Cass - along with ten stabbings and one shooting.
Sullivan and residents said the neighborhood, where Roxbury, Dorchester and the South End meet just north of the South Bay Mall, is becoming near unlivable - City Council candidate Domingos Darosa said residents now try to drive elsewhere to shop, rather than go to South Bay and residents have to keep close watch on where their children play to make sure they don't get stuck with a discarded needle.
Brian Maloney, owner of Middlesex Truck & Coach, a truck-repair garage on Gerard Street, said he's having growing trouble attracting help because nobody wants to work in the area.
The business owners and residents called on the city to provide short-term answers to drive down the violence and longer-term solutions that would include getting even more housing and help for the addicts. They called on Gov. Baker to get involved as well, in part by using part of the Shattuck Hospital campus in Jamaica Plain for new facilities.
And they said it's time for the city of Quincy to stop trying to halt reconstruction of the bridge to Long Island, so the city can re-open that facility - one that would be available to people who need help from across the Boston area, including Quincy.
Darosa posted video of the press conference.
As the press conference was winding down, police headed onto Southampton Street, where somebody who was very unsteady on his feet wandered from around the corner on Atkinson Street:
They guided him back to the sidewalk, where two EMTs soon arrived to try to help him.
>The view down Atkinson Street:
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Comments
Comparison to bars and restaurants
By anony-mouse
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 2:13pm
If trouble happens outside of a bar or restaurant, they are held accountable.
I realize that methadone clinics, shelters and needle exchanges have a much different mission than bars.
But there still seems to be some parallel that they (or the government agencies that support them) should acknowledge that their location -and clientele- is at the root of the problem for these business owners and area residents.
It's a completely different
By eherot
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 7:44pm
It's a completely different situation. Bars and restaurants (well, most of them anyway) are not deliberately inviting the most problematic patrons to their establishment in order to serve them, and when a patron becomes too problematic or unruly they can ask them to leave, and if the bar doesn't manage their patrons we can shut them down and no one is really the worse for wear. None of those things is true here.
We deserve better!
By Domingos DaRosa
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:43pm
This health crisis needs all cities and towns to email and call the governor’s office for real change to happen. 617-425-4005 or https://www.mass.gov/forms/email-the-governors-office
Man up, Quinzee
By J.R. Dobbs
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 2:22pm
And stop shipping your problems up to Boston.
Not Quincy’s problem
By ntk
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 11:59am
Why should Quincy house the unwanted? Why not Boston? Why not Cambridge? Why not Milton?
????
By bgl
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 6:44pm
Quincy wouldn't be housing anything, Long Island is the City of Boston.
Good for them...
By anon
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 2:45pm
For finally getting this issue back into the public sphere.
And shame on Quincy. Blocking the bridge is even worse than NIMBYism -- there's literally no impact, other than slightly increased traffic, from re-activating the facilities on Long Island.
A ferry could be operating in
By g
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 6:29pm
A ferry could be operating in a month.
A bridge could be built in 3 - 5 years. Maybe.
Which approach addresses the problem?
"there's literally no impact, other than slightly increased traffic, from re-activating the facilities on Long Island."
I would agree if Boston would limit development to treatment facilities and related development.
Why won't Boston agree to limit development?
The bridge isn't about addiction treatment, it is all about real estate development.
Boston has Long Island designated as an "Opportunity Zone" and would cover the island with luxury condos and hotels.
I think the USCG
By anon
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:46pm
doesn’t allow drugs or people under the influence of drugs on watercraft. And any licensed captain would not allow it.
Issue is Safety
By SeekAndFind
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 9:19pm
When it was operational Long Island had a Boston Fire Dept. "brigade" on the island in the event fire broke out. Their primary function was evacuation and rescue and fire suppression, or at least the beginnings of that. Their official designation was Engine 54 but later renamed "Brigade." The function was to be on site and start fire operations until apparatus and help arrived from Quincy. Yes, Quincy would be the first units in with those from Boston following as best as possible.
When the bridge stopped working safety was compromised because apparatus could not get in. So a ferry may get people on and off the island but it does not address evacuation to a hospital or fire fighting operations. So the bridge will be necessary for it to fully reopen.
Yes, planning and foresight
By g
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 5:04pm
Yes, planning and foresight would be essential with either a bridge or a ferry.
Walsh has openly said his
By BannedFromTheRoxy
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 11:23pm
Walsh has openly said his only intentions were to build a bridge for the treatment center And that further development would need to be approved by both Quincy and Boston.
Also using a ferry for emergency services is pretty impractical
Put that in writing.
By g
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 9:17am
Put that in writing.
Why won't Boston agree to that in writing?
Because real estate developers won't make any money
I'm Trying To Figure Out Which Of Koch's Lackeys You Are?
By John Costello
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 10:08am
Are you the guy who shrink wrapped their boat off of Wollaston a few years ago with a Koch sign?
Wouldn't it have been great if Quincy put as much effort into "finding" who killed Chris McCallum as they have fighting this bridge?
I mean, it takes a lot to cover up the names of two guys with familial ties to the QPD even though there were multiple witnesses and everyone knew who they were. Yet somehow the indictments got announced on the afternoon of election day in order to bury the news over 10 months after everyone knew who did it. Funny that.
Quincy isn't your dirtbag little brother, but it sure has a lot of dirtbags in the local government. Quincy is that little dog in the cartoon jumping up and down behind the big dog who is just walking down the street.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/11/06/two-b...
Intellectually challenged
By g
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 1:21pm
Intellectually challenged people seem to revert to name calling because their arguments lack substance.
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Just sayin'.........
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ya know.
Sure Thing Quincy Lackey
By John Costello
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 1:34pm
Ya Know.
I've been called worse,.
By g
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 1:55pm
I've been called worse,.
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........ and by people who weren't little pukes.
What's wrong with development?
By CuteUsername
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 12:57pm
If housing for the general population was built on Long Island, that would also have the only cost be some increased traffic, although admittedly quite a bit more. We need far more housing in Boston and Quincy, so that everyone who wants to live here can live here. It's not exactly the most connected part of Boston so you'd have to do more to set up public transportation (ironically a ferry would be very useful then, although as a supplement to the bridge), but if more people led to intolerable traffic, people wouldn't move in in the first place.
If anything, the island
By Lmo
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 2:51pm
If anything, the island should be open to the public, never to be developed for real estate.
I was with them up intill they said Shattuck
By Magic
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 2:47pm
Imm all for moving them but to Shattuck . No way, we already have the halfway house, juvi and the pedophiles that go to the Shattuck for treatment. NO THANKS
Since 2016
By Brianne
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 2:52pm
Sue Sullivan and others have been asking for help to no avail. Mayor walsh told the car wash back in 2016 to remove their Welcome to Hamsterdam sign. Yet now we have the huge billboard at Mass and Cass touting cannabis. No one really seems to care except the little people. City government, public health agencies and hospitals just turn a blind eye. Cowards and greedy. The area keeps expanding now stretching from Nubian Sq to Andrew Sq. The police have been told to stand down unless there is murder and mayhem. Keep the pressure on Sue and Domingos
Cannabis isn't the issue here
By anon
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 1:07pm
Cannabis isn't the issue here - not sure why you bring it up. And no - it isn't a gateway drug.
This is an everywhere thing
By cybah
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 3:25pm
The closure of Long Island ripples throughout our region.
Sullivan is right, they are a hot spot, but its elsewhere. Now that Long Island isn't open and its now unsafe to hang down in Newmarket Square during the day, they go elsewhere.
Someone last week on here or social media was complained how the T installed bars on the benches inside Davis station. Yeah I agree anti-homeless.. but I know why. I work in the area and Davis square is a very different place during the day these days. Used to be the daytime locals (old people, fixed income people, moms, kids) in the park and in the stores. And at night it would switch to the yuppie/hipsters crowd after they get home from work.
Now.. not so much. The Park right in the square now is a haven for drug us. Overheard 2 drug deals last week, and some woman getting all in a tizzy because she was sold some bunk shit (no joke). They all hang out in the square and inside the T station. Before the bars went up, lots of people were sleeping on the platform the day.
And while its important to be sympathetic to people who are in need, on the same token, I can't help notice this too. (and be annoyed)
And i go to work for refuge because my street in Chelsea has the same issues, except its all the time now. At night, the number of fist fights and screaming matches is pretty much nightly occurrences. The dealers and users seem to come out earlier and earlier. Used to be when the sunset, they came out... now its hours before that. And even during the day.
Went to dunks last week around 2pm to get a coffee, saw a drug deal go down. Got my coffee, walked back the same way, and the girl was all slumped in a corner with gear just out there. She was higher than a kite and couldn't stand.
Call the police you say? HAHAHA I do. After 10 years, they are sick of me, so I don't. The uptick is so much I would call every hour all evening. They don't do anything anyways, I've been able to identify the drug dealer by face (and address!!) for over 2 years and he's still selling so.. yeah they don't wanna fix the problem. And considering Rose N all, they don't care about us only themselves and their "brothers".
So yeah its an everywhere problem.... the closure of Long Island has rippled thru our entire region.
The closure of Long Island
By Rob
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 1:51pm
No, the refusal to replace the services previously provided on Long Island with even adequate services elsewhere ripples through our region.
Southie needs to get in this
By anon
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 3:30pm
Southie needs to get in this fight too. Where is everyone? The transients and drugs flow over the bridge into Andrew Square, and scatter themselves throughout the neighborhood. Don't think it won't reach City Point if nobody speaks up and supports Andrew Square, South End, Roxbury.
That means Charlie Baker and the state reps, not only City Council and Mayor need to answer for this. Who decided that whole neighborhoods in Boston were OK to double as a dumping ground for the state's drug addiction problem?
Reopen the Island!
By anon
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 4:27pm
The methadone mile is the fastest growing neighborhood in the city. MBTA trains and stations have become a moving asylum and ridership will never return. Quincy will not let the bridge be built so either ship the worst of the worst south on the red line or commandeer the empty commuter boats and ship those who need services to Long Island which is safer and easier to police.
Maybe if the city of Quincy
By eherot
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:00pm
Maybe if the city of Quincy would prefer not to have the bus traffic through their neighborhood streets they could instead open a facility of their own rather than sticking Boston with the entire burden.
Just a thought...
How about
By BostonDog
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:11pm
The Commonwealth can stop ignoring the problem and build the damn the bridge. It should be a state construction program and the state should take any municipal land needed to get the bridge built.
This isn't a City of Boston problem. It's an Eastern Massachusetts problem.
Regional problem
By Presumably Sane
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 10:04am
I entirely agree. Eastern MA is constantly unable to solve the most basic issues due to the fragmentation of geography into fairly small municipalities who refuse to cooperate.
Housing affordability, homelessness, etc. It's so maddening that we can't get anything done to improve life for all because each municipality wants to pass responsibility to literally anyone else.
We need to fundamentally re-think our governance structure.
Quincy
By Ellen
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:12pm
They have a facility it’s called Fr. Bill’s. People can take the Red Line there.
Nice
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:18pm
How many people does it serve?
Quincy Facilities
By g
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:35pm
85 to 100+ nightly. There are also a number of treatment facilities including AdCare and VOA in the downtown Quincy area, Salvation Army, Northeast Addicts Treatment Center,. . . .
https://helpfbms.org/
To say Quincy isn't doing its part is just ignorance but I guess if people insist on being a tool for real estate developers you can't stop them.
I was going to post these.
By redheadedjen
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:56pm
I was going to post these. They have not stepped in the city of Quincy lately. Even before the bridge went down, Quincy Center was filled with homelessness
Father Bill's is seriously
By anon
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:27pm
Father Bill's is seriously underfunded, and a true drug rehab site. Source: Have worked with them for years.
To say people can take the
By Rob
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 2:07am
To say people can take the Red Line to Father Bill's is about as accurate as saying people can take the Red or Orange lines to Newmarket.
Directions:
By g
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 2:03pm
Directions:
From the MBTA. About .8 miles or 7 minutes on the bus, 15 minutes walking.
Quincy Center (view alert)
Connect to the Bus
Take the 214/216 Outbound towards Houghs Neck via Germantown 1:53 PM
Coddington St @ Southern Artery1:57 PM
Depart onto Coddington Street
Right onto Southern Artery
Left onto service road
Left onto Broad Street
Father Bills, Broad Street, Quincy, MA, USA2:00 PM
The statement, genius, was
By Rob
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 2:05pm
The statement, genius, was that people could take rapid transit (the Red Line) to Father Bill's.
Since you don't seem to grasp my reply, I'll explain it - They can't. The Red Line doesn't go to Father Bill's.
Yes, people can walk the intervening kilometer from Quincy Center Station or take a local bus to get them very close, which is NOT THE SAME THING.
As comparison, the Red and Orange Lines don't go to Methadone Mile, but people can walk or take a nearby bus the 1 kilometer from Andrew Square Station to Methadone Mile or 1.5 km from Mass Ave Station to Methadone Mile.
Quincy
By Mike Brewster
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:29pm
Quincy has a shelter too
I have a hard time seeing how
By DPM
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:12pm
I have a hard time seeing how maintaining a large, expensive bridge, that the state and city already failed to maintain once is the most reasonable solution to this problem.
And your suggestion is?
By Waquiot
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:47pm
And you do realize that every bridge needs maintenance. Should we just go back to fording rivers?
Building the infrastructure
By DPM
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:51pm
Building the infrastructure on the mainland. Bridges that do not exist do not need maintenance.
Building a bridge to Long Island because 5,000 people now live there? Sure go for it if the tax revenue from the property can make it happen. Building a bridge to facilitate addiction treatment when the bridge dollars can be spent on get this, treatment, doesn't make much sense. It is a waste of treatment money.
Sounds good
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:53pm
Am I going to see you down at the statehouse lobbying for this money to be spent on mental health and drug treatment facilities on the mainland?
Are you going to fight off the NIMBY contingent in your town when it comes to siting that facility?
We already have treatment
By DPM
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:57pm
We already have treatment facilities here in my neighborhood.
$100 million can pay for a whole lot of treatment.
Do you have sufficient facilities for these folks?
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:00pm
And are the public or private? Fully accessible or country club?
The reality is that we need public treatment facilities in every community. Barring that, we need a facility like Long Island - accessible, but reasonably set away so people can get clean enough to stay clean.
Nice theory that you have that this can all be done "somewhere" other than Long Island. Identify the location already. Put in the lobbying time.
Nice theory that you have
By DPM
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:04pm
Nice theory that you have that paying $100 million for a bridge is somehow the best way to spend treatment money.
You do you I guess.
It sure is too bad the city and state were such negligent stewards of the existing bridge.
You aren't paying attention
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:21pm
The bridge is only unnecessary if you have a better idea where such comprehensive treatment facilities should go.
Which you do not. All you have offered here is that "my neighborhood does enough already", which sounds like those people in Weston who didn't want a bike trail because "we already let people from other towns drive on our roads".
And that, my friend, is the problem: nobody wants to pay for a bridge, but everybody rejects the idea of having these facilities located anywhere else.
Ferry
By g
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 2:04pm
A ferry could be operating in a few weeks and Quincy had offered to pay for half.
Even if Quincy dropped opposition to the bridge, it wouldn't be built for 3-5 years.
Is 3-5 years for a solution good enough for you?
A ferry would work in a month.
You know what the answer is
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:33pm
And it isn't a ferry, for reasons that have been stated over and again.
Listen next time this is explained to you - a ferry isn't going to work.
ferry
By g
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:19pm
No one has been able to give a reasonable answer as to why a ferry won't work. They run them all over the world including the Scandinavian countries, northern Russia, and Canada.
Yes you might miss a day occasionally and you need to plan ahead for medical emergencies.
Ferry - Running in a month
Bridge - 3-5 years maybe if it is built.
To go with the bridge shows a complete lack of care for the victims of addiction and the neighborhoods impacted.
What we're doing NOW is not working
By Gary C
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:51pm
Would a ferry solve 100% of the problems for 100% of the people 100% of the time? No. Is the status quo OK? No. Can we wait 3 to 5 years? No.
The ferry is very good. While everyone waits for the "perfect" bridge, let's get Long Island back open with perfectly OK ferries.
(I am not "G", even though we both are taking the same position.)
Stick Your Ferry Up Your Arse
By John Costello
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:54pm
We are going to take people already on the far side of the moon from a mental health point for the most part and stick them on a rocking ocean going vessel?
Good luck with that. Have you ever been on the Hingham Ferry on a windy winter evening? The EMTs would run out of tranq darts before it ever left the dock.
Also, Norway builds infrastructure for things like this. They have tunnels that go to rural islands with a few dozen people on them. Don't drag Norway into your Nimbyism.
Not just in Norway
By g
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 9:39pm
Cape Hatteras to Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
Tacoma to Vashon Island, Washington
Manhattan to Staten Island, New York
Alaska Marine Highways
Jamestown to Scotland Wharf, Virginia
Just a few other places outside of Norway where ferries are used extensively.
All in the Good Ole USA!
I'm Running for Governor
By John Costello
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:58pm
Just to widen Dorchester Street in Squantum to six lanes and put up enough concrete along the side to give every Allston street artist a mandated graffiti area from Ayers Collision all the way to the Moon Island guardhouse.
I think we need a bigger boat
By g
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 10:27pm
I think we need a bigger boat.
https://www.bmt.org/projects/project/2205/72m-high...
What real estate interest do
By g
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 5:09pm
What real estate interest do you work for John?
Just curious.
I can be convinced that the
By DPM
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:44pm
I can be convinced that the bridge is a reasonable expenditure. I cannot be convinced that it is a reasonable expenditure for the exclusive use of a treatment facility.
Use it to open up the island to development and reopening the treatment facilities? Go for it. Use it to connect Quincy and Winthrop with a bus/bike route (and another bridge), I'm intrigued, lets look at it.
Using 100m for one exclusive use? No, its ridiculous.
"Use it to open up the island
By g
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:48pm
"Use it to open up the island to development and reopening the treatment facilities?"
That is what Quincy is opposing. They don't want a RESIDENTIAL neighborhood ruined to make millions for Marty's Real Estate Development friends.
Limit development to treatment facilities and turn the rest of the island into parkland available to ALL.
It should be treatment only.
By DrewD
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:59pm
I agree, they shouldn't develop long island, but there's a Marina a few blocks from the bridge. The "RESIDENTIAL" neighborhood is a busy waterfront residential neighborhood. It's also the same neighborhood that had the working bridge attached to it 7 years ago.
You have a reasonable request (ensure it is a treatment facility). Don't dilute it by pretending that the poor people of Squantum will be ruined if anything else happens.
Development? Absolutely not.
By Lmo
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 7:10pm
Development? Absolutely not. Part of the BHI’s cannot be developed.
Long Island is not part of
By g
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:01pm
Long Island is not part of the National Park System and is available for development.
For that matter, the COB has actively encouraged development and has Long Island designated as an "Opportunity Zone".
It is zoned B-1, general business.
Genuine question, why can't
By anon
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 8:29am
Genuine question, why can't facilities be built out in Western Mass? You still get that isolation factor, so people aren't going to treatment, walking outside, and getting accosted by their dealer immediately. Seems like Metro Boston, including Quincy, gets to be the dumping ground for the whole goddamn state and most of VT/NH/ME too. Maybe some of the rural areas could volunteer so these people have a calm, peaceful, away from it all area to get clean.
.......
By SatansFist
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:26pm
Remember when people complained about Operation Clean Sweep?
Pepperidge Farm remembers
Guess what?
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:51pm
It is ENTIRELY possible to oppose the fundamentally ineffective brutalizing of people without anywhere else to go and without any defense against their ineffective brutalization and still demand that something EFFECTIVE be done about the problem.
I know that might be hard for a mere demon to process, but please do try.
I absolutely still oppose Operation Clean Sweep
By DrewD
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:45pm
Blasting through and cracking skulls almost never works especially when nothing is different afterward.
Clean Sweep was the BPD lashing out in a childish way to show they were superior to a group of people that doesn't care if the police are superior or not. It was like punching a child for peeing their pants.
Did this come up
By anon
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:33pm
at Marty’s confirmation hearing?
Sounds like infrastructure to me...
By anon
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 5:47pm
So if the US pays for the new bridge are we cool Quincy?
Marty's Methadone Mile
By g
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:20pm
Building the bridge was never about treating addicts. Marty wanted the bridge rebuilt to help his real estate developer supporters. Long Island is listed as an "Opportunity Zone". Marty's supporters had visions of luxury condos and luxury hotels, after the Olympics fell through.
A ferry could be operating in a few weeks and Quincy has offered to pay for half. Why is there no response from Boston?
Why won't Boston agree to limit development to addiction treatment and mental health facilities so that a RESIDENTIAL neighborhood in Squantum won't be overrun with traffic. Because real estate developers can't make money with that.
MARTY"S METHADONE MILE is not Quincy's fault.
Oh you poor dear
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:36pm
A handfull of buses a day that ran for decades BEFORE the bridge closed = "overrun with traffic".
Are you going to demand that schools remain closed to in-person attendance because all those kids on buses will cause a traffic apocolypse?
Get the smelling salts, and the fainting couch. Poor poor poor "g" has the vapors!
If the island were developed,
By anon
Tue, 04/13/2021 - 10:46am
If the island were developed, there would be a lot more traffic. Many people living there would drive.
First time I heard of this
By anon
Mon, 04/12/2021 - 6:28pm
"A ferry could be operating in a few weeks and Quincy has offered to pay for half. Why is there no response from Boston?"
Wow , if this is true , it needs to happen now. Marty's gone. What do you say, Mayor Janey?
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