Citizen complaint of the day: When does the police crackdown on bad West Roxbury drivers begin?

Someone *did* die in February but new E-5 (WRox) captain Darren Greeley believes it’s not enough reason for change, as WRox statistically has had fewer pedestrian casualties compared the rest of the city.

Apparently, we need more fatalities before even BPD will change their mind.

WRSA got BPD (and BTD, led now by Walsh’s interim commissioner Rooney) to rub the group’s back by standing up and making some pledges to enforce road laws — knowing full well the group was already happy with the way things were. Captain Greeley himself is from West Roxbury.

So now BPD has indeed gone back to the way things were — not even enforcing the rule of law in front of their own station.

And pedestrians continue to be scared of crossing Centre St.

I noticed that there were no double-parked cars yesterday at about 4:30 for the whole length of Centre St., and there were actually empty spots on the block across from West. I suspect they were enforcing the 2-hour parking and maybe even stopping double-parkers.

West Roxbury is an ideal size and shape for people to visit shops on bicycles. But Centre St is so dangerous — and some whipped-up residents so virulently hateful of cyclists — that most who could ride don’t even try, like myself.

Those same residents simultaneously complain how their kids can no longer ride bicycles safely on local streets. How ironic that they haven’t connected the dots ....

I would certainly visit businesses more often if I felt it were comfortable to walk and bike in town. But no: apparently businesses are fine with the existing, aging customer base.

So we have to wait a generation before things change — for *everyone’s* benefit. How tragic is that?!

Holly cow, as I was casually reading this comment, I felt like the name Steve Morris of West Roxbury sounded familiar, and it just flashed in my little brain!

I am 99% sure that it's the same Steve Morris who owns of one of the worst, if not THE worst problem properties in Fields Corner (Dorchester). For that troubled part of the neighborhood, this is no small feat. That’s the kind of property that every cop in the district knows because that’s where people regularly get arrested on drug and gun charges, the trash is often spilling all over the place, snow doesn’t get shoveled etc. I actually walked past it this evening and unsurprisingly it was the one property on that street where the trash barrels were left on the sidewalk three days after pick up. On warm days, that's the kind of gang-banger hangout that make people cross the street to walk on the other side. The heavy steel bars at the windows are also a nice touch.

According to a longtime neighbor, he is a trust fund baby who inherited that property from a relative a while ago and quickly managed to turn it into the scourge of the neighborhood.

Its (very partial) record is easily searchable by entering the 73 Charles St address in this page's search box:
https://data.boston.gov/dataset/public-works-violations/resource/90ed381...

Story connected to that address that made it to the news (the police is there often, but the outcome rarely gets published).

https://bpdnews.com/news/2018/1/20/keeping-boston-safe-officers-recover-...

You’ve got to admire this dude’s dedication in making our streets unsafe all over the City in any way that he can. I'd suggest creating an award after him; "The Steve Morris Unsafe Street Award".

It's not really that hard. If you're wearing an orange safety vest and blowing an air horn, it's not that difficult to cross the street if there are no cars coming anyway.

WRox residents are complaining now how the Feds are sneaking money through to pay for road diets.

You’d think the fact that (well-done) road diets empirically make roads safer while not appreciably changing traffic flow dynamics would be a reason to pat “The Feds” on the back, for once.

But no: WRox prefers a conspiracy theory instead. People have even bought into the theory that Soros is pushing public transportation because he wants to invest in it.

I mean, Jesus H Christ, right?

These are living breathing highly well-compensated human beings living in one of the toniest neighborhoods of Boston. But you couldn’t find a more parochial set of sheep anywhere.

Proponents of serious infrastructure transformations are looking to benefit ALL residents. Opponents are looking to only benefit themselves.

Only one of those two can see the difference, apparently.

I’ve not heard a complaint any time I’ve visited doctors in that area.