News

Neighbors protest inaction on Mass and Cass woes

by Michele D.  Maniscalco
Friday Sep 11, 2020

This article is from the September 10, 2020 issue of South End News.


Photo by Michele D. Maniscalco
Photo by Michele D. Maniscalco  

The South End Roxbury Community Partnerships 2.0 held a protest on September 3 at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Washington Street entitled "Make the Community Comfortable for All", urging city and state officials to provide more homelessness, addiction and mental health services around Boston and statewide and to provide more sanitation and public safety to residents of the surrounding South End and Roxbury neighbors who are overwhelmed by theft; break-ins; discarded needles; encampments; human waste in alleys and on doorsteps; drug use in public and other negative activity.
The group was spearheaded by Yahaira Lopez, a South End/Lower Roxbury native who now lives in Randolph but visits her mother regularly in the Northampton Street area. Lopez and her brother, David, expressed concern for their mother's safety.
The protest began at 6:00 PM September 3 with approximately 100 people on all four corners at the intersection. In response to signs reading, "Honk if you want a drug free neighborhood," many passing cars honked in support and the protest occasionally spilled out into the intersection. Chants such as "Where is Charlie?", a sign reading, "Mass and Cass Missing Person Report: Charlie Baker" reflected anger and frustration at the governor's inaction on developing addiction, homelessness and other services in communities statewide, as more than half of those who come to Mass and Cass for services are from outside Boston.
Bob Barney, a board member of the Claremont Neighborhood Association and member of the South End Forum Working Group on Addiction, Recovery and Homelessness, said, "I think that Governor Baker and Secretary Sudders need to come here and see what is going on. They need to see that it is a public health emergency."
Acknowledging that residents and neighborhood leaders have been calling for help from the city and state for years, Barney said, ""I think the difference is that today, it's not only South Enders, it's people from Roxbury and from other parts of the city that are saying, 'Hey, enough is enough.' I hope that will create enough motivation for the Mayor and the Governor to collaborate and get some things done."
Shortly after addressing the crowd, Lopez told the South End News, "We're here because we want a safe community for everyone, including those who need help. Everyone. We're here because we want to unite the South End and Roxbury, to present a united front to tell the mayor to tell the governor to [declare] this a state public health crisis and to figure out what we're going to do with Shattuck. Let's just open the bridge. Enough with the litigation. Families, students, children, don't have time for litigation anymore. They say this is going to take a six-year process. Do you know what this community is going to look like in six years?" Referring to the huge influx of non-Boston residents seeking services here, she added, "We are impacted by residents of other communities washing their hands of residents of their communities."
Addressing the group's goals, Lopez said, "Our first demand is that the governor declare this a state public health crisis. The city has done it but the state has not. The second thing we want as a short-term goal is for Shattuck Hospital to be used as a treatment facility for recovery. The third thing we want is: Open the bridge. That's what we're here for and if we have to come out here every Thursday, we'll come out here every Thursday."
Ashley Tenczar Curran, whose son Damien Hughes, 27, of Westborough, had been coming to Mass and Cass for addiction treatment, but his life was cut short on July 31 when he was stabbed to death outside the Southampton Street shelter. In an anguished voice, Curran said, "Whether you are looking for drug treatment, whether you're homeless, whether you live in one of the brownstones here, call the Mayor. The Mayor wouldn't even come to my son's memorial, and he was killed in front of the tent the Mayor made. My son was killed at 7:30 AM by a mentally ill man. He needed services himself!" She continued by noting that other towns have no programs for their homeless and addicted residents.
"They aren't doing anything. Try finding a shelter in Brookline, Boylston or Westborough. They are coming here and buying drugs, they are buying meth and they are going back home." Curran added, "I've been down there [at Mass and Cass] and I've spoken to the nurses. They are wonderful, but they are tired, they're overwhelmed."
A longtime Chester Square resident who has been in recovery from opiate addiction for over 20 years said, "Marty Walsh isn't doing anything. Anything! I walk out of my building and I see people shooting up every day. I believe that six years ago when Long Island closed, this area became the mecca for homelessness and drug addiction. Sixty percent of the people coming here are from outside the city. They are interviewed and they say, 'I'm coming here for the services,' but you aren't using the services if you are shooting up. We need to connect with the governor. Maybe he's heard about this. The mayor isn't doing anything. Anything! They turned the Roundhouse into a homeless shelter. A homeless shelter in an open-air drug market." The resident also blamed lax law enforcement. "Rachael Rollins is part of the problem, too. She tells the police not to arrest them."
The protest was organized and publicized within two days, and although media outlets such as Telemundo were on the scene, representatives of the city and state did not attend. In a written statement, District 2 city councilor Ed Flynn said, "I don't believe my office was formally notified about the event. I've conducted several walkthroughs of the South End in recent weeks to listen to residents about quality of life issues and have seen on the ground conditions in the neighborhood. I did a walkthrough of the Southwest Corridor to Mass Ave with Rep. Santiago about a week and a half ago, and I had another walkthrough of the Mass/Cass area with Worcester Square residents, Councilors Wu and Essaibi-George, BPD, EMS, and other departments last month."
He continued, "I have also been recently asked by the Mayor to join the Mass/Cass 2.0 Task Force, and will continue to advocate for more public safety presence in the South End, as well as more mental health services, housing resources, and addiction treatment services for those experiencing homelessness and addiction. I will continue to work with BPD, Mayor Walsh, my colleagues, neighbors and civic leaders on these critical public safety and quality of life issues."
South End Roxbury Community Partnerships 2.0 is planning to continue protests at Massachusetts Avenue and Washington Street weekly on Thursday evenings, and has a Facebook page to publicize its activities at https://www.facebook.com/groups/seroxburycommunitypartnership/.