The June 6 South End Forum meeting drew a packed house, with attendees spilling out into the back hallway as the group addressed the prospect of a state-proposed "safe injection site" for drug users with possible placement around Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard (Mass-Cass); a proposal for a new day center adjacent to the 112 Southampton Street shelter for homeless and addicted persons; and an update on office-based addiction treatment for patients of the South End Community Health Center (SECHC).

City councilor at lagre Annissa Essaibi-George and District 3 city councilor Frank Baker, whose district comprises a corner of the South End and Newmarket as well as Dorchester, spoke about the Safe Injection Site proposed by the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Baker and Essaibi-George called for a city council hearing to take place on Monday, June 19 to discuss the safe injection site plan. Both councilors want to see the site located someplace other than Boston and particularly the South End/Melnea Cass area, which they feel is already overtaxed with addiction treatment and homeless services and the crime that surrounds drug activity.

Baker reported that he has received irate calls and e-mails from people who are confused between the day center and the safe injection site, thinking that the injection site is about to open at Southampton Street. "If anybody knows me, they know I advocate constantly for programs to happen in other places outside the city. Speaking with the police, the people who do outreach and the people who pick up needles, the city of Boston and this area in particular are totally overwhelmed down here. The last thing I am going to do as a city councilor who represents this area is allow a safe injection site to come in."

Jennifer Tracey, director of the Mayor's Office of Recovery Services, described a pilot program for a day center at the 112 Southampton Street shelter for homeless persons and addiction-treatment patients to go as an alternative to wandering the streets.

Often patients in drug treatment come into the city early in the morning to receive methadone and have another appointment for counseling or medical follow-up hours later, leaving them with nowhere to go between appointments.

The day center, a fabric-covered structure that served as the dining area during the completion of 112 Southampton Street, has electrical power and will offer water, snacks, portable restrooms and referrals to drug treatment and to Boston Health Care for the Homeless (BHCH) for medical needs in addition to a respite from roaming the neighborhood. The day center would be open from approximately 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM. The idea has already been presented to the Newmarket Business Association as well.

The sidewalks in the Mass-Cass area leading to Newmarket during the warm months become a difficult management area in terms of people who are coming for treatment and have a follow-up appointment in the afternoon and have no place to go from the first appointment to the2 next appointment. We call on the police to say, 'Help us' and the police say, 'Where are we supposed to tell them to go?' The problem then becomes one for our parks and our playgrounds," South End Forum chair Steve Fox explained. A representative of Boston Health Care for the Homeless (BHCH) said the idea arose from the fact that BHCH and other organizations in the Mass. Ave. and Albany Street and Newmarket areas have had to hire extra security as more and more people have been roaming the streets. In addressing admittance to the day center, Tracey described it as "low threshold".

Two attendees asked for clarification of the term but none was given. Tracey did say that security requirements and restrictions at the entrance to the day center have not yet been finalized and that initially, the day center would probably serve a capacity of about 30. James Green of the Office of Neighborhood Development pointed out that there already is a similar day center adjacent to St. Francis House at 39 Boylston Street that serves 75-100 homeless people per day, also offering referrals to addiction services and BHCH. Returning to the proposed Southampton Street day center, Green said, "It has to be run safely. We don't want to have metal detectors or check lists of people who are barred from entering." A neighbor asked whether they had established metrics for evaluating the day center's impact on the neighborhood. Fox responded, "We were very successful with [BHCH] as a result of their doing very good data collection." He said further, "This is a pilot program and specific criteria will be developed to measure its success or failure as a location. If it is successful, in the future we may think about bus service to an alternate location outside the South End."

Henry Goodrow, director of external relations at SECHC, reported that in the 9 months since the health center began offering addiction treatment to patients, participation in the program has grown from 25 to 45. Addressing community concerns that SECHC's drug treatment might draw adverse activity, Goodrow said, "We have not received any complaints nor have we had any disturbances."

One longtime East Concord Street homeowner said he has witnessed increased loitering around the center in the past few months, to which Goodrow replied that in his 9 months at the center, he has seen no more increase in loitering around SECHC, Walgreen's and Flour than one might expect with the warming weather.

Goodrow also pointed out that the health center's addiction treatment is part of primary care, unlike the treatment offered at neighboring drug-treatment clinics. Two other longtime neighbors of SECHC said that they have not noticed any increased loitering or negative activity.

Michael McCormack of McCormack and Suny, an attorney for the Church of Scientology in the matter of selling the Alexandra Hotel and acquiring and developing the church's new headquarters in Allston, talked about a new offer on the historic but dilapidated hotel at the corner of Washington Street and Massachusetts Avenue. McCormack, who has worked with the church for many years on permitting and other development issues, said the church is "entertaining an offer" on the hotel, but has internal protocol to complete in order to reach a decision.

"I'm hoping to come back to you and to Worcester Square [Area Neighborhood Association] at your next meeting to tell you the hotel has been sold. I will tell you it is a very difficult property to sell. It has a building on the side that has a preservation designation, but I want to assure you the church is trying to sell it. They need to sell it in order to fund the renovation of the property in Allston."

McCormack told the crowd that every real estate sale in Boston is accompanied by contingencies, and negotiations on the property are being handled by Boston broker Christopher Sower of Colliers International and an attorney in Los Angeles.

Fox noted that the Forum and residents have been told repeatedly over the years that sale of the Alexandra was imminent, with no result. Consequently, he has asked director Brian Golden and Jonathan Greeley, director of development review for the Boston Planning and Development Agency to begin a "full-throated" investigation into the possibility of eminent domain takeover of the Alexandra under the current urban renewal plan.