Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn has proposed a resolution to declare a public safety and health emergency regarding the ongoing open drug use and other concerning issues occurring at the city’s Mass. and Cass area.
According to the filed resolution, Flynn says the opioid crisis has driven people to the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard and surrounding areas.
“While the tents are long gone, hundreds of people are sprawled throughout the area every day, engaging in open-air drug dealing, drug use, human trafficking, shoplifting and violent crimes throughout the neighborhoods of South End, Nubian Square, Roxbury, Dorchester, South Boston, Downtown Boston and the Back Bay,” the resolution reads.
The city council was discussing the issue Wednesday.
Flynn said in his resolution that although there have been well-intentioned efforts by the city, it’s wholly appropriate to finally acknowledge that the City of Boston’s current plan at Mass. and Cass has been an “abject failure by any standard,” and that there’s an urgent need to reevaluate the current strategies in addressing public safety, quality of life, neighborhood services, and public health issues.
Flynn goes on to say that what has taken place there on a daily basis for over a decade today is completely unacceptable, and that the neighborhoods around Mass. and Cass continue to bear the brunt of what he calls a humanitarian crisis.
He adds that neighbors from Nubian Square, Worcester Square, Andrew Square, Blackstone and Franklin Squares all the way to Downtown Boston and the Boston Common continue to share their frustration and fear for their personal and families’ public safety. He also noted recent residential and business break-ins, assaults on residents and drug dealing on residents’ stoops in the South End.
He claims residents and businesses are having their public safety and quality of life impacted by “piles of trash, including discarded needles, and human feces scattering neighborhoods,” which is why he’s calling on the city council to declare a humanitarian crisis in the area.
According to Flynn, public health needs to shift to a treatment-first approach, adding that it is long past time to put wish lists aside and make a recovery campus a best priority for the City of Boston, with services that are decentralized and spread out to other locations across the Commonwealth.
He also believes the city needs a zero tolerance policy when it comes to making arrests for public drug dealing and public drug use, human trafficking, crime and assaults.
Overall, Flynn feels the city council needs to identify ways to improve its response to the opioid crisis, drug dealing activities and homelessness.
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