Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft backed a city councilor’s plea to issue an emergency declaration at the Mass and Cass open-air drug market, while calling on Mayor Michelle Wu to explain her plan to address the “escalating crisis” unfolding there.
Kraft on Thursday threw his support behind Councilor and Wu administration critic Ed Flynn in his pitch for the city to declare a public health and safety emergency at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard and its surrounding neighborhoods, which the mayor opposes.
Wu’s principal mayoral opponent, Kraft, also said his plan to tackle the open drug use, dealing, and related violence at and around the intersection that’s become known as Mass and Cass would yield better results than what he described as the city’s “passive” approach under the first-term Wu administration.
“Boston can no longer afford a passive response to the humanitarian crisis and public safety emergency unfolding on a daily basis around Melnea Cass and Massachusetts Avenue, which is affecting neighborhoods citywide,” Kraft said in a statement. “Mayor Wu has offered no coherent leadership. My plan puts public order, recovery and real housing service solutions first.”
The Kraft campaign statement sought to place the blame for the “escalating crisis” that has spread like wildfire from the area sometimes referred to as Methadone Mile to surrounding neighborhoods, particularly the South End, squarely on Wu’s shoulders.
The mayor’s plan, which began with clearing the longstanding tent encampment on Atkinson Street in late 2023, was short-sighted, according to the Kraft campaign, in that it failed to include a long-term strategy for the spillover that residents and some elected officials say has worsened in nearby neighborhoods since that time.
Kraft says his “recovery-first” plan would resolve the issue, and that it’s time for the city to take a new approach, given that the current one has ‘collapsed.”
Some key highlights would involve launching a new police command for the Mass and Cass area, reestablishing a community syringe program that was ended by the city, and building a “Recover Boston” addiction recovery campus that has been pitched by community and Newmarket business leaders, per his campaign.
Kraft, son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former head of his family’s philanthropic arm, also vowed to guarantee that there would be enough shelter beds for the homeless, saying that he would replace state-run beds lost at the Shattuck Hospital.
He said he would eliminate drug consumption sites, but didn’t reject the city’s controversial policy of providing needles to addicts. Kraft said he would maintain Narcan and syringe access.
“This is about leadership, not excuses,” Kraft said. “Boston cannot wait another four years for the crisis at Mass and Cass to solve itself. My plan brings real enforcement, real recovery and real coordination — because that’s what this moment demands.”
The Wu campaign and the mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Kraft’s statement.
The mayor’s office issued a statement Wednesday in response to Flynn’s resolution calling for the city to declare a public health and safety emergency at and around Mass and Cass. Wu opposes such a declaration, per her office.
“The city is using all levers of public health, public safety, and public works resources, in partnership with the community, providers, and the state, to end congregate substance use and the criminal activity that supports it,” Wu spokesperson Emma Pettit said. “Declaring a local public health emergency does not unlock any additional authority or resources.
“What is needed is continued coordinated, compassionate response to eliminate public drug use and address barriers to treatment, shelter and housing. This work is urgent and we are focused on concrete solutions,” Pettit added.
Flynn disagreed. He mentioned two widely-reported incidents of late, involving a 4-year-old boy who is undergoing HIV-prevention treatment after stepping on a needle while playing outside in South Boston in June and a homeless woman who squatted in a South End family’s home for days while they were away for the weekend.
“Any reasonable person who visits the area today will agree the city’s plan has failed,” Flynn said. “What has taken place there over a decade is completely unacceptable: open-air drug market, dealing to dozens and dozens of people, public drug use, human trafficking, acts of serious violence, public defecation, urination.
“If this is not a public safety and public health emergency and a humanitarian crisis, I don’t know what is,” Flynn, who represents South Boston and part of the South End, added.
His resolution was blocked, however, by Councilor Sharon Durkan, an ally and former employee of the mayor, thus preventing further action on the matter.
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