Mass & Cass Moves to The Common!

under the weather. Hope're feeling better, Joan mass and cast drug and homeless problems moved to Boston Common. Boston Common. That is the headline in the op ed piece on a eleven in the Boston Globe today. And I'm just gonna read a little bit and then set it up for people who do not know what I'm talking about, and we'll be talking a moment with Rishi Sukla, who's with the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association. She starts off her article, which I found it to be really an interesting article.

Joan wrote this morning a year ago, Boston Mayor Michelle wou oversaw the peaceful dismantling of the area around Massachusetts Avenue and Melina Cass Boulevard, the epicenter of the city's homeless and opioid crisis. So what's known as Mass and Cass, what's happening now around Boston Common is more evidence that the problems associated with Mass and Casts have not disappeared.

They have just dispersed. And there are many people who, myself included, do not feel that Boston is as friendly and as walkable as city, particularly at night, as it once was. Now again, we have a homeless crisis in this country. Boston is affected like every other city. We have a huge drug problem in this country. And we saw it at masson Cass and for years, for years, and it was allowed to stay there, to grow, to fester,

and finally, finally it was dispersed. So my question, which I'm going to open up to the conversation is for those of you who come to Boston, do you come into the city as often as you used to do a few years ago. I mean, there's a lot of problems with Boston right now. Okay, it's got a financial problem, it has a services problem, it has a school bus problem, it has an MBTA problem. We've talked about that, it

has too many bike lanes. We've talked about that. But now the problem that some people are beginning to talk about is what's it like around the Boston Common that is the jewel of this city. And you can talk about the Rose Fitzgerald Greenway, which is beautiful, we can talk about Arnold Arboretum, but in terms of the Common, it sits really dead center in Boston, bounded on on one side by Beacon Street, the other side by Tremont Street and Charles Street. Uh at it's at the base

of the Statehouse, the seat of government. Uh and it is a place that most people think of as Boston. We had asked some folks if they wanted to join us, uh and the first one who is joining us tonight as a representative of the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association, uh Richi Shukla, was quoted in today's piece by Joan Vanaki. Uh and and Rieschi has joined us. Richie Schulkla, welcome

to Night's side. Your your perspective on this, you are quoted in Joan Vanaki's piece this morning, I'm going to bring Ricchi up here, uh to talk with You're quoted in the Peace by Joean Vanaki this morning as saying it is a beautiful and precious jewel. We need to keep it that way. However, joe Vanaki writes, he said an uptick in open air drug dealing over the past six months, which he attributed to the dislocation of the

mass and cast population, has changed the atmosphere. Welcome to Nightside.

school here. And our goal is simple. We care about one thing only, which is to improve the quality of life for folks who are living here and working here and trying to do business here and doing everything we can to have great relations with city Hall and with our partners in state government to do those sorts of thanks, whether it's planning and development, or it's thinking about zoning and permitting or public safety. You know, we care a

lot about the total situation and packageer in downtown. So we you know, again volunteers with what a thousand residents and members who are part of this group, and this is that's an important istion to us.

you this. At six am, if you go out front of walk your dog in the park, you avoid parts of the park because you know there's going to be human waste, needles, you might be encountering folks with mental health disorder or substance use disorder, and it's just not a it's not a safe place for you or your pet with your children. You know, we've had stabbings at eight o'clock in the morning. Kids are on the way

to school witnessing these sorts of things. I would say in the last couple of weeks, the Boston Police has stepped up its efforts to try to clear out some of these areas. But as Joe said, you know, dislocating issues and diversion, it's it's you know, it's abandoned, right, it's a temporary solution, and so that's not going to be what causes us to improve the situation long term.

I'm on the border of Saint francisous for the largest day shelter in Massachusetts, from the largest in the country, and so when you talk to outreach workers and you think about, you know, the work that's being done by the city and others the shelters, you kind of know the populations that are you know, fairly permanent fixtures so

to speak. Here in the downtown area, the homeless population, and then you've got a large number of new folks who come in here from the mass and cast population, and with that have come a lot of issues that are you know, all kind of highlighted in Jones piece here, and that's that's what we're talking about.

their jobs more effectively, and to convene and collaborate. What I view, you know, is this being a vacuum of leadership, and it's not acceptable. So for folks who've lived here and who call downtown in Boston home. This isn't just, as you know, just a downtown issue. I mean, this issue is spread across South Station Logan Airport, Andrews circling in South Boston. It's in different parts of our cities. We're simply moving the issue around, which again not a solution.

Things that are more permanent solutions are reopening the Long Island Campus, right, so for listeners who aren't aware of it, you know, that's a place where folks used to be able to go to get treatment and to be rehabilitated and to come out and start their lives over again. And we haven't had that solution for some time, and so having that accelerated and reopened I think would be

a great outcome. I think having the Boston Police be able to arrest the most violent of criminals and to be confident that the District Attorney has their backs in terms of prosecuting. They're really have criminals. We're all talking about people who are you know, walking out of Roach Brothers or Star Market with a loaf of bread to

feed their family. Nobody wants to see those people reprimand and sentenced to you know, a life of hardship because of one active of you know, quote unquote criminal activity. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about people who are pushing fentandel people who are you know, gang on gang violence, who are praying on the homeless. Those are the people who need to be taken off our street.

And the District Attorney's office is Bill Margie's ballent on this issue, and so we're trying to convene our city state officials that try to do more on this issue. We do a lot with the Boston Police, right they are doing everything in their control is my view, in my opinion, to try to resolve this issue right in a in a dignified way, but they only have so much power if if you.

the conversation. I think I mean virtually agreement with everything that you have said, because there are these quality of life crimes, these quality of life experience sariances where you're walking downtown with a couple of kids and someone's trying to come up and get in your face, either to confront you or to bake for money, and at some

point it has to be stopped. I think there needs to be a much bigger undercover police presence on the Common, so that so that it's people you know, can feel safer as they move from, you know, around It's a beautiful area. I just think that that once you lose it, once you lose the Common. We've seen this uptick of crime in New York City. Anybody who goes to New York City, in my opinion these days, is nuts because you have people who have been murdered on the streets

of New York for no apparent reason. We've looked at people who have serious mental health problems from a society point of view, and again I have a lot more to say. Let me take a break. If you'd like to join the conversation. My guest is Rishi Shukla. He's with the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association. Obviously very well spoken, very conversant with the area. I'd love to hear from you.

If you want to add to what Rishi is saying, or if you want to disagree, you are more than welcome to have a good conversation here on Nightside, because once we lose Boston Common, we're going to lose a big important section of the city and it's just not wealthy people who live in the upper ends of Beacon Street or on Beacon Hill. It is a place where everyone should feel welcome. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.

Those are the two numbers that will get you on. We'll be back on night Side talking about safety, crime on the Boston Common and generally in Boston. I think Boston statistically is going in It has a lot to be proud of. The murder rate in Boston is down. But whatever decisions and policies and programs have been used in some parts of the city to cut the murder rate down, that again, that police presence has to be spread throughout the city. And let's start with the Boston Common.

Back on Nightside right after this.

You're on a night side with Dan Ray along with Rishi Sholka, co founder of the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association. Your thoughts on the issue we're talking about, and specifically Joevenaki's call him in the Globe today?

sitting for the people. It don't matter if you're rich or working class, supposed to take care of everybody, just like how.

very complicated population. So what do you think we could do in the short run or in the long run that would get us back to maybe how what the feel of Boston was when Tom Monina was mayor. He's not coming back, obviously.

Do you do you bring the police? I think one of the things you can do is bring undercovered police officers into the common to make sure that people feel a little safer if you're coming in with your kids or your wife, your husband, you know, do that on the one hand, so you're you're maintaining some order. At the same time, try to get people who do have these addiction problems into programs that can help them get rid of.

be bothered. They didn't want to be bothered by anybody. They wanted to do their own thing. How do you reach those people?

see related to the and what needs to be done. Again, talk is cheap, but I think some I specifically throw out that we should have more undercover police officers on the Common throughout the day, more at night than necessarily during the day, but twenty four hours a day, just to make sure that people are safe, because if people aren't safe, nothing will will will destroy the city more quickly than that. I'd like to talk with you about that when we come back. We got to take quick

news breaks, So think about that. And if you agree with me, Recie, great, If you don't feel free, We're just struggling for ideas here tonight, how to make how to make sure that Boston Common doesn't turn into the next massive gas Back on Nightside right after the news I got some open line six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six, one seven, nine three ten thirty Back on night Side right after.

never know where those sorts of investigations lead. Do you sense or do you get a sense that the people in city Hall, from the mayor on down are spending any time on the Common? They are they seeing how how people are behaving as to what it's like over there. You know, again, I realized that the Common is an extraordin, really important part of the city, but the city has made up of many, many neighborhoods other than the Common.

People again, in positions of leadership, spending the time they need to to understand what's going on in the common.

is the lack of focus, sustained leadership. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with folks in law enforcement. It's not just the Boston police, who are just fed up with a couple of things. One, it's so hard to recruit good men and women who want to be officers in Boston because of all the things that have gone on for the last four or five years. So there's a moral issue, and it's hard to get talented.

And number two, you're trying to do your job as an officer only to have folks like the District Attorney's office go back and send people back to the street with no repercussion, it seems. And so that's demoralizing. I mean, who wants that? And so for my you know, being the mayor, of Boston is you're the chief executive. Your job, in my opinion, and the governor it's the same thing, is to convene all of the leaders. Your executives are the city and state agencies that make policy and that

govern public health and public safety. They need to be walked up in a room with that said, in the hearing until we figure out the three or four things we can do to actually fix the problem on the Boston Common and by the way, with Pike Session, that impacts the rest of the city. So what's good for one citizen here should be good for everybody, is my view. And I don't care if that's the museum issue that you know, folks you're talking about with kids in Boston

versus private schools versus all that. Everything that we do as a city should be good for everybody. That's my general view of the world. And so what we're talking about, I hope is not controversial. And look, downtown, I think

you're spot on. Downtown Boston is a transit hub as well, So we have more foot traffic coming through downtown than anywhere else in New England, right, and so it's an easy place to come into to get out of and that's that's good in general, but when you're talking about criminal activity the focus of our conversation, it also makes it a lot more attractive to, you know, hang out later on the Boston Common because you can get away on the subways, you can go into the elevators, you

can hide in the headhouses, and so there's a lot of ingress egress opportunity in and around the Common, which just makes it that much more challenging. And finally, from a law enforcement perspective, you've got Boston Police, MBT, Transit Police, STUFFOC and Emerson Police departments. You have a lot of different jurisdictional challenges you had to deal with as well.

The park rangers as well, which is another opportunity. But it's a really complicated issue, which means that our leaders need to spend more time and devote more attention to the problem here. And so I would very much like to see our mayor, our city council, the leaders of all the public health and safety agencies come together with the civic leaders, with all the business stakeholders and say, put us out of the partnership, put us ode election year. Nonsense,

let's actually fixed the damn issue. Part in the language there. It's just it's an infuriating thing when you go to a city council hearing and you get four out of thirteen people to show up, and you have one city councilor or maybe two, you know, I would say counselor Flint and a few others have been hammering home this point. We need more officers, we do a better job, and then you have others who it seems like are completely disconnected from reality in terms of what the issues are.

And so this is one of these issues that I think is so important to so many people, and it's struck an earth. We had three hundred and twenty residents and business owners respond to our survey. We have a thousand members. Right to put in perspective, we've never gotten three hundred people to respond to anything, you know, at best we get fifty to one hundred people to reply to things. And so this is a this is a really really important wake up moment that that I hope

hits home with with our city and state leaders. And I'm not going to step down until we get the attention that this deserves.

seventy one percent of people. And when you ask the same question or how urgent you think this matter is public safety on the Boston Common, ninety three percent of people who responded give it a seven, eight, nine or ten. Right, This is a very urgent issue. So this is some anecdotal thing where we're fair mongering, as some city councilors want to suggest. That's not what this is. And I agree with what you set up front, and Joan mentioned this, We are one of the safest cities in the country.

When you specifically talk about homicides and violent crime. What that does not include are all these other qualities of life issues, right, the petty theft, it's the intimidation, right, it's the needles, it's the children who are seeing violence. Those are things that people don't measure, they don't talk about, and those are just convenient left out of the conversation.

So I take issue when I hear our elected officials fight that statistic over and over and over as a rebuttal to you know, residents and people who are raising the issue for all the rifle reasons.

You knew that Tom Menino had no political aspirations beyond mayor, that he he would you know, finish his career in city Hall, and that was his goal. I don't know that the current mayor, and I'm not here to bash the current mayor is going to be a long term mayor. I think that she probably has eyes on other offices, and that's not good. I mean the city of Boston, the mayor of Boston, that should be a person who

was committed. You know. Again, I go back to the days of Kevin White, who served four terms as mayor at a very critical time in Boston, from the late sixties through all of the nineteen seventies when frankly, the Back Bay was not what it is today. Believe me, it changed, and it changed for the better because of Kevin White, Ray Flynn who was elected three times, and then Tominino who was elected five times. We were blessed with those mayors and Marty Walsh also very connected to

the city. I got to take one more break, and I will invite anyone to call and offer their thoughts on traveling into Boston. We're changing topics at ten o'clock, so if you want to get in, now's the time. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty. You know, many people will say to me, where you going to do this topic? You got to do that topic. This is a topic

that affects everybody. If you live in the suburbs and you want to commit occasionally to go to to see a play or to go to a ball game, you want to feel secure in coming into Boston. I don't feel as secure as I once did. Uh, And I think most people agree with me, not only people in your survey who spend time and live in the area of the Boston Common but for those of us who come in and go to restaurants and go to theater districts, it's become less and less and eventually that will cost

this city badly. We'll be back on nights. I feel free join the car conversation right after this. My guest on the line delighted to have with me, Ricchi Shukla. He's the co founder of the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association and he has been very candid in his comments Tonight back on Nightside after this.

Uh Uh. Boston police put out an APB for Gerald Vick, who didn't show up at Suffolk Superior Court for his scheduled trial yesterday, meaning December two, on charges he shot eight people, not two, not four, not six, eight people during the carnival celebration in August of twenty twenty three. He had been held on six thousand dollars bail and ordered to home confinement. He cut off his GPS and left town. I hold that at the at the feet

of the District Attorney's office, that's for sure. Kevin Hayden, wake up. Let me go to Brian in Somerville. Hey, Brian, welcome, you are on with Richie Schukell. Go right ahead, Brian, Hey, good evening.

I wonder if there's parallels from other towns that are experiencing some of the stuff around subways, around common areas like here at Stavis Square and Porter Square and some of what you're experiencing in Boston, and maybe there's collaboration opportunities with some people who are trying innovative approaches to address some of these things.

about different approaches to the housing. All of this is interconnected. Obviously, it's multi dimensional. And so I don't know that we have the luxury of experimenting anymore here in Boston. And so I think root cause issues. You know, you started off down with the this person who was charged with shooting eight people? In what world do we let somebody out on bill who has done that? That is that is apparently absurd, right, I mean, it was just attorney to do that.

to death in Arborway near Forest Hill Station. August fourth man shot to death in Roxbury and Amory Terrace. August twelfth to shot, one dead in an apartment street in an apartment on Trent Street. In Dorchester. Men stabbed to death near Ashboon station on August twenty third. August twenty fourth man shot to death, Dorchester, Washington Street. September second, double shooting in Dorchester at a barbershot. One man is dead. The twenty third man shot at Mildred Haley apartments September

excuse me, September twenty three. September twenty ninth man shot dead on Come Highway in Mattapan October eighth, another October eighteenth, eleven five, eleven eight. We've had fifteen people shot to death in the last six months. We had a handful in the first six months of this year. That's a bad trend. That's a very bad trend.

the time horizon matters. You know, how you sample, how you cut it. You can spend numbers all day long. But I think practically what you just cited, I mean it's it's the poor reflection on the state of our city. So if we're down one homicide or two, that's not the point here. It's the totality of violent crime homicides. The trend lines look generally better in Boston compared to

the rest of the country. That's great, but you know, left unchecked some of these other issues that we're talking about. You don't go rob a convenience storic gunpoint. That's not your first act of being a criminal, right, You're a hardened criminal at that point, And so we need to get these types of folks off our streets. That's I hope that's not controversial, and I think most folks who are voted.

I think this is an important conversation because Boston Common is really, in many ways the heart of this city, and I want to do whatever we can do to give you as much oxygen on this issue as possible. Joe Vanaki wrote a great piece in the Globe today. I think we've had a good conversation tonight, and thank you for joining us. Stay there. Rob will give you my direct lines and we can talk anytime off air.