South End dwellers demand action
Meeting sparks debate on homelessness, drugs
South End residents who packed a heated neighborhood meeting Wednesday night were sharply divided over the homelessness, drug abuse and police activity on the so-called “Methadone Mile” after last week’s violent attack on a corrections officer.
Eleven-year-old Jay’dha Rackard, with tears in her eyes, stood on a chair and read a prepared statement from her cellphone: “This situation is affecting my school and community. … Where is my safety? We have seen people shooting up on the streets and we have seen people having inappropriate actions and nothing has been done.”
Jay’dha just finished fifth grade at Orchard Gardens School on Albany Street in Boston and her mother, Janina Rackard, chose to enroll her at Davis Leadership Academy for the next school year because of the constant exposure to drugs on Methadone Mile, which includes the area of Massachusetts Avenue, Melnea Cass Boulevard and Southampton Street.
“There are people walking and actually sticking needles in their arms,” Rackard said. “No child should have to deal with that.”
But other residents loudly objected to stepped-up police patrols in the area, claiming they are unfairly targeting the homeless.
“People being rounded up and pushed off the streets, homeless people. … Why is this happening?” said Guiro Prieto.
Others countered that the throngs of homeless and addicts on the Methadone Mile are loitering and need to be moved along.
The meeting, led by Mayor Martin Walsh’s Special Adviser Buddy Christopher and neighborhood association members, began inside the South End Branch of the Boston Public Library but was soon moved into the courtyard to accommodate the more than 100 people who showed up.
Some yelled at city officials about viral social media posts reporting wheelchairs had been thrown away during the police sweeps. Officials said they were removed due to unclean conditions.
City Councilor At-Large Michelle Wu spoke up about the police presence on Twitter, writing, “… the urgent need for clean & safe streets can’t come at the expense of destabilizing treatment for those who need it & destroying property of those who have no home to store things, while just moving people on to somewhere else.”
Anger at the meeting later turned to elected officials.
One resident, who declined to give his name, said, “I want to change Methadone Mile to ‘Marty’s Mile’ because he is responsible for it.”
Moments after, several people in the crowd yelled out,