COMMON INDECENCY
A plea for Marty to clean up drugs, homelessness, violence
Hey, Marty! Before spending $28 million sprucing up Boston Common, could you first please clear out the drug addicts and homeless who have destroyed the city’s gem?
You’re holding listening sessions now seeking input, so listen to this. The rampant pot smoking, people camped on park benches, periodic violence and regular drug activity the Herald has documented all need to come to an end.
The once-lovely treelined path from the Boylston T station to Park Street has become an alarming gantlet. America’s first public park deserves better.
You announced the investment last winter after the city sold the Winthrop Square Garage for $102 million.
The deal was controversial so this infusion of cash helped sell the sale to the public, who have begged for the Common to get cleaned up once and for all.
During the school year I walk through it twice a day and pass the junkies on park benches openly doing drugs while my kids and their friends hustle by on their scooters. The worst section of the park is the Boylston Street T station, which is right across from a preschool.
Often you will see police patrolling the area in a cruiser. Why can’t the officers get out of their cars and kick out these derelicts who are destroying the park?
If you think I’m the only one who is worried, just scan the city’s 311 reporting website and search Boston Common. There are thousands of complaints, from trash to broken benches, graffiti and of course drugs.
One entry states: “Boston Common right on Freedom Trail: A group of people doing drugs and drinking and harassing people as they are trying to walk by. It’s awful and is getting worse and worse and nothing is done. Tourists are being yelled at. Disgusting representation of Boston.”
And this 311 alert: “The group of people doing drugs and drinking and fighting is getting huge!! It’s disgusting!!! Trash everywhere, they are always yelling. This morning a man was yelling profanities as groups of children walked by. It’s getting worse and worse and they are allowed to just sit there all day smoking pot and yelling at tourists as they walk by. It’s embarrassing.”
The posts go on with one after another calling out “homeless smoking,” not allowed; pot smokers, litter, people drinking nips and tossing the bottles, “guys dealing drugs” — all while kids play.
This entry, Marty, really caught my eye: “Cops can’t do anything. Mayor’s office totally unresponsive.”
The Common should be considered the best Boston has to offer. Not an eyesore.
Please listen. Cleaning up the 50-acre park should be the top priority before wasting millions of dollars for a new home for drug dealers.