Food bank spending big for Mass & Cass security
A lack of action to clean up the city’s “Methadone Mile” is causing “thousands and thousands of hungry people” meals as nonprofits are forced to spend money on security.
“Our exposure is about $1 million so far and it’s going to continue to go up if no action happens,” Greater Boston Food Bank President and CEO Catherine D’Amato said. “What do I do? Build a fortress around the food bank? Get another facility and relocate in order to feed hungry people?”
The long-simmering public crisis at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard is “now boiling,” D’Amato told the Herald. The food bank has invested in surveillance systems and gates and is now paying security guards around the clock as the number of tents serving as makeshift homes has doubled to 200 in the last month.
“It equates to not feeding people — thousands and thousands of hungry people,” D’Amato said, characterizing the situation as a “grave safety emergency” at a time when the need for food has doubled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
D’Amato said she’s also concerned about the potential for accidents with the 60 large trucks that pass in and out of the food bank daily to ferry food to those in need.
Acting Mayor Kim Janey — like Marty Walsh before her — has failed to take decisive action to address the problem that has festered and grown since treatment facilities and shelters on Long Island in Boston Harbor were cut off in 2015 when the bridge was closed due to safety concerns.
An enforcement effort on Methadone Mile that was planned for and then scuttled earlier this month has yet to be publicly announced.
A spokeswoman on Wednesday said in response to questions from the Herald that the acting mayor remains committed to that promise as the administration prepares for a transition to new leadership.
D’Amato said, “Now that the election is over, it’s my hope that Mayor Janey will act.” The time for intervention can’t wait, she said.
Methadone Mile has topped the list of issues driving the mayoral race. The day after learning she made the top two and would appear on the Nov. 2 citywide ballot to decide mayor, City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George visited the area.
“There is a very direct impact on the quality of life and cost of doing business in that area so the solution certainly has to be part of work happening today in the acting mayor’s administration, but we need coordinated long-term action,” she said.
City Councilor Michelle Wu, who is also running for mayor, said the cost to the food bank “demonstrates how starkly government has failed to address the situation.” Wu vowed to implement a plan to address the complexities of addiction, homelessness and mental illness fueling the crisis.
“It equates to not feeding thousands and thousands of hungry people.” CATHERINE D’AMATO Greater Boston Food Bank President and CEO