South End residents are expected to “pack the room” at a long-anticipated public hearing that the Boston City Council plans to hold on the city’s open-air drug market at Mass and Cass, which has spilled over into surrounding neighborhoods.
Councilor John FitzGerald has scheduled an off-site Council hearing at the Hampton Inn and Suites at 811 Massachusetts Ave. It will be held on Sept. 4 at 6 p.m.
The hearing is focused on a resolution put forward by Councilor Ed Flynn that seeks to declare a public health and safety emergency at and around the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, an area that’s become known as Mass and Cass or Methadone Mile.
“We plan to pack the room,” said Brian McCarter, a resident of the South End, which has been hit particularly hard by the open-air drug use, dealing, and related violence that’s spilled over from Mass and Cass into surrounding neighborhoods.
FitzGerald previously told the Herald that he had initially been targeting the South End for an off-site hearing, but ran into difficulty with the availability of the location and Wu administration officials set to participate in the discussion.
The scheduling difficulty was part of broader criticism from FitzGerald, Flynn and Councilor Erin Murphy, who accused Mayor Michelle Wu and her Council allies of putting hot-button hearings on the backburner until after the Sept. 9 preliminary election, to avoid issues that may be politically risky for the mayor.
Councilor Sharon Durkan, a former employee and ally of the mayor, blocked an immediate vote on Flynn’s resolution this month, thus sending it to a hearing. When doing so, she said an emergency declaration is not necessary as it would not lead to any additional funding to address the addiction and homelessness crisis.
FitzGerald, chair of the Public Health, Homelessness and Recovery Committee, said he had been targeting Sept. 4 initially for the hearing, but had been asked by the Wu administration to hold off on scheduling it until after the primary.
In a prior statement, he described the request, due to what he said was a lack of Wu administration availability, as an “egregious overreach of a manufactured excuse not to hear the issues before our city.”
FitzGerald said Friday that South End residents urged him to hold the hearing “sooner rather than later,” given the “rapid downturn of the situation,” in terms of why it was ultimately held before the preliminary election. He said there would be more coordination to get administration officials to attend a subsequent hearing.
Flynn spoke Thursday of the public pressure put on the Wu administration and other city councilors.
“I think it was due to residents in the South End and Roxbury demanding accountability from city councilors and the administration,” Flynn said. “They didn’t want to wait until after the election. They put a lot of pressure on the City Council. The administration did put a lot of pressure on City Councilor FitzGerald not to hold it, but I respect Councilor FitzGerald and his work to get it scheduled.”
Flynn added, “Residents deserve to be heard. That’s true in the South End and Roxbury. We need to listen to them and the best answers don’t come from here at City Hall. The best answers come from the residents.”
The hearing also comes amid criticism from Flynn, FitzGerald and other elected officials who represent the area and have called for the city to rethink its current approach to tackling crime, homelessness and drug use in the area.
Flynn has called the city’s plan, which began with clearing the tent encampment at Mass and Cass two years ago, a failure.
Since tents were cleared on Atkinson Street in November 2023, residents and some elected officials have stated that the open-air drug use, dealing and related violence has migrated, and, therefore, worsened in surrounding neighborhoods.
Flynn’s emergency declaration proposal comes at a time when the spillover from Mass and Cass has become particularly prevalent in the South End, according to residents there, who have been calling for more policing, and even the deployment of the National Guard.
The mayor has dismissed calls for a military response to tackle the issue, but has said the city is deploying more public safety resources in the area.
According to Flynn’s office, reports of serious public safety issues have “significantly escalated” in the past several weeks. Those incidents include car and business break-ins, along with multiple intruders who have entered and stolen from South End residents’ homes.
Residents taxed by Mass and Cass spillover in their neighborhoods are forced to side-step discarded needles and human defecation, which has left them frustrated and fearful for their public safety, Flynn’s office said.
“The status quo of crime and violence spreading from Mass and Cass can’t continue,” Flynn said Wednesday in a statement. “We need zero tolerance when it comes to public drug dealing and drug use, human trafficking, crime and assaults. On public health, we need a treatment-first approach for those battling addiction, and detox programs to address underlying mental and behavioral health issues.”
Mayor Wu has already come out in opposition to an emergency declaration at Mass and Cass and its surrounding neighborhoods.
“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 in a prior statement. “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.
FitzGerald, in a statement issued Wednesday, said he sees the hearing, while focused on the emergency declaration proposal, as the “first in a series of hearings around the complex substance abuse, mental health and homelessness issues, specifically in the South End and its surrounding neighborhoods.”
“With this first hearing, we intend to hear directly from our residents and get a baseline understanding of what is being done today,” FitzGerald said, “and then have subsequent hearings to give the administration the opportunity to respond to the issues that are brought up.”
Originally Published:
