Four Boston City Councilors are calling on the Public Health Commission to declare a state of emergency at Massachusetts Avenue and Melaena Cass Boulevard, warning that the level of sex trafficking, drug abuse and violence in the neighborhood has reached the point of needing a “dramatic intervention.”
Councilors Erin Murphy, Frank Baker, Ed Flynn and Michael Flaherty wrote a letter to the Boston Public Health Commission Friday imploring them to vote on the emergency declaration at their next meeting on Sept. 13. Doing so would give city officials more power to make decisions quickly, Murphy told NBC10 Boston Monday.
"There's no sense of urgency," Murphy said. "And I don't think we can wait any longer."
“The situation down at Mass. and Cass is getting worse. We all know that," Murphy said. "If it's a state of emergency, I do feel like there'll be more resources allocated and we could hire more people and really put the resources we need to clean it up down there."
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The letter follows the City Council's decision to delay voting on a new law proposed by Mayor Michelle Wu to address the crisis, moving instead to hold a public hearing in a few weeks. Wu has said her ordinance is meant to "empower" police to remove tents and tarps and provide housing at a new, temporary 30-bed facility for those in need.
"Our administration right now is waiting on action from the council," Wu said Monday. "We have put forward the ordinance that we need in order to be able to move forward with the approach that Commissioner Cox of the Boston Police, and our Boston Public Health Commission, everyone has said is absolutely necessary, especially before it gets cold heading into the fall and winter."
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“I would just ask that the councilors move as quickly as possible to take up this ordinance, put it into effect so that we can get going,” Wu added.
Wu’s proposal would give police the authority to take down the tents and tarps, but councilors say creating a new law takes too long
“It may tie our hands and things are changing so rapidly down there," Murphy said.
Meanwhile, residents are picking up needles and dealing with problems daily.
“We've had enough. We've taken on our burden. It's time for another solution," said State Rep. John Moran, whose district encompasses the troubled area. "I get reports every day from different pockets of the neighborhood of South Enders, lower Roxbury residents, Dorchester residents working as hard as they possibly can to keep their neighborhood safe.”
Moran took issue with another part of the mayor's proposal to open a temporary shelter in the area; he said his constituents just can’t handle it.
