BOSTON – This week, Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn filed a resolution at the Boston City Council to declare Mass & Cass and impacted neighborhoods a public safety and public health emergency, and a humanitarian crisis. After years of frustration and concern from residents and small businesses in the area, it’s wholly appropriate to finally acknowledge that the City of Boston’s current plan at Mass & Cass has been an abject failure by any standard. Any reasonable person who visits the area will say unequivocally that what has taken place there on a daily basis for over a decade now – an open air drug market and dealing, public drug use, the trafficking of women, acts of serious violence, public defecation and urination, shoplifting, among others – is completely unacceptable.

Neighbors and small businesses continue to bear the brunt of the crisis, with discarded needles, trash removal issues, and human feces scattering neighborhoods. Neighbors from Nubian Square, Worcester Square, Andrew Square, Blackstone and Franklin Squares all the way to Downtown Boston and the Boston Common continue to share their frustration and fear for public safety. More recently in the South End, neighbors have experienced residential and business break-ins, assaults, and drug dealing on residents’ stoops. The situation continues to harm our small businesses, nonprofit partners, and the local economy.

“The status quo of crime and violence spreading from Mass & Cass cannot continue. We need zero tolerance when it comes to making arrests for public drug dealing and drug use, human trafficking, crime and assaults. On public health, it is appropriate to shift to a treatment-first approach, with detox and drug treatment programs, to address the underlying mental and behavioral health issues,” said Councilor Flynn. “It is long past time to make a recovery campus a top priority for the City of Boston, and that services be decentralized and spread out to other locations across the Commonwealth.”

For more information, please contact Councilor Flynn’s office at 617-635-3203 or [email protected].