City Council President Ed Flynn expects individuals will hold coming to the Mass and Cass zone when enforcement begins on a brand new tent ban subsequent week, to check how severe police are about eliminating the realm’s open-air drug market and violence.
Flynn mentioned he met with the town’s mayor, police commissioner and district legal professional this week to advocate for a “zero-tolerance” strategy towards the drug dealing and violent crime occurring at Mass and Cass, and all through Boston.
“We have rules in place, and people need to follow the rules,” Flynn instructed the Herald Friday. “If they break criminal laws, they need to be arrested and prosecuted.”
The metropolis’s promise to alter its permissive perspective towards the crime occurring repeatedly on Methadone Mile marks a “new era” of responding to residents who’re “demanding that we address public safety and quality of life issues,” he mentioned.
Police will begin taking down tents and tarps on the troubled intersection subsequent Wednesday, per a brand new metropolis ordinance handed by the Council this week.
The measure, put ahead by Mayor Michelle Wu, dictates that people have to be provided shelter, transportation to companies and storage for his or her belongings earlier than camp supplies are eliminated.
While addicts and homeless people could reap the benefits of the shelter and remedy choices provided by the town, Flynn mentioned he doesn’t anticipate others who come to partake within the space’s prison exercise will heed a warning from the police commissioner to remain away, as soon as enforcement begins.
People coming to Atkinson Street to deal medicine and commit crime will now not encounter an “area of permissiveness,” Commissioner Michael Cox mentioned Thursday, and there shall be a heavy police presence shifting ahead.
“I think they’ll try to test the city to see if the city of Boston is serious about dealing with this issue,” Flynn mentioned. “We’re going to make tough decisions and not allow anyone to pitch a tent or sleep in a public park or wherever they want to. This city has rules and regulations, and people must follow them.”
Flynn urged inter-departmental collaboration in implementing the brand new ordinance, however emphasised that there must be a “zero-tolerance” strategy for enforcement. The tents are a public security concern, he mentioned, and want to come back down instantly.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”