Mass & Cass
The Boston Herald is covering Mass & Cass issues that look like they are here to stay as long as there is no real leadership anywhere on this homeless encampment crisis. It seems to be growing along with the neglect of too many city officials to properly address the hows and whys. This encampment issue never gets close to being resolved. It is all blue smoke, mirrors, press releases and photo ops.
It has taken so long for city officials to notice the growth of mini homeless encampments across the city. The fact there has been a mini Mass & Cass right there by City Hall Plaza for over a year now and finally officials are seeing the metastasizing growth across the city?
Your recent piece on Clifford Park or what I called growing up ‘The Prairie” – why had it taken the city so long to see this mini homeless encampment? I have seen this spillover grow over the past few years.
News that a 2-year-old may have been sleeping overnight down at this homeless encampment across from Boston Fire Headquarters is being treated as if it never happened before. I am sure kids have been sleeping down there with their parents. Does anyone think this 2-year-old is the first to have had a sleepover at Atkinson Street?
The drugs and violence down there off Southampton Street won’t go away until the large population calling the streets in that area go away. It is time to clear the whole area of tents. Then and only then can we see clearly the homeless looking for a jumpstart in life. We can’t find services or shelter in the middle of street chaos. Offer folks as much help as they need but don’t baby them either. We are all responsible for our lives, all of us. There is no excuse to live in a tent on the street and wait for the cavalry to arrive. Doing the same thing over and over again means nothing ever changes.
Allowing homeless encampments to spring up everywhere only makes matters worse. We keep waiting for politicians to fix things. Too many of them simply talk the talk. It is time to move beyond this waffling and move the needle toward progress. The issue of homelessness isn’t really just about finding housing, it’s about dealing with the broken lives of many of these people who live in the shadows of humanity. While we hesitate, the homeless encampments grow bigger and time marches on.
Sal Giarratani
East Boston
Gun control bill
Attaching gun-control legislation to the budget bill is a dishonest way of circumventing the true legislative process. Massachusetts already has one of the most stringent laws on the books regarding gun safety and gun ownership. Dave Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners Action League said this Houdini-like approach to sneak gun legislation into law by attaching it to a final budget bill is wrong. Criminals use illegal weapons. Law abiding citizens are protected by the Constitution’s Second Amendment. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. It’s time for honesty, legislators.
Donald Houghton
Quincy
