Flynn calls a hearing on drug use, encampments and crime from Andrew Square to Fort Point
His order says Andrew Square has absorbed spillover from Mass. and Cass since the 2023 encampment ordinance, and lists recent incidents across South Boston. It goes before the council Wednesday.
City Councilor Ed Flynn wants the City Council to hold a hearing on public safety and quality of life across South Boston, from Andrew Square to the Seaport.
His order (docket 2049) is on the agenda for the council's Wednesday, Oct. 28 meeting. It is the third South Boston hearing order Flynn filed for this meeting, after orders on a City Point block party permit and the O'Connor Way bike lane.
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For people who live near a Red Line station, a park or the waterfront, the order is a list of the problems neighbors have been reporting and a request that the city explain its plan.
What the order says
According to the order:
- Residents have raised concerns over the last year about open-air drug dealing, public drug use, encampments and crime around Andrew Square, Moakley Park, Medal of Honor Park, Fort Point Channel, Broadway and Carson Beach.
- Since the city's encampment ordinance took effect in November 2023, Andrew Square has borne much of the spillover from Mass. and Cass, with the MBTA Red Line station becoming a gathering point. The Andrew Square Civic Association has asked the MBTA for better lighting near benches, repainting and wider camera coverage.
- Neighbors in Fort Point have reported encampments along the channel and at Rolling Bridge Park. The order also cites people sleeping in bank ATM vestibules on East Broadway, people gathering near the West Broadway bridge, and needles found around Moakley Park.
- It lists recent incidents, including a June armed robbery of a children's lemonade stand on West Ninth Street, a July shooting near Seaport Boulevard, a fatal stabbing on Old Colony Avenue in March, and a string of smashed windshields last week on Telegraph, Ewer, Gold and West Fourth streets.
The order asks the Boston Police Department, the Boston Public Health Commission and the city's Coordinated Response Team to attend.
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What our records show
Flynn raised Andrew Square at the council's May 7 hearing on the police budget. He said he lives near Andrew Square and that the area is affected by what goes on at Mass. and Cass, and noted he had spent eight years as a probation officer helping people into recovery (watch at 1:02:45).
Later in that hearing, City Councilor John FitzGerald said the problems had spread to other parts of his district, including Edward Everett Square, and that Flynn was seeing them in Andrew Square. He pointed to the city's expanding coordinated response team as a way to reach people individually (watch at 2:20:56).
In the same remarks, Flynn said his district, which also includes the South End and Chinatown, takes in a large section of Mass. and Cass.
What's next
New hearing orders are usually referred to a committee at the meeting where they are introduced. Once a hearing is scheduled, it will appear on the city's public notices page, and video and transcripts will follow on our meetings page.