BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston City Councilor John Fitzgerald says its time for other Massachusetts cities and towns to pay up after years of Boston footing the bill for the drug crisis and homelessness at Massachusetts Avenue and Melena Cass Boulevard.
“For too long the city has shouldered the burden of the region and the states substance and mental health abuse issues,” Fitzgerald said. “Most of the folks down there are not Boston, they’re from other places.”
The trouble plagued area known as “Mass and Cass” has changed since 2023, when Mayor Michelle Wu put a tent ordinance into place, requiring encampments on the streets come down.
Now, with clean up crews and 24-hour security, that area isn’t as overrun.
But Sue Sullivan, the executive director of the Newmarket Business Improvement District, says the problems have not gone away.
“They just get moved,” said Sullivan. “The idea … is that just become uncomfortable and they’ll think a lot, choosing treatment rather than hanging on the street corner.”
Instead, the issues have spread to other areas of Boston.
“How can we get the folks who need help, help and also clean up the quality of life for our residents here?” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald asked his fellow councilors to consider creating a “regional fund” that local communities could contribute to.
“I’ve already been asked ‘What are the details? Whose involved? What’s the dollar amount we’re looking for?’ But its just the beginning of the conversation,” Fitzgerald said.
It’s a talk that Sullivan says is overdue.
“Its not a question of bullying, its saying we’d can’t do it all,” Sullivan said.
“This is a polite ask to our neighboring communities to be good partners and help out because down the line the other consequences would not be as fun,” Fitzgerald said. “There are times when the city of Boston may say we’ve had enough, and we’ll see what happens then.”
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