Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBS Costin's video.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back everybody, our number two. Thanks to
Speaker 2: all my guests during the last hour. They were all
Speaker 2: very interesting on different subjects. So I hope you enjoyed
Speaker 2: the hour as much as I did. I learned a
Speaker 2: lot last last hour. I tend to learn a lot
Speaker 2: in the eight o'clock hours. I learned a lot in
Speaker 2: all the hours. We are about to talk about Brockton.
Speaker 2: Brockton is the seventh largest city in Massachusetts, has over
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand people, and they have a problem with
Speaker 2: homeless encampments. And there's a story both in the Globe
Speaker 2: and the Herald today that the Boston that the Brockton
Speaker 2: City Council has voted to ban homeless encampments. We are
Speaker 2: delighted to be joined tonight by a member of the
Speaker 2: Brockton City Council. Council is Shirley Asak, Council Asak. Welcome
Speaker 2: to Nightside. Thanks for joining us tonight. How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm good. Thank you for having me on, Dan, I
Speaker 3: really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks for coming on now. I know that this
Speaker 2: is not a fun story for anyone, and I know,
Speaker 2: having spoken with you earlier tonight briefly that that you're
Speaker 2: a very sympathetic person. But there's a problem in your
Speaker 2: city right now. Uh, and it's got to the point
Speaker 2: where the city council has decided they needed to do something.
Speaker 2: Let's first of all, explain the problem to me. I
Speaker 2: mean Brockden like any older New England city, like New Bedford,
Speaker 2: like Fall River, Lawrence, New you know, Roll, Worcester, Springfield.
Speaker 2: You know, they're a magnet. They attract a lot of
Speaker 2: people and they support a lot of people. But there's
Speaker 2: homelessness in most cities in Massachusetts and it got has
Speaker 2: got to a point in Brocklyn, brock in Brocken where
Speaker 2: the problem is a sufficient dimension that I guess you
Speaker 2: folks on the count also felt something had to be done.
Speaker 2: Tell us why, and tell us what you've decided to do.
Speaker 3: Sure, so, as you stated, it's become a huge problem.
Speaker 3: This is it's nothing new. It's been going on for
Speaker 3: a number of years. I'm going into my twelve year
Speaker 3: on the council and we've been trying to work with
Speaker 3: something to get find.
Speaker 4: A solution for many years.
Speaker 3: So this isn't something new. It's nothing that's popped up overnight.
Speaker 3: So this ordinance was proposed because it's it's gotten a
Speaker 3: bit out of hand. This is beyond just an unhoused
Speaker 3: population issue. It's become a public safety matter and a
Speaker 3: lot of these encampments, which there was. This ordinance had
Speaker 3: two parts. The first part was the encampment that we're
Speaker 3: trying to address. And we have encampments that are just
Speaker 3: popping up everywhere on public you know, public uh areas,
Speaker 3: and our police have been enforcing this all along. They
Speaker 3: you know, our police are Parks Department dp W. They
Speaker 3: will go in, we'll ask you know, they'll they'll move
Speaker 3: the people who have been camped. They'll tell them, you know,
Speaker 3: to to leave the area. But it just seems to
Speaker 3: go from one place to the next. So what we
Speaker 3: needed to do is really strengthen our ordnance and you know,
Speaker 3: give it a little more teeth. And that's when this
Speaker 3: was proposed, with this ordnance, uh you know, to band
Speaker 3: encampments in the city. So, yes, it is controversial. It's
Speaker 3: a very uh difficult situation to be in because you know,
Speaker 3: we're all homemost This is a is a very serious matter.
Speaker 3: It could be any one of us at any point.
Speaker 3: It involves a lot of different you know, whether it's
Speaker 3: mental health, both the drug alcohol abuse, or it could
Speaker 3: be loss of a job, family. It's really it's a
Speaker 3: very touch you know.
Speaker 2: So let me let me ask you this. How large
Speaker 2: a homeless population are you dealing with? I mean, obviously
Speaker 2: it's tough to quantify, but how many people on a
Speaker 2: regular basis are living outdoors in whatever form of fashion
Speaker 2: in Brockden? What are we talking about? One hundred people
Speaker 2: to what's the number?
Speaker 3: So there's as far as house population that are using
Speaker 3: our services, using you know, the shelter, the agencies, the
Speaker 3: Broughton serve hundreds of homeless individuals. But the individuals that
Speaker 3: are not going to using these resources, that choose to
Speaker 3: you know, build these encampments. We're talking about fifty to
Speaker 3: sixty people. That's what that number came from our how
Speaker 3: the Human Service.
Speaker 2: Okay, so there are places in Brockton for these folks
Speaker 2: to to go into. You have homeless shelters, correct.
Speaker 4: Yes, we do.
Speaker 3: We have a homeless shelter that's been a place for
Speaker 3: many years, Father Bills. We also have you know, different
Speaker 3: agencies that help. We also have our Human our director
Speaker 3: of Human Services who's out in the streets getting you know,
Speaker 3: talking to people and trying to help them find find
Speaker 3: resources that will help get them off the streets. So
Speaker 3: the problem.
Speaker 2: Is the problem, it seems to me, is you have
Speaker 2: a relatively small group. Are these folks who just don't
Speaker 2: want to spend time inside a shelter at night? Are
Speaker 2: they prepared to stay out even in the when winter
Speaker 2: finally arrives, and it will finally arrive, I mean, are
Speaker 2: you in effect you're trying to help these people, is
Speaker 2: what you're trying to do to keep them out of
Speaker 2: the cold. Why do they not want to go into shelters?
Speaker 2: Is there a commonality here? Why they would? If I
Speaker 2: was homeless and there was a shelter, I would go
Speaker 2: to the shelter. I would think most people would.
Speaker 3: Correct and I would be in this you know, I
Speaker 3: would do the same, go into a shelter, take you know,
Speaker 3: whatever help I could get to. But the people that
Speaker 3: are choosing not to go to the shelter, the shelter
Speaker 3: has rules that they need to follow otherwise they cannot
Speaker 3: stay in the shelter rules. Is time you know that
Speaker 3: you can access go into the shelter, you need to
Speaker 3: go in early. I don't know the exact time that
Speaker 3: you need to get into the shelter. You also cannot
Speaker 3: do a drugs, alcohol, or any kind of lude behavior
Speaker 3: otherwise you will be asked to leave. So a lot
Speaker 3: of times from my understanding and hearing from people in
Speaker 3: our community that deal directly with people who have been
Speaker 3: in these encampments, is that they don't want to They
Speaker 3: don't want going to the shelter for those reasons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, they they want to live a life
Speaker 2: of absolute independence. And again, clearly there are you know,
Speaker 2: there are issues, substance abuse issues that are involved here.
Speaker 2: And I know that there have been some some incidents
Speaker 2: of you know, people they need to relieve themselves if
Speaker 2: they're not indoors, and they relieve themselves where they find
Speaker 2: it to be convenient. And obviously the character of the
Speaker 2: city has it been it's been a big problem I
Speaker 2: assume for for you downtown area is this where most
Speaker 2: of the folks have gathered in the downtown.
Speaker 3: It has it's become a huge problem for downtown. But
Speaker 3: it's last night. At last night's meeting, it was really
Speaker 3: focused towards downtown. But it's happening and all over the city.
Speaker 3: I represent the area that's towards Westgate Mall DW Fields
Speaker 3: Park and I've been dealing with it for years now
Speaker 3: with ampments in d W Fields Park where you know,
Speaker 3: kids and families can't don't feel safe to go walking
Speaker 3: riding their bike, you know, because there's these encampments and
Speaker 3: we don't know what he's doing.
Speaker 2: Right, it's a huge quality of life issue. It's a
Speaker 2: quality of life issue. And is there have you folks
Speaker 2: found evidence of uh intravenous drug use meaning needles and
Speaker 2: parks and things like that, which is not uncommon.
Speaker 3: So we have, you know, we have, we have. This
Speaker 3: city is amazing. Broxton is an amazing city with a
Speaker 3: huge heart and the residents. We have residents that volunteer
Speaker 3: their time to clean up our streets, our parks, you know,
Speaker 3: volunteer to whether pack or deliver food to different shelters.
Speaker 3: So they volunteer and they we have a clean up
Speaker 3: day every year keep brox And beautiful. And the biggest
Speaker 3: part of what's being picked up is our needles and
Speaker 3: obviously all kinds of things that you don't want your
Speaker 3: kids picking up. So we do have a program that
Speaker 3: you know, the what the ambulanced company can we'll go
Speaker 3: and or even I there's boxes where they can deposit
Speaker 3: these needles, but we don't want people picking up needles.
Speaker 3: But our GPW does our police fire, they go out,
Speaker 3: you know, when something happens to somebody that's I'm housed,
Speaker 3: our resources, you know, they call O. The police goes out,
Speaker 3: fire go out, and it's it's draining, it's draining our resources.
Speaker 3: So but yes, as far as drug paraphernalia, human waste,
Speaker 3: I mean in front of our churches. My church is
Speaker 3: on downtown North Main Street. We have a new priest.
Speaker 3: I mean he he wasn't used to it and he
Speaker 3: was appalled these I mean they're spending a huge amount
Speaker 3: of money to fencing the entrance because they're cleaning up
Speaker 3: human waste, vomit, you know, drug paraphernalia, things that I
Speaker 3: just don't want to repeat.
Speaker 2: But well, you look, the council had to draw a line.
Speaker 2: My understanding is now up to the mayor to sign
Speaker 2: this ordinance. He has up until ten days and he
Speaker 2: doesn't sign it, it goes into law. I think you
Speaker 2: told me earlier that if he chooses to veto it,
Speaker 2: there'll be an effort to override the veto. I think
Speaker 2: you're doing the right thing, Counselor, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: thank you for the time tonight, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: ask people to join us, join me and talk about
Speaker 2: what you're doing here. I think it has to be done.
Speaker 2: I think we have long passed the time of focusing
Speaker 2: more on our compassion for these folks who have somehow
Speaker 2: lost their way. We have to help them, but they
Speaker 2: have to be willing to accept some help, and they
Speaker 2: can't do what they've been doing in Brockton and in
Speaker 2: other cities. And I think that as a result of
Speaker 2: that Supreme Court decision of earlier this summer, so called
Speaker 2: Grant's Past decision, you now have the right to do
Speaker 2: what you've done legally, and I hope that your lawyers
Speaker 2: will support you if there's any sort of a challenge
Speaker 2: to it. But thank you for doing this, and thanks
Speaker 2: for taking the time tonight and keep us posted here.
Speaker 2: I'd love to know exactly how this works out. I
Speaker 2: hope the mayor signs it or it allows to become
Speaker 2: law without his signature, and I hope that for everyone's sake, kids,
Speaker 2: community members and the homeless, that this improves the situation
Speaker 2: in Brockton going forward.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, definitely, thank you, no, thank you.
Speaker 3: I couldn't have said it better exactly, and that I hope,
Speaker 3: I hope it goes. You know that there isn't any
Speaker 3: kind of further opposition with us.
Speaker 2: So well, well we're going to talk about it. We'll
Speaker 2: see what people have to say. Doctor Rother, doc doctor
Speaker 2: almost promoted you city councilor, Shirley Asak, thank you so
Speaker 2: much for your time tonight. I appreciate it.
Speaker 5: Thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 2: Okay, we get back. I want to hear from you
Speaker 2: if you live in Brockton, love to hear what you
Speaker 2: think about this. I think it's long overdue. We've heard
Speaker 2: stories about Look, any major city, it's just not Brockton,
Speaker 2: it's any major city becomes a magnet for people who
Speaker 2: are adrift. However you want to go on, whether it's
Speaker 2: a drift because of alcohol, whether it's because of drugs,
Speaker 2: whether it's because of you know, circumstances over which they
Speaker 2: had no control, mental illness, et cetera. Everyone is sympathetic.
Speaker 2: Everyone is sympathetic, but we cannot allow people to destroy communities.
Speaker 2: We cannot allow them to engage and behavior the same
Speaker 2: sort of behavior that animals in the woods would engage in.
Speaker 2: The animals in the woods at least are not shooting
Speaker 2: drugs six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six
Speaker 2: one seven, nine three one ten thirty. The US Supreme
Speaker 2: Court last session, it was late last June, they issued
Speaker 2: a decision was called City of Grant's pass Oregone versus Johnson,
Speaker 2: and it basically said that penalizing people for this sort
Speaker 2: of behavior is not a cruel unusual punishment. This Court
Speaker 2: decision allowed cities and communities to nationwide to find, ticket
Speaker 2: or arrest people living unsheltered even when there is no
Speaker 2: adequate shelter. Now there is adequate shelter. Ironically, in Brockton,
Speaker 2: there was a prior decision that had come down I
Speaker 2: believe it was from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Speaker 2: that found that this was cruel and unusual punishment, and
Speaker 2: the Supreme Court had to overrule the Ninth Circuit and
Speaker 2: basically said that it is not cruel and unusual punishment
Speaker 2: under the Eighth Amendment when a city enforces criminal punishments
Speaker 2: against people who are homeless for camping outside in the city.
Speaker 2: So that's the issue. It was an Oregon case which
Speaker 2: allows Brockton to go ahead and do this. It should
Speaker 2: be done in more cities. Again, our compassion reaches a point,
Speaker 2: and my point has been reached a long time ago.
Speaker 2: I'd love to know if your point is reached. If
Speaker 2: you disagree with this, and you think that people, human
Speaker 2: beings should be allowed to live outdoors here in all
Speaker 2: year round, uh and do what human beings sometimes have
Speaker 2: to do in the privacy of their own home now
Speaker 2: in or shoot drugs and leave needles kicking around. If
Speaker 2: that's the sort of city you want to live in, Well,
Speaker 2: Massachusetts is in bigger trouble than even I think it's
Speaker 2: in six seven, five, four ten thirty one line open
Speaker 2: at six one seven nine three one ten thirty. Let's
Speaker 2: talk about it right after this break on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Kay, want to see what people have to say about this.
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting. Again, this isn't just a Brockton problem.
Speaker 2: It's a problem of most American cities, and frankly it
Speaker 2: has to be addressed. It is I think it is
Speaker 2: cruel and unusual to leave these individuals, to leave these
Speaker 2: people to fend for themselves, some of whom are addicted
Speaker 2: to alcoholic drugs, some of whom have serious mental incapacities.
Speaker 2: I think we have an obligation to take care of
Speaker 2: them and not to just turn a blind out, blind
Speaker 2: eye and allow them to live in a set of
Speaker 2: circumstances which will ultimately end in an untimely death. Maureene
Speaker 2: is in Brockton. Maureene, I would love to know what
Speaker 2: you happen to think of this situation in your hometown
Speaker 2: of Brockton, Massachusetts. And Rob, why don't you bring Marene
Speaker 2: up for me? There we go, Hey, Maureene, welcome, how
Speaker 2: are you?
Speaker 4: Hi?
Speaker 6: Great?
Speaker 4: Thank you, and I hope you are well too. I
Speaker 4: really appreciate I really appreciate you and the counsel of
Speaker 4: being able to take some time and actually, you know
Speaker 4: a little bit of a spotlight when I was on
Speaker 4: hold the last well not the last time I spoke
Speaker 4: with you, but there was an incident about a year
Speaker 4: or so ago, and it were regarding a Broughton teacher
Speaker 4: who was doing his own thing and got attacked. And
Speaker 4: you hear Brockton is this and that it just it
Speaker 4: was nice to hear the counselor, and I feel the
Speaker 4: same way about being proud to live here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a beautiful city. It's conveniently located. I mean,
Speaker 2: you're on Route twenty four, Route twenty seven, all of that.
Speaker 2: But again, if the leaders of the city don't step
Speaker 2: up and say, look, this cannot it's just going to
Speaker 2: expand it's not going to get better on its own.
Speaker 2: Something has to be done. That's that's I think where
Speaker 2: I'm coming from. And I command a counselor and the
Speaker 2: other the other six members who passed this ordinance. I
Speaker 2: hope the mayor does the right thing and sign it.
Speaker 2: We tried to get Mayor Robert Sullivan to come on
Speaker 2: the program, but I think he told my producer Marita
Speaker 2: that he hasn't decided what he wants to do yet
Speaker 2: and he decides. I hope he'll come on and tell
Speaker 2: us what his decision is.
Speaker 4: I hope so, because I mean, you said, and I
Speaker 4: mentioned this to Marita this afternoon. He told me many
Speaker 4: times that elections have consequences, and I never got an
Speaker 4: answer back when I reached out to the mayor, and
Speaker 4: I'd be very disappointed, but again, I will make sure
Speaker 4: that he or his office will know that I'm not
Speaker 4: a happy resident of Broughton, but I'm so glad that
Speaker 4: this is being brought to light. And you're right, I mean,
Speaker 4: it's you know, it's going to happen. It's not. It's
Speaker 4: under one hundred people, you know approximately. But again, I
Speaker 4: mean that can spread like wildfire, you know, as.
Speaker 2: We say so it can spread. It It also can
Speaker 2: be revolving cast of characters. And I got to tell you,
Speaker 2: when the word spreads within the homeless or the addicted,
Speaker 2: or the community that is impacted here, others will others
Speaker 2: will join them. I mean they will go to the
Speaker 2: place where they are most welcomed. And in this situation,
Speaker 2: sadly ignoring the problem, they interpret it as being welcomed.
Speaker 2: And it's it's just when the problem is ignored. Thank goodness,
Speaker 2: there's a counselor's like counsel Asak who have the courage
Speaker 2: to stand up. And now with the US Supreme Court
Speaker 2: as a as a guideline, this is very legal what
Speaker 2: they have done. And these folks now would face a fine,
Speaker 2: they'd be summoned in the court and if they don't
Speaker 2: pay the fine, they may have to spend some time
Speaker 2: in a jail cell. It's it's not treating them badly,
Speaker 2: but we all have to live here. What have you seen,
Speaker 2: Maureen in your travels in Brockden? How evident is this
Speaker 2: problem or is it in the just in the shadows?
Speaker 4: Well, I think where I live compared to where the
Speaker 4: counselor is, I'm probably about five miles approximately away from
Speaker 4: the from the mall, et cetera. I don't really generally
Speaker 4: see it in my immediate neighborhood. But but it's not that.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, if I see somebody, I'm not
Speaker 4: gonna I'm gonna I'm going to give you a few
Speaker 4: dollars because i'd rather you take the money, you know,
Speaker 4: get yourself some food and just I'm not going to
Speaker 4: judge you here on here's five dollars. I know you're
Speaker 4: going to spend it, but you know, but again, but yeah,
Speaker 4: I grew up in Brighton, so same thing. You know,
Speaker 4: I saw that in Brighton. You know, so it's I
Speaker 4: guess it's not just but I appreciate you spotlighting this.
Speaker 4: I appreciate the counsel's time. I'm going to let you
Speaker 4: go because I know you've got other folks, But thank
Speaker 4: you so much for taking Mikeroll.
Speaker 2: I appreciate talking with Thanks Mareen, thanks for calling in.
Speaker 2: Let's keep it going here. Thanks Mary, appreciate it. Let
Speaker 2: me drop Maureen. Fine, and we're going to take a
Speaker 2: quick break. We are now passed the nine thirty newsbreak,
Speaker 2: so we'll take the news break. I got Dan checking in,
Speaker 2: Mike and Michelle. I got two lines open, one at
Speaker 2: six one seven two five four ten thirty and one
Speaker 2: at six one seven ninety and just filled six one
Speaker 2: seven two five four ten thirty. Again, it's not just
Speaker 2: a Brockton problem, folks. It's got to be dealt with.
Speaker 2: And I suspect that the change of administrations in Washington
Speaker 2: that might embolden some of our cities and towns to
Speaker 2: look at this as a problem and treat it as
Speaker 2: a problem that needs to be addressed. Back on Nightside
Speaker 2: after this.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: Back to the phone, let's go to Michelle, also checking
Speaker 2: in tonight from Brockton. Michelle, you were next on Nightside, going.
Speaker 7: Ahead, Hey, how are you? I just want to say
Speaker 7: I listen to your show all the time, and I
Speaker 7: love it.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I love the fact that you love it.
Speaker 2: And I'm so glad that you've called in. And I'm
Speaker 2: so glad you were listening when we talked tonight with
Speaker 2: the city council as Shirley Asak, what's your thoughts? Are
Speaker 2: you happy with what the city council is trying to do?
Speaker 7: I'm fifty fifty on it because I think they should
Speaker 7: have more resources. So the whole homeless people, a lot
Speaker 7: of them have mental health problems. In the shelter in
Speaker 7: Brockton's all they turn people away. It's all the migrants
Speaker 7: and there's not even no help. They need to get
Speaker 7: more help from mental health and drug addiction in Brockton,
Speaker 7: and I think that will clear up the homelessness problem.
Speaker 7: Giving them fines and putting them in jail isn't gonna help.
Speaker 2: So let me ask you. So you're saying that the
Speaker 2: homeless shelters right now are accommodating migrants, and.
Speaker 7: The homeless shelters, yep, it's all migrants. You can see.
Speaker 2: To be a favorite, Michelle, you're doing a great job.
Speaker 2: Who's ever coaching in the background is only confusing you
Speaker 2: and me? So why don't you tell the person in
Speaker 2: the background to walk in the other room. Okay, you
Speaker 2: have my permission. Yeah, you said it better than I did, so,
Speaker 2: so it is. It's a it's a migrant problem, which
Speaker 2: now is compounding the amount of resources that can be
Speaker 2: available to the homeless. That's interesting.
Speaker 7: Yes, that's that's the biggest problem right now in Broxton.
Speaker 4: There's no room.
Speaker 7: For Broxton residents in the shelter because it's full of migrants,
Speaker 7: solid Haitian migrants, and there's no mental health, there's no
Speaker 7: drug addiction programs in Broxton. They need to put more
Speaker 7: resources and not throw people in jail because jail isn't
Speaker 7: going to help them. They need they need like medical help.
Speaker 2: Well they do. And of course that now on Brockton
Speaker 2: now is becoming a magnet because once people realize that
Speaker 2: there's a homeless quote unquote community, then other people in
Speaker 2: other you know, surrounding towns are going to be drawn
Speaker 2: to that community because everybody feels that in strength, there's
Speaker 2: some in unity, there's some strength, I should say, and
Speaker 2: that they're with people if they do have a drug problem,
Speaker 2: they're dealing with other people have drug problem. It compounds
Speaker 2: the problem yell. I appreciate your calling. Thanks for having
Speaker 2: the coverage to call and tell your friend there that
Speaker 2: if he wants to call the program some night six one,
Speaker 2: seven thirty and he.
Speaker 7: Can talk to me night.
Speaker 2: All right, Thanks Michelle, we'll talk so all right, all right,
Speaker 2: thank you very much, both of you. Okay, we are
Speaker 2: going to continue here after Michelle, and we're gonna go
Speaker 2: a little further away from Brockton, but we're going to
Speaker 2: talk with Dan in Tampa, Florida. Dan, we have talked
Speaker 2: to you many times. Dan is a former police officer
Speaker 2: in Tampa, Florida whose beat was to help homeless people.
Speaker 2: How much of a problem is it still in Tampa, Dan,
Speaker 2: And hasn't gotten any better there? You guys have the added,
Speaker 2: I think problem that your weather down there, except during
Speaker 2: hurricane season, is a lot better up than it is
Speaker 2: up here. What's the situation with homeless down in your
Speaker 2: community here?
Speaker 1: Dan?
Speaker 5: Is this is the same here as it in many communities.
Speaker 5: Particularly Michelle, who's the prior caller, just highlighted some of
Speaker 5: the same problems that we deal with here and we
Speaker 5: do it everywhere. Is that there's lack of resources. I
Speaker 5: had a whole list of people that wanted help. People
Speaker 5: who were living in the woods, are on the streets,
Speaker 5: they wanted help, but there was nowhere to send them.
Speaker 5: So I can see Broxton's point. And the Supreme Court
Speaker 5: they were backed into a corner. The Supreme Court with
Speaker 5: the Krantz Pass decision. He mentioned they had amchi breeze
Speaker 5: from the California Association Chiefs Police and the California Serious
Speaker 5: Association and they said that, you know, the people, we
Speaker 5: need to be able to provide safe communities to people,
Speaker 5: and we need to be able to protect everyone almost
Speaker 5: or otherwise. And I can see the point. So the
Speaker 5: problem here in Tamba same as in Brockton and everywhere,
Speaker 5: and it's just not resources to go around. No one
Speaker 5: ever won an election and trying to come up with
Speaker 5: more housing and resources. So the police are holding the
Speaker 5: bag now to to enforce the issue. So you know,
Speaker 5: the police are doing the best they can. And that's
Speaker 5: kind of my view.
Speaker 6: Dan.
Speaker 2: By the way, for those of you who do not
Speaker 2: know Dan, Dan's a friend of mine in Tampa. He's
Speaker 2: a friend through this program. Uh And Dan actually his beat,
Speaker 2: his job in Tampa, Florida as a police officer was
Speaker 2: to try to keep the homeless out of trouble. And
Speaker 2: Dan told me one sorry that he actually helped arrange
Speaker 2: for a wedding between a couple of homeless people. You
Speaker 2: went far above and beyond the regular duties of a
Speaker 2: police officer, Dan, and if I'm not mistaken, you were
Speaker 2: able to get them a reception haul and it really
Speaker 2: showed what a great human being you are. And a
Speaker 2: lot of people are critical of police, but you have
Speaker 2: have dedicated much of your career to help this population.
Speaker 2: You're still a police officer, but but you were there
Speaker 2: to try to help people, and I'm sure that was
Speaker 2: a pretty satisfying way to work with that population, where
Speaker 2: you were where you were appreciated and not considered like
Speaker 2: an enemy when you would go into an area where
Speaker 2: people were holed up. Has the homeless population down there increased, decreased,
Speaker 2: or just stayed the same.
Speaker 5: It's increasing here, it's increasing, but it's the population of
Speaker 5: homelessness is I guess the subpopulation is increasing. We have
Speaker 5: a lot more of the kind of the working poor,
Speaker 5: the one or in middle class who have been priced
Speaker 5: out of housing, and so we're seeing a lot more
Speaker 5: people who who are facing economic issues. They just can't
Speaker 5: afford the rent of the mortgage, and that is probably
Speaker 5: the fastest growing segment of homelessness. And that's the same everywhere.
Speaker 5: You know, I've yet to run into any community that
Speaker 5: has a surplus of affordable housing. It's short everywhere, and
Speaker 5: rents and real estate prices are very high. So yeah,
Speaker 5: it's increasing here. Last year, nationwide homeless has increased five
Speaker 5: about twelve percent. So it's the same problem everywhere.
Speaker 2: There's no resources, and that probably hasn't been diminished by
Speaker 2: the influx of people coming across the border who themselves
Speaker 2: have to find a place to live once they're here,
Speaker 2: and if they're living in whether it's rental housing or
Speaker 2: shelter housing, it's impacting. It's not impacting the wealthy people
Speaker 2: living in the suburbs. It's impacting people who are living
Speaker 2: in poorer communities and people who maybe need to really
Speaker 2: upon a bed in a shelter. But if the shelter
Speaker 2: is full, as Michelle from Brockton indicated, that compounds the situation.
Speaker 2: Dan is always great to hear your voice. Thanks again
Speaker 2: for your experience. I want you to know that I
Speaker 2: was in touch with that kitten many years ago, that
Speaker 2: we were able to find an adoptive home for and
Speaker 2: I'm told that the kitten is doing very well. It's
Speaker 2: it's a very healthy cat. I was texting with the
Speaker 2: kitten's owner. Those who are longtime listeners at Nightside, remember
Speaker 2: we had a cat adoption or a kitten adoption in
Speaker 2: studio as a result of a kitten that the d
Speaker 2: N brought up from a from a shelter, a beautiful kitten.
Speaker 2: So thanks Dan as you've been a great friend for
Speaker 2: many years. Thank you my friend.
Speaker 5: Great segment.
Speaker 2: I talk to you absolutely. We'll take a quick break
Speaker 2: here on Nightside. My name is Dan Ray, and we
Speaker 2: are talking about Brockton, Massachusetts, but we could be talking
Speaker 2: about any major city in America. So wherever you are,
Speaker 2: you want to chime in. Brockton pretty much now has said, okay,
Speaker 2: we have to draw a line, and we cannot allow
Speaker 2: homeless people to camp out on public property. We cannot
Speaker 2: allow homeless people to continue those who do use drugs
Speaker 2: use drugs and leave needles and playgrounds in parks. And
Speaker 2: we cannot allow homeless people to use city streets as
Speaker 2: public bathrooms. This is it's just not Brockton. But Brockton
Speaker 2: has stepped up. This city council passed an ordinance love
Speaker 2: to know what you think and if you live in
Speaker 2: a city of any size, those problem exists where you
Speaker 2: are as well. Two lines one at six one seven
Speaker 2: two four ten thirty and one at six one seven
Speaker 2: nine three one ten thirty. I am more than happy
Speaker 2: to talk about this into the next hour. If the
Speaker 2: interest in my audience persists in this topic, what can
Speaker 2: we do? Coming back on night Side.
Speaker 1: Now, back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World,
Speaker 1: WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Back to the calls we go. We're going to go next.
Speaker 2: Let me go to Mike and Chelsea. Mic next nights,
Speaker 2: i'd welcome Mike, welcome you. Next one nights, I go
Speaker 2: right in.
Speaker 8: So I was all lost to how exactly your guest speaker,
Speaker 8: how exactly are they planning on engaging this this this problem.
Speaker 8: I missed that you really make that clans to me.
Speaker 2: Police are going to inform people that they cannot pitch tense,
Speaker 2: They cannot they cannot sleep in public areas. They need
Speaker 2: to get into a shelter. Uh and if they will
Speaker 2: try to help them get into shelters. Uh And if
Speaker 2: for some reason people do not want to comply with that.
Speaker 2: Under the recent US Supreme Court decision, they can be cited,
Speaker 2: summoned into court and find up with the two hundred
Speaker 2: dollars and if they can't pay that fine, then they'll
Speaker 2: they'll spend some time in a in a in an
Speaker 2: another type of shelter, shelter that has has jail bars
Speaker 2: on it.
Speaker 6: Okay.
Speaker 8: So I was holmeless about ten years ago, Okay, because
Speaker 8: there's something stupid that I did. Nothing, very dumb. Uh,
Speaker 8: flying with the scene.
Speaker 2: My friend, I've done stupid things too, So joined the club.
Speaker 2: But you know, how'd you work your way out of it?
Speaker 8: Mike got a job and I didn't. I mean, I
Speaker 8: was fine where I was as far as the facility,
Speaker 8: but I was like, no, I want to earn money.
Speaker 8: I wanted my own place at some point. Yeah, long
Speaker 8: story short. As far as homeless, you have some people
Speaker 8: the exception of the substance abuse, the booze, the drugs,
Speaker 8: the mental issues. Okay, there's some people that just don't
Speaker 8: want to adhere to us a structured life.
Speaker 2: Understand. I understand that. Ye I do understand that the
Speaker 2: problem is if that unstructured life involves, you know, sleeping
Speaker 2: out on the streets at night in the middle of winter,
Speaker 2: and then getting up in the morning and doing what
Speaker 2: most people do in the morning when you get up,
Speaker 2: as opposed to doing it in the privacy of their
Speaker 2: home or their apartment, decide to do it in the
Speaker 2: middle of the street or on someone's front porch. That
Speaker 2: can't be tolerated.
Speaker 8: No, of course, no, definitely. I wish your luck with
Speaker 8: whatever whoever she was.
Speaker 2: I wish your luck with a city councilor from Broxton. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they're at least giving it a shot, and you know
Speaker 2: what it might be. There was a little bit of
Speaker 2: tough love. It's you know, we've been very permissive for
Speaker 2: years in this society, basically let people try to do
Speaker 2: what they want to do. And at some point I
Speaker 2: think that some they gotta have a wake up call,
Speaker 2: and maybe this would be the wake up call in Brockton.
Speaker 2: My congratulations on your success.
Speaker 8: Thank you, Thank you too.
Speaker 2: Thanks, thanks great to have a great night. Okay, let
Speaker 2: me see where we're gonna move next to christ and
Speaker 2: East Bridgewater. Chris, you're close to Brockton, You're next on nights.
Speaker 2: I growing ahead.
Speaker 6: Hey Dan, thanks for taking my call, and yeah, I've
Speaker 6: been an adopted child of Brockton hilw We say, I
Speaker 6: spent a lot of time, and I went to the
Speaker 6: fair every year since I was a kid. Sure, one
Speaker 6: of my best friends right around the corner from a fair.
Speaker 6: I don't I don't know who who was it said
Speaker 6: that maybe roughly one hundred people. I don't know very
Speaker 6: as much as I used to because my friends have
Speaker 6: kind of moved on or passed on. But I do
Speaker 6: agree that the you know, public public interest comes first.
Speaker 6: But you know, I've had a couple of friends that
Speaker 6: were homeless, and this is even before a migrant thing
Speaker 6: really got out of control where you know, between that
Speaker 6: were in Brockton, Quincy and Boston, and all of them
Speaker 6: said there were nights they couldn't get into a shelter.
Speaker 8: For the night.
Speaker 6: You know, Like I said, that was before all the
Speaker 6: additional strains on the resources. So and you know, if
Speaker 6: someone just doesn't want to, you know, have that structured lifestyle,
Speaker 6: as you said, that's kind of on them. But I
Speaker 6: mean one thing I wonder too, is I get that
Speaker 6: you have to have some kind of a vehicle to
Speaker 6: address this, but how is the homeless person going to
Speaker 6: come up with a money to pay a fine. I
Speaker 6: don't think it's gonna that's probably not gonna happen. You know,
Speaker 6: one of my friends was almost going.
Speaker 2: To be that's not going to be the first action.
Speaker 2: The police officers are gonna basically say, give them a
Speaker 2: little bit of leverage and say. It's one thing to
Speaker 2: say to hey, you got to move along, move along,
Speaker 2: and they move along. It's another thing to say, look,
Speaker 2: not only you've got to move along, but you can't
Speaker 2: move from here to there, because I'll be down the
Speaker 2: street in an hour from now, and if you don't
Speaker 2: move from there, you're going to be sited, You're going
Speaker 2: to be dragged in the court. Then that that's a
Speaker 2: little bit of impetus to say to say, Okay, I
Speaker 2: got to do something here. I mean, look, if most
Speaker 2: of these people went into the woods at East bring Water,
Speaker 2: for example, I decided to live as yes hermits in
Speaker 2: the woods, Uh, no one's gonna bother them doing that.
Speaker 2: But when they're out in the in the main street
Speaker 2: of the city, that impacts the quality of life for
Speaker 2: other people.
Speaker 6: That's the problem. Absolutely, Absolutely. I don't want to be,
Speaker 6: you know, walking down the street and see someone you
Speaker 6: know doing their business and the shrubs or whatever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and sometimes by the way, so sometimes it's in
Speaker 2: the middle of the sidewalk.
Speaker 6: Go ahead, Oh that that's that too, that too. And
Speaker 6: you know one of my friends that I mentioned it
Speaker 6: was homeless. You know, about seven years ago I reconnected
Speaker 6: with him and he'd waited four plus years to get housing.
Speaker 6: And like he told me that there were twenty of
Speaker 6: nights he had to sleep on a park bench because
Speaker 6: there just wasn't a space for him at Pine Street.
Speaker 8: I think he was at Yea.
Speaker 6: And you know, like I said, it's easy to blame
Speaker 6: the migrants, but that definitely didn't help. And I either
Speaker 6: in the mall or right near the mall, I forget Westgate.
Speaker 6: There is a hotel where they have been housing migrants
Speaker 6: for quite a while. I mean, I'm not a heartless person,
Speaker 6: but I think if we put these hundred or so
Speaker 6: people in Brockton that a home, what's in that hotel
Speaker 6: you instead of them, you'd solve this problem.
Speaker 2: Well, you would, as long as they weren't using it,
Speaker 2: you know, as a as as a drug center of activity.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know the big problem is going to
Speaker 2: be drugs and alcohol, Okay, and if you put people
Speaker 2: in a hotel and there are allowed to use drugs
Speaker 2: and alcohol, the hotel's going to be trash. Yeah, I mean, simple.
Speaker 6: As that, totally. And then at that point then you
Speaker 6: say to them, Okay, this isn't going to be tolerated. Now,
Speaker 6: you know, maybe we're talking about fines, jail time, et cetera.
Speaker 6: Because we've done all we can to help you. I mean,
Speaker 6: there are some people that just don't want to won't
Speaker 6: take the help. I get that, you know, but you
Speaker 6: got to see you.
Speaker 2: But I got the ten o'clock news right coming at
Speaker 2: us right now. So thank you for joining us, Thanks
Speaker 2: for calling you. Come back very soon, and we will
Speaker 2: we will deal with the other. Thanks Chris. We will
Speaker 2: have to Victor, Scott Coptic and Sherry. You stay right there.
Speaker 2: We're going to carry this into the next hour. Only
Speaker 2: one line open six point seven, n you can life
Speaker 2: that one up. We'll have full lines. We get back