Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray I WBZ, Boston's radio beggar.
Speaker 2: Dan Watkins appreciated so reading the Boston Globe this morning,
Speaker 2: as I do every morning. First I read the Sports page,
Speaker 2: my favorite part of the Globe, and then I go
Speaker 2: to the news in the Metro section, and a very
Speaker 2: interesting piece by Joan Venaki, a good friend of mine,
Speaker 2: a colleague for many years. We grew up sort of
Speaker 2: as reporters in this city. And she's listening tonight. I
Speaker 2: hope you feel a little bit better. She told us
Speaker 2: she couldn't join us tonight because she was a little
Speaker 2: under the weather. Hope're feeling better, Joan mass and cast
Speaker 2: drug and homeless problems moved to Boston Common. Boston Common.
Speaker 2: That is the headline in the op ed piece on
Speaker 2: a eleven in the Boston Globe today. And I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna read a little bit and then set it up
Speaker 2: for people who do not know what I'm talking about,
Speaker 2: and we'll be talking a moment with Rishi Sukla, who's
Speaker 2: with the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association. She starts off her article,
Speaker 2: which I found it to be really an interesting article.
Speaker 2: Joan wrote this morning a year ago, Boston Mayor Michelle
Speaker 2: wou oversaw the peaceful dismantling of the area around Massachusetts
Speaker 2: Avenue and Melina Cass Boulevard, the epicenter of the city's
Speaker 2: homeless and opioid crisis. So what's known as Mass and Cass,
Speaker 2: what's happening now around Boston Common is more evidence that
Speaker 2: the problems associated with Mass and Casts have not disappeared.
Speaker 2: They have just dispersed. And there are many people who,
Speaker 2: myself included, do not feel that Boston is as friendly
Speaker 2: and as walkable as city, particularly at night, as it
Speaker 2: once was. Now again, we have a homeless crisis in
Speaker 2: this country. Boston is affected like every other city. We
Speaker 2: have a huge drug problem in this country. And we
Speaker 2: saw it at masson Cass and for years, for years,
Speaker 2: and it was allowed to stay there, to grow, to fester,
Speaker 2: and finally, finally it was dispersed. So my question, which
Speaker 2: I'm going to open up to the conversation is for
Speaker 2: those of you who come to Boston, do you come
Speaker 2: into the city as often as you used to do
Speaker 2: a few years ago. I mean, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: problems with Boston right now. Okay, it's got a financial problem,
Speaker 2: it has a services problem, it has a school bus problem,
Speaker 2: it has an MBTA problem. We've talked about that, it
Speaker 2: has too many bike lanes. We've talked about that. But
Speaker 2: now the problem that some people are beginning to talk
Speaker 2: about is what's it like around the Boston Common that
Speaker 2: is the jewel of this city. And you can talk
Speaker 2: about the Rose Fitzgerald Greenway, which is beautiful, we can
Speaker 2: talk about Arnold Arboretum, but in terms of the Common,
Speaker 2: it sits really dead center in Boston, bounded on on
Speaker 2: one side by Beacon Street, the other side by Tremont
Speaker 2: Street and Charles Street. Uh at it's at the base
Speaker 2: of the Statehouse, the seat of government. Uh and it
Speaker 2: is a place that most people think of as Boston.
Speaker 2: We had asked some folks if they wanted to join us,
Speaker 2: uh and the first one who is joining us tonight
Speaker 2: as a representative of the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association, uh
Speaker 2: Richi Shukla, was quoted in today's piece by Joan Vanaki.
Speaker 2: Uh and and Rieschi has joined us. Richie Schulkla, welcome
Speaker 2: to Night's side. Your your perspective on this, you are
Speaker 2: quoted in Joan Vanaki's piece this morning, I'm going to
Speaker 2: bring Ricchi up here, uh to talk with You're quoted
Speaker 2: in the Peace by Joean Vanaki this morning as saying
Speaker 2: it is a beautiful and precious jewel. We need to
Speaker 2: keep it that way. However, joe Vanaki writes, he said
Speaker 2: an uptick in open air drug dealing over the past
Speaker 2: six months, which he attributed to the dislocation of the
Speaker 2: mass and cast population, has changed the atmosphere. Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 3: How are you, Richie, Dan, great good Evan. Thanks for
Speaker 3: having me.
Speaker 2: You're very welcome. First all, tell us the Downtown Boston
Speaker 2: Neighborhood Association. What groove do you represent?
Speaker 3: Sure thing?
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 3: We are a volunteer led group of residents, business owners,
Speaker 3: property owners, effectively stakeholders here in Downtown Boston that try
Speaker 3: to give voice to residents and all the other stakeholders
Speaker 3: who are living here and doing business here, go to
Speaker 3: school here. And our goal is simple. We care about
Speaker 3: one thing only, which is to improve the quality of
Speaker 3: life for folks who are living here and working here
Speaker 3: and trying to do business here and doing everything we
Speaker 3: can to have great relations with city Hall and with
Speaker 3: our partners in state government to do those sorts of thanks,
Speaker 3: whether it's planning and development, or it's thinking about zoning
Speaker 3: and permitting or public safety. You know, we care a
Speaker 3: lot about the total situation and packageer in downtown. So
Speaker 3: we you know, again volunteers with what a thousand residents
Speaker 3: and members who are part of this group, and this
Speaker 3: is that's an important istion to us.
Speaker 2: Okay, So, as someone who lives downtown, do you work
Speaker 2: downtown as well?
Speaker 3: I do. I own my own company. I've lived in
Speaker 3: Boston the last twenty five years college, grad school, and
Speaker 3: so you know, I do a lot here in downtown.
Speaker 3: I've got two young kids, my wife and I live
Speaker 3: here as well, so we're doing a lot here in downtown.
Speaker 2: Right, So you're heavily invested. And again, were you quoted
Speaker 2: accurately in Joevanaki's piece today. I just read the quote
Speaker 2: and her characterization of your comments.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, I think that's exactly right. But the Boston
Speaker 3: comment is absolutely a jewel of our city, and I
Speaker 3: think the deterioration that we've seen is highly problematic and
Speaker 3: it's obvious what the issues are.
Speaker 2: So you attributed to the to the dispersal of the
Speaker 2: folks who had set up shop and been allowed to
Speaker 2: operate at mass and casts for many years. What again,
Speaker 2: I happen to agree with you, but I'd love to
Speaker 2: know describe to us and to my audience. You know
Speaker 2: what you've seen, what you have seen, what you've experienced.
Speaker 3: Yeah, great, great questioning. Look, I'm in the park every
Speaker 3: single day of the year, you know, but for traveling holidays,
Speaker 3: I've got I've got a puppy. You got two young
Speaker 3: kids who walked to the bus stop. So I probably
Speaker 3: walked three or four miles through the Boston Common and
Speaker 3: through downtown every single day. And so I you know,
Speaker 3: I see it and I experienced it. So I'll tell
Speaker 3: you this. At six am, if you go out front
Speaker 3: of walk your dog in the park, you avoid parts
Speaker 3: of the park because you know there's going to be
Speaker 3: human waste, needles, you might be encountering folks with mental
Speaker 3: health disorder or substance use disorder, and it's just not
Speaker 3: a it's not a safe place for you or your
Speaker 3: pet with your children. You know, we've had stabbings at
Speaker 3: eight o'clock in the morning. Kids are on the way
Speaker 3: to school witnessing these sorts of things. I would say
Speaker 3: in the last couple of weeks, the Boston Police has
Speaker 3: stepped up its efforts to try to clear out some
Speaker 3: of these areas. But as Joe said, you know, dislocating
Speaker 3: issues and diversion, it's it's you know, it's abandoned, right,
Speaker 3: it's a temporary solution, and so that's not going to
Speaker 3: be what causes us to improve the situation long term.
Speaker 3: I'm on the border of Saint francisous for the largest
Speaker 3: day shelter in Massachusetts, from the largest in the country,
Speaker 3: and so when you talk to outreach workers and you
Speaker 3: think about, you know, the work that's being done by
Speaker 3: the city and others the shelters, you kind of know
Speaker 3: the populations that are you know, fairly permanent fixtures so
Speaker 3: to speak. Here in the downtown area, the homeless population,
Speaker 3: and then you've got a large number of new folks
Speaker 3: who come in here from the mass and cast population,
Speaker 3: and with that have come a lot of issues that
Speaker 3: are you know, all kind of highlighted in Jones piece here,
Speaker 3: and that's that's what we're talking about.
Speaker 2: So I I'm very familiar with Boston common For many years,
Speaker 2: I too lived in the Back Bay, worked as a
Speaker 2: television reporter in Boston for WBS see for thirty one years.
Speaker 2: I know the city in my sense on the more
Speaker 2: rare occasions that I find myself on the Boston Common,
Speaker 2: it is not as comfortable a place as it was
Speaker 2: a few years ago. I see it, you know, again,
Speaker 2: every couple of months or so. You see it virtually
Speaker 2: every day. What's the solution?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Den, It's complicated, right, and I think you know,
Speaker 3: I was at the hearing last week. I testified, and
Speaker 3: my comment is that this is one of these unique
Speaker 3: situations that ordinary people cannot solve on our own right.
Speaker 3: We can't make public policy, we can't enforce the laws,
Speaker 3: we can't arrest, we can't force folks into treatment. So
Speaker 3: we absolutely need our city and state leaders in this case,
Speaker 3: and the District Attorney's office frankly, to step up, do
Speaker 3: their jobs more effectively, and to convene and collaborate. What
Speaker 3: I view, you know, is this being a vacuum of leadership,
Speaker 3: and it's not acceptable. So for folks who've lived here
Speaker 3: and who call downtown in Boston home. This isn't just,
Speaker 3: as you know, just a downtown issue. I mean, this
Speaker 3: issue is spread across South Station Logan Airport, Andrews circling
Speaker 3: in South Boston. It's in different parts of our cities.
Speaker 3: We're simply moving the issue around, which again not a solution.
Speaker 3: Things that are more permanent solutions are reopening the Long
Speaker 3: Island Campus, right, so for listeners who aren't aware of it,
Speaker 3: you know, that's a place where folks used to be
Speaker 3: able to go to get treatment and to be rehabilitated
Speaker 3: and to come out and start their lives over again.
Speaker 3: And we haven't had that solution for some time, and
Speaker 3: so having that accelerated and reopened I think would be
Speaker 3: a great outcome. I think having the Boston Police be
Speaker 3: able to arrest the most violent of criminals and to
Speaker 3: be confident that the District Attorney has their backs in
Speaker 3: terms of prosecuting. They're really have criminals. We're all talking
Speaker 3: about people who are you know, walking out of Roach
Speaker 3: Brothers or Star Market with a loaf of bread to
Speaker 3: feed their family. Nobody wants to see those people reprimand
Speaker 3: and sentenced to you know, a life of hardship because
Speaker 3: of one active of you know, quote unquote criminal activity.
Speaker 3: That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about people
Speaker 3: who are pushing fentandel people who are you know, gang
Speaker 3: on gang violence, who are praying on the homeless. Those
Speaker 3: are the people who need to be taken off our street.
Speaker 3: And the District Attorney's office is Bill Margie's ballent on
Speaker 3: this issue, and so we're trying to convene our city
Speaker 3: state officials that try to do more on this issue.
Speaker 3: We do a lot with the Boston Police, right they
Speaker 3: are doing everything in their control is my view, in
Speaker 3: my opinion, to try to resolve this issue right in
Speaker 3: a in a dignified way, but they only have so
Speaker 3: much power if if you.
Speaker 2: Know, they have to be back, they have to be
Speaker 2: backed by the attorney. Let let me do this, Reachie.
Speaker 2: Let me let me take a break here for a
Speaker 2: couple of commercial messages, and I'll invite people to join
Speaker 2: the conversation. I think I mean virtually agreement with everything
Speaker 2: that you have said, because there are these quality of
Speaker 2: life crimes, these quality of life experience sariances where you're
Speaker 2: walking downtown with a couple of kids and someone's trying
Speaker 2: to come up and get in your face, either to
Speaker 2: confront you or to bake for money, and at some
Speaker 2: point it has to be stopped. I think there needs
Speaker 2: to be a much bigger undercover police presence on the Common,
Speaker 2: so that so that it's people you know, can feel
Speaker 2: safer as they move from, you know, around It's a
Speaker 2: beautiful area. I just think that that once you lose it,
Speaker 2: once you lose the Common. We've seen this uptick of
Speaker 2: crime in New York City. Anybody who goes to New
Speaker 2: York City, in my opinion these days, is nuts because
Speaker 2: you have people who have been murdered on the streets
Speaker 2: of New York for no apparent reason. We've looked at
Speaker 2: people who have serious mental health problems from a society
Speaker 2: point of view, and again I have a lot more
Speaker 2: to say. Let me take a break. If you'd like
Speaker 2: to join the conversation. My guest is Rishi Shukla. He's
Speaker 2: with the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association. Obviously very well spoken,
Speaker 2: very conversant with the area. I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2: If you want to add to what Rishi is saying,
Speaker 2: or if you want to disagree, you are more than
Speaker 2: welcome to have a good conversation here on Nightside, because
Speaker 2: once we lose Boston Common, we're going to lose a
Speaker 2: big important section of the city and it's just not
Speaker 2: wealthy people who live in the upper ends of Beacon
Speaker 2: Street or on Beacon Hill. It is a place where
Speaker 2: everyone should feel welcome. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
Speaker 2: Those are the two numbers that will get you on.
Speaker 2: We'll be back on night Side talking about safety, crime
Speaker 2: on the Boston Common and generally in Boston. I think
Speaker 2: Boston statistically is going in It has a lot to
Speaker 2: be proud of. The murder rate in Boston is down.
Speaker 2: But whatever decisions and policies and programs have been used
Speaker 2: in some parts of the city to cut the murder
Speaker 2: rate down, that again, that police presence has to be
Speaker 2: spread throughout the city. And let's start with the Boston Common.
Speaker 2: Back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on w b Z the News Radio.
Speaker 2: We'll talk with Ricky Scholka, who was quoted today in
Speaker 2: Joe Venaki's piece in the Boston Globe. Mass and cast,
Speaker 2: drug and homeless problems moved to Boston Common. Rischi is
Speaker 2: the co founder of the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association. If
Speaker 2: you'd like to join the conversation. I'm with you, Richie.
Speaker 2: I think that a lot of times the most important
Speaker 2: part of this Boston city is ignored. Let's go to
Speaker 2: Chris in Boston see what he has to say. Chris, welcome.
Speaker 2: You're on a night side with Dan Ray along with
Speaker 2: Rishi Sholka, co founder of the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association.
Speaker 2: Your thoughts on the issue we're talking about, and specifically
Speaker 2: Joevenaki's call him in the Globe today?
Speaker 4: Absolutely good? Even Dan, how you doing this evening?
Speaker 2: Good? Doing great?
Speaker 4: Chris, That's good. It's getting really cold, and I'm getting
Speaker 4: really worried about the people out in the streets of Boston.
Speaker 4: For many years, I've been called Boston the city of
Speaker 4: broken dreams, and ever since Maji Menino died, it's just
Speaker 4: now get to the point it scares me. And it's
Speaker 4: proven to the point that when I call Boston the
Speaker 4: city of broken dreams, it's starting to show more and more.
Speaker 2: Okay, so what is your experience been, Chris. I know
Speaker 2: you've called me before, but refresh my recollection. Are you
Speaker 2: involved in any of these issues? You know, either either good,
Speaker 2: bad or indifferent?
Speaker 5: Well, you know, everything's getting expensive, and then it comes
Speaker 5: to the working class. Now it's becoming to be the poor,
Speaker 5: to the point that all he's doing is pushing people
Speaker 5: out in the reads. And for example, when you see
Speaker 5: mass and casts, these people are out there are just
Speaker 5: like once like us, but because they're facing problems, they're like,
Speaker 5: you know, well, who cares, I'm going to do drugs, I'm.
Speaker 4: Going to hang out in the streets.
Speaker 5: I can't afford rent, you know, I can't afford anything,
Speaker 5: because you know, everything's so difficult these days. And then
Speaker 5: you got and then you got news media out there
Speaker 5: during the news before talking about well if this person's
Speaker 5: in the poors and this and that, y'ah, yeah, I'm
Speaker 5: sitting there like well, ain't got the mayor's responsibilities. As
Speaker 5: she said before she became mayor, that hey, this is Boston,
Speaker 5: the city for the people, meaning it's supposed to be
Speaker 5: sitting for the people. It don't matter if you're rich
Speaker 5: or working class, supposed to take care of everybody, just
Speaker 5: like how.
Speaker 2: And obviously you need people with all sorts of skill sets.
Speaker 2: You and I agree on that. So you know, when
Speaker 2: you need college professors and you need doctors, and you
Speaker 2: need lawyers, but you also need plumbers and electricians. Uh.
Speaker 2: And you know there are there are older people, there
Speaker 2: are people who have disabilities, there are people who have
Speaker 2: addiction problems. You're right, it's a it's a it's a
Speaker 2: very complicated population. So what do you think we could
Speaker 2: do in the short run or in the long run
Speaker 2: that would get us back to maybe how what the
Speaker 2: feel of Boston was when Tom Monina was mayor. He's
Speaker 2: not coming back, obviously.
Speaker 4: I know, I know, and I miss him. See Tom
Speaker 4: took pride. That's the good thing about Tom Menino. That's
Speaker 4: why he was the run as long as mayor, because
Speaker 4: he cared about the people in Boston.
Speaker 2: By the way, By the way, I just want to Chris,
Speaker 2: let me agree with you. He had no political aspirations
Speaker 2: beyond being mayor. He was that to him was the
Speaker 2: most important job in the world. But what what do
Speaker 2: you think needs to be done? Just tell me that,
Speaker 2: and then I got to get you got a break
Speaker 2: for new Go ahead, tell me what what you if
Speaker 2: you're mayor? What would you see? How did you see done?
Speaker 4: I really wish Boston become more of a diversity for
Speaker 4: everybody that is not being so divided? Am I making
Speaker 4: sense here?
Speaker 2: Well? You are, But the problem is right now, So
Speaker 2: what do you do for people we're talking about the
Speaker 2: Boston Common. What do you do for people who are
Speaker 2: addicted and who are you're sleeping on park benches in
Speaker 2: the Boston Common or whatever and getting into trouble? Uh
Speaker 2: do you do you have? Do you open up more shelters? Uh?
Speaker 2: Do you do you bring the police? I think one
Speaker 2: of the things you can do is bring undercovered police
Speaker 2: officers into the common to make sure that people feel
Speaker 2: a little safer if you're coming in with your kids
Speaker 2: or your wife, your husband, you know, do that on
Speaker 2: the one hand, so you're you're maintaining some order. At
Speaker 2: the same time, try to get people who do have
Speaker 2: these addiction problems into programs that can help them get
Speaker 2: rid of.
Speaker 4: Them exactly like help out the people that struggle and
Speaker 4: get them out the streets.
Speaker 5: You know, I believe, strongly believe knowledge is but to
Speaker 5: say that nobody doesn't deserve the stuff one to be
Speaker 5: out in the streets as.
Speaker 4: Human beings to we all got to take k each.
Speaker 5: Other because that's what God wants all of us to do.
Speaker 5: If we all God's children, I don't see if you're
Speaker 5: rich poor, I don't care what political We all got
Speaker 5: to take k each other and that's there.
Speaker 2: There are some people, though, Chris, who was who? And
Speaker 2: I think you might agree, you might disagree. You can
Speaker 2: tell me I'm right, you can tell me I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: There are some people out there who were so so
Speaker 2: deep into addiction or or who have such mental health
Speaker 2: issues they don't want I've talked to people when I
Speaker 2: was a reporter. They they didn't want to go to
Speaker 2: the Pine Street end. They prefer to sleep over a
Speaker 2: great uh as long as they they didn't want to
Speaker 2: be bothered. They didn't want to be bothered by anybody.
Speaker 2: They wanted to do their own thing. How do you
Speaker 2: reach those people?
Speaker 4: Well, they don't want to be in a jam pack
Speaker 4: well shelter where there's issues and problem.
Speaker 2: Right, what do you do with them? You can't put
Speaker 2: them up in the rich Carlton, Nope.
Speaker 5: It has to be a development to build housing for
Speaker 5: these type of people to have roof over their head
Speaker 5: and get some type of treatment of help in many
Speaker 5: different ways.
Speaker 2: All right, Chris, Chris, I hate to do this, but
Speaker 2: we've we're flat up against the nine thirty news. So
Speaker 2: I got a break, but as always, thank you for listening,
Speaker 2: thank you for calling, thank you for providing your perspective
Speaker 2: to my show.
Speaker 5: Absolutely God bless you.
Speaker 2: Dan Wright. Back at you, Chris, Merry Christmas. Okay, get
Speaker 2: you there all right? Uh we will continue, Uh, Richie.
Speaker 2: I I wanted to deal with Chris myself. I could
Speaker 2: have put him on with you. But what I'm looking
Speaker 2: for is I want to get some callers for you.
Speaker 2: People maybe see some of the same problems that you
Speaker 2: see related to the and what needs to be done. Again,
Speaker 2: talk is cheap, but I think some I specifically throw
Speaker 2: out that we should have more undercover police officers on
Speaker 2: the Common throughout the day, more at night than necessarily
Speaker 2: during the day, but twenty four hours a day, just
Speaker 2: to make sure that people are safe, because if people
Speaker 2: aren't safe, nothing will will will destroy the city more
Speaker 2: quickly than that. I'd like to talk with you about
Speaker 2: that when we come back. We got to take quick
Speaker 2: news breaks, So think about that. And if you agree
Speaker 2: with me, Recie, great, If you don't feel free, We're
Speaker 2: just struggling for ideas here tonight, how to make how
Speaker 2: to make sure that Boston Common doesn't turn into the
Speaker 2: next massive gas Back on Nightside right after the news
Speaker 2: I got some open line six one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four ten thirty six, one seven, nine three ten thirty
Speaker 2: Back on night Side right after.
Speaker 1: This night Side with Dan Ray, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: My guest is Richie Schukele, co founder of the Downtown
Speaker 2: Boston Neighborhood Association, and he is concerned about what has
Speaker 2: been going on at the at the Boston Common. Richie,
Speaker 2: we have some problems in Boston that that apparently today
Speaker 2: there is a member of the City Council who's now
Speaker 2: under investigation for some reason by the Justice Department, by
Speaker 2: the US Attorney's Office. That is never helpful because you
Speaker 2: never know where those sorts of investigations lead. Do you
Speaker 2: sense or do you get a sense that the people
Speaker 2: in city Hall, from the mayor on down are spending
Speaker 2: any time on the Common? They are they seeing how
Speaker 2: how people are behaving as to what it's like over there.
Speaker 2: You know, again, I realized that the Common is an extraordin,
Speaker 2: really important part of the city, but the city has
Speaker 2: made up of many, many neighborhoods other than the Common.
Speaker 2: People again, in positions of leadership, spending the time they
Speaker 2: need to to understand what's going on in the common.
Speaker 3: I think the quick answer is absolutely not. We we
Speaker 3: have a lot of things we had to worry about
Speaker 3: in Boston, obviously, and I think with the councilor obviously
Speaker 3: what the process tickets course, and let's see what comes
Speaker 3: with this.
Speaker 2: But that is I'm not convicted. I'm not convicting anybody.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, right when that happens, I've
Speaker 2: seen this movie before. It's sometimes no, no, well, look
Speaker 2: it's not it's not helpful.
Speaker 3: We're looking for leadership. Having these sources of issues pop
Speaker 3: up what seems to be every three or four months
Speaker 3: in the city council, that's just not good. It's not helpful,
Speaker 3: it's not effective. We had a hearing last week and
Speaker 3: we had a total of four city councilors show up
Speaker 3: to the hearing. Right, we had the sponsor, we had
Speaker 3: the chair, and we had two other counselors show up.
Speaker 2: That's, by the way, for those you know, that's a
Speaker 2: thirteen member city council. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I couldn't say how disappointed I was. And to schedule
Speaker 3: it on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. This isn't my first rodeo.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can't bury this story. That's not something
Speaker 3: that I'm going to allow as leader here in downtown.
Speaker 3: I'm a volunteer. Look, I have no agenda, i have
Speaker 3: no two to four year commitment. I'm not beholden to
Speaker 3: a term. I'm just the guy who's trying to get
Speaker 3: things done on behalf of people who live are most
Speaker 3: importantly my kids. And so what I take issue with
Speaker 3: is the lack of focus, sustained leadership. I can't tell
Speaker 3: you how many conversations I've had with folks in law enforcement.
Speaker 3: It's not just the Boston police, who are just fed
Speaker 3: up with a couple of things. One, it's so hard
Speaker 3: to recruit good men and women who want to be
Speaker 3: officers in Boston because of all the things that have
Speaker 3: gone on for the last four or five years. So
Speaker 3: there's a moral issue, and it's hard to get talented.
Speaker 3: And number two, you're trying to do your job as
Speaker 3: an officer only to have folks like the District Attorney's
Speaker 3: office go back and send people back to the street
Speaker 3: with no repercussion, it seems. And so that's demoralizing. I mean,
Speaker 3: who wants that? And so for my you know, being
Speaker 3: the mayor, of Boston is you're the chief executive. Your job,
Speaker 3: in my opinion, and the governor it's the same thing,
Speaker 3: is to convene all of the leaders. Your executives are
Speaker 3: the city and state agencies that make policy and that
Speaker 3: govern public health and public safety. They need to be
Speaker 3: walked up in a room with that said, in the
Speaker 3: hearing until we figure out the three or four things
Speaker 3: we can do to actually fix the problem on the
Speaker 3: Boston Common and by the way, with Pike Session, that
Speaker 3: impacts the rest of the city. So what's good for
Speaker 3: one citizen here should be good for everybody, is my view.
Speaker 3: And I don't care if that's the museum issue that
Speaker 3: you know, folks you're talking about with kids in Boston
Speaker 3: versus private schools versus all that. Everything that we do
Speaker 3: as a city should be good for everybody. That's my
Speaker 3: general view of the world. And so what we're talking about,
Speaker 3: I hope is not controversial. And look, downtown, I think
Speaker 3: you're spot on. Downtown Boston is a transit hub as well,
Speaker 3: So we have more foot traffic coming through downtown than
Speaker 3: anywhere else in New England, right, and so it's an
Speaker 3: easy place to come into to get out of and
Speaker 3: that's that's good in general, but when you're talking about
Speaker 3: criminal activity the focus of our conversation, it also makes
Speaker 3: it a lot more attractive to, you know, hang out
Speaker 3: later on the Boston Common because you can get away
Speaker 3: on the subways, you can go into the elevators, you
Speaker 3: can hide in the headhouses, and so there's a lot
Speaker 3: of ingress egress opportunity in and around the Common, which
Speaker 3: just makes it that much more challenging. And finally, from
Speaker 3: a law enforcement perspective, you've got Boston Police, MBT, Transit Police,
Speaker 3: STUFFOC and Emerson Police departments. You have a lot of
Speaker 3: different jurisdictional challenges you had to deal with as well.
Speaker 3: The park rangers as well, which is another opportunity. But
Speaker 3: it's a really complicated issue, which means that our leaders
Speaker 3: need to spend more time and devote more attention to
Speaker 3: the problem here. And so I would very much like
Speaker 3: to see our mayor, our city council, the leaders of
Speaker 3: all the public health and safety agencies come together with
Speaker 3: the civic leaders, with all the business stakeholders and say,
Speaker 3: put us out of the partnership, put us ode election year. Nonsense,
Speaker 3: let's actually fixed the damn issue. Part in the language there.
Speaker 3: It's just it's an infuriating thing when you go to
Speaker 3: a city council hearing and you get four out of
Speaker 3: thirteen people to show up, and you have one city
Speaker 3: councilor or maybe two, you know, I would say counselor
Speaker 3: Flint and a few others have been hammering home this point.
Speaker 3: We need more officers, we do a better job, and
Speaker 3: then you have others who it seems like are completely
Speaker 3: disconnected from reality in terms of what the issues are.
Speaker 3: And so this is one of these issues that I
Speaker 3: think is so important to so many people, and it's
Speaker 3: struck an earth. We had three hundred and twenty residents
Speaker 3: and business owners respond to our survey. We have a
Speaker 3: thousand members. Right to put in perspective, we've never gotten
Speaker 3: three hundred people to respond to anything, you know, at
Speaker 3: best we get fifty to one hundred people to reply
Speaker 3: to things. And so this is a this is a
Speaker 3: really really important wake up moment that that I hope
Speaker 3: hits home with with our city and state leaders. And
Speaker 3: I'm not going to step down until we get the
Speaker 3: attention that this deserves.
Speaker 2: But by the way, the survey that you're referring to
Speaker 2: was mentioned in Joe Venaki's piece and The Globe Today
Speaker 2: that of the three hundred residents who respond to a
Speaker 2: survey like Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association, seventy one percent reported
Speaker 2: feeling less safe in the area of the Common.
Speaker 3: They let that sink in, right, That's that's a crazy number,
Speaker 3: and hugely eight percent of the people said there's no
Speaker 3: change in their perception of safety. So you know what
Speaker 3: I said last week is I don't know where people
Speaker 3: were mentally a year ago at the beginning of the year.
Speaker 3: No change. Let's assume it's average. That's still a ridiculous number, right,
Speaker 3: seventy one percent of people. And when you ask the
Speaker 3: same question or how urgent you think this matter is
Speaker 3: public safety on the Boston Common, ninety three percent of
Speaker 3: people who responded give it a seven, eight, nine or ten. Right,
Speaker 3: This is a very urgent issue. So this is some
Speaker 3: anecdotal thing where we're fair mongering, as some city councilors
Speaker 3: want to suggest. That's not what this is. And I
Speaker 3: agree with what you set up front, and Joan mentioned this,
Speaker 3: We are one of the safest cities in the country.
Speaker 3: When you specifically talk about homicides and violent crime. What
Speaker 3: that does not include are all these other qualities of
Speaker 3: life issues, right, the petty theft, it's the intimidation, right,
Speaker 3: it's the needles, it's the children who are seeing violence.
Speaker 3: Those are things that people don't measure, they don't talk about,
Speaker 3: and those are just convenient left out of the conversation.
Speaker 3: So I take issue when I hear our elected officials
Speaker 3: fight that statistic over and over and over as a
Speaker 3: rebuttal to you know, residents and people who are raising
Speaker 3: the issue for all the rifle reasons.
Speaker 2: Well, from where I'm sitting and I no longer live
Speaker 2: in Boston, but I watched the city council and with
Speaker 2: two or three exceptions, Ed Flynn being probably primary amongst
Speaker 2: the city councilors who really like his dad, care about
Speaker 2: the city. I was a TV reporter when ray Flynn
Speaker 2: was mayor, and I mean there wasn't a fire in
Speaker 2: the city that Ray Flynn didn't get to, okay, and
Speaker 2: he was there to support the community. And I mean
Speaker 2: it's that sort of leadership that we're missing now. Tom Andino.
Speaker 2: You knew that Tom Menino had no political aspirations beyond mayor,
Speaker 2: that he he would you know, finish his career in
Speaker 2: city Hall, and that was his goal. I don't know
Speaker 2: that the current mayor, and I'm not here to bash
Speaker 2: the current mayor is going to be a long term mayor.
Speaker 2: I think that she probably has eyes on other offices,
Speaker 2: and that's not good. I mean the city of Boston,
Speaker 2: the mayor of Boston, that should be a person who
Speaker 2: was committed. You know. Again, I go back to the
Speaker 2: days of Kevin White, who served four terms as mayor
Speaker 2: at a very critical time in Boston, from the late
Speaker 2: sixties through all of the nineteen seventies when frankly, the
Speaker 2: Back Bay was not what it is today. Believe me,
Speaker 2: it changed, and it changed for the better because of
Speaker 2: Kevin White, Ray Flynn who was elected three times, and
Speaker 2: then Tominino who was elected five times. We were blessed
Speaker 2: with those mayors and Marty Walsh also very connected to
Speaker 2: the city. I got to take one more break, and
Speaker 2: I will invite anyone to call and offer their thoughts
Speaker 2: on traveling into Boston. We're changing topics at ten o'clock,
Speaker 2: so if you want to get in, now's the time.
Speaker 2: Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty six one seven,
Speaker 2: nine three one ten thirty. You know, many people will
Speaker 2: say to me, where you going to do this topic?
Speaker 2: You got to do that topic. This is a topic
Speaker 2: that affects everybody. If you live in the suburbs and
Speaker 2: you want to commit occasionally to go to to see
Speaker 2: a play or to go to a ball game, you
Speaker 2: want to feel secure in coming into Boston. I don't
Speaker 2: feel as secure as I once did. Uh, And I
Speaker 2: think most people agree with me, not only people in
Speaker 2: your survey who spend time and live in the area
Speaker 2: of the Boston Common but for those of us who
Speaker 2: come in and go to restaurants and go to theater districts,
Speaker 2: it's become less and less and eventually that will cost
Speaker 2: this city badly. We'll be back on nights. I feel
Speaker 2: free join the car conversation right after this. My guest
Speaker 2: on the line delighted to have with me, Ricchi Shukla.
Speaker 2: He's the co founder of the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association
Speaker 2: and he has been very candid in his comments Tonight
Speaker 2: back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: With me is Ricchi Sulkla Recchi. There's a, there's a
Speaker 2: great website called universal Hub, and I was just looking
Speaker 2: at it. Uh. A guy who was charged with shooting
Speaker 2: eight in pre carnival gun battle shot eight people, removes
Speaker 2: his GPS device and flees on eve of his trial.
Speaker 2: Uh Uh. Boston police put out an APB for Gerald Vick,
Speaker 2: who didn't show up at Suffolk Superior Court for his
Speaker 2: scheduled trial yesterday, meaning December two, on charges he shot
Speaker 2: eight people, not two, not four, not six, eight people
Speaker 2: during the carnival celebration in August of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: He had been held on six thousand dollars bail and
Speaker 2: ordered to home confinement. He cut off his GPS and
Speaker 2: left town. I hold that at the at the feet
Speaker 2: of the District Attorney's office, that's for sure. Kevin Hayden,
Speaker 2: wake up. Let me go to Brian in Somerville. Hey, Brian, welcome,
Speaker 2: you are on with Richie Schukell. Go right ahead, Brian, Hey,
Speaker 2: good evening.
Speaker 6: I run into make two points. Longtime Boston resident, lived
Speaker 6: in the South End for eight years now in Summerville,
Speaker 6: right near Davis Square. I see a lot of parallels
Speaker 6: from what Richie's describing and what we are experiencing around
Speaker 6: Davis Square. We opened a methadone clinic last year. It's
Speaker 6: brought some of that kind of noise and friction into
Speaker 6: the community. A lot of neighborhoods are now popping up
Speaker 6: individual groups that are routinely giving feedback to our local mayor.
Speaker 6: I wonder if there's parallels from other towns that are
Speaker 6: experiencing some of the stuff around subways, around common areas
Speaker 6: like here at Stavis Square and Porter Square and some
Speaker 6: of what you're experiencing in Boston, and maybe there's collaboration
Speaker 6: opportunities with some people who are trying innovative approaches to
Speaker 6: address some of these things.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's see what Richie has to say. Racie, did
Speaker 2: you hear Brian's comments? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Thanks, thanks for the question. I think there's absolutely a
Speaker 3: need for us to what i'd say, be less insulid
Speaker 3: here in the Boston area and learn from other parts
Speaker 3: of our state and our country, by the way, in
Speaker 3: terms of what else we can be doing to improve
Speaker 3: the situation. I think what we're describing Summerville, I mean,
Speaker 3: there's there there are trade offs to you know, to
Speaker 3: be well understood in terms of setting up clinics, thinking
Speaker 3: about different approaches to the housing. All of this is interconnected. Obviously,
Speaker 3: it's multi dimensional. And so I don't know that we
Speaker 3: have the luxury of experimenting anymore here in Boston. And
Speaker 3: so I think root cause issues. You know, you started
Speaker 3: off down with the this person who was charged with
Speaker 3: shooting eight people? In what world do we let somebody
Speaker 3: out on bill who has done that? That is that
Speaker 3: is apparently absurd, right, I mean, it was just attorney
Speaker 3: to do that.
Speaker 2: But but the bail was six thousand dollars. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you're shooting eight people, I'm assuming you can probably
Speaker 2: come up with the six thousand dollars, which he did.
Speaker 2: They put him on a GPS. I just happened to
Speaker 2: notice that article. And what does that say about the
Speaker 2: District Attorney's office in Boston?
Speaker 3: That basic the agenda, you know, the same nobody. Nobody
Speaker 3: elected somebody to do that. Nobody. I don't know of
Speaker 3: any reasonab people who say, hey, that's a great idea,
Speaker 3: let's let's put the way back on the street after
Speaker 3: shooting eight people. I mean.
Speaker 6: Topic, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: It's thank and thank you for calling in. And you
Speaker 2: can if you read Joan Venaki's piece in the Globe today.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you get in touch with them, Rishi Shukla
Speaker 2: uh and maybe uh maybe coordinate. Well that's an example.
Speaker 2: It's funny. I'm looking at the Boston murders, and the
Speaker 2: murders are down, but since July in Boston and most
Speaker 2: of the murders occur in Roxby, Dorchester, Mattapean sadly. July
Speaker 2: fifth man shot to death July in Roxbury. July fifth,
Speaker 2: two shot in Mattapean, one dies. July fourteenth man shot
Speaker 2: to death in Arborway near Forest Hill Station. August fourth
Speaker 2: man shot to death in Roxbury and Amory Terrace. August
Speaker 2: twelfth to shot, one dead in an apartment street in
Speaker 2: an apartment on Trent Street. In Dorchester. Men stabbed to
Speaker 2: death near Ashboon station on August twenty third. August twenty
Speaker 2: fourth man shot to death, Dorchester, Washington Street. September second,
Speaker 2: double shooting in Dorchester at a barbershot. One man is dead.
Speaker 2: The twenty third man shot at Mildred Haley apartments September
Speaker 2: excuse me, September twenty three. September twenty ninth man shot
Speaker 2: dead on Come Highway in Mattapan October eighth, another October eighteenth,
Speaker 2: eleven five, eleven eight. We've had fifteen people shot to
Speaker 2: death in the last six months. We had a handful
Speaker 2: in the first six months of this year. That's a
Speaker 2: bad trend. That's a very bad trend.
Speaker 3: Look, you haven't even covered the NBTA crime stats, right,
Speaker 3: So what when you really understand the data, then you
Speaker 3: would look at everything you just described and then you
Speaker 3: would say, Okay, what aren't we including in this that
Speaker 3: is also violent or near homicide type statistics?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: What we're not also talking about is, you know, are
Speaker 3: these occurring closer to hospitals? Are we changing how first
Speaker 3: responders deal with bullet wounds? So those fundamentally change how
Speaker 3: statistics are are logged. And so if you talk to
Speaker 3: officers about these things, I mean they'll tell you s
Speaker 3: plot out right the way you captured data and you
Speaker 3: want to you know, analyze it and publicize it. It's funcible, right,
Speaker 3: Ultimately you can do what you want with um and
Speaker 3: the time horizon matters. You know, how you sample, how
Speaker 3: you cut it. You can spend numbers all day long.
Speaker 3: But I think practically what you just cited, I mean
Speaker 3: it's it's the poor reflection on the state of our city.
Speaker 3: So if we're down one homicide or two, that's not
Speaker 3: the point here. It's the totality of violent crime homicides.
Speaker 3: The trend lines look generally better in Boston compared to
Speaker 3: the rest of the country. That's great, but you know,
Speaker 3: left unchecked some of these other issues that we're talking about.
Speaker 3: You don't go rob a convenience storic gunpoint. That's not
Speaker 3: your first act of being a criminal, right, You're a
Speaker 3: hardened criminal at that point, And so we need to
Speaker 3: get these types of folks off our streets. That's I
Speaker 3: hope that's not controversial, and I think most folks who
Speaker 3: are voted.
Speaker 2: For our some some people would consider it to be controversial.
Speaker 2: I do not, by the way, just from a point
Speaker 2: of that, the first six months of this year, five
Speaker 2: people were murdered in Boston. In the last six months,
Speaker 2: well the first six months of the year, in the
Speaker 2: last five months fifteen, that's a bad trend. That's a
Speaker 2: bad trend line. And when we see what's going on,
Speaker 2: do me a favorite, Richie. Rob will give you my
Speaker 2: direct line, keep me posted and we'll have you back.
Speaker 2: I think this is an important conversation because Boston Common
Speaker 2: is really, in many ways the heart of this city,
Speaker 2: and I want to do whatever we can do to
Speaker 2: give you as much oxygen on this issue as possible.
Speaker 2: Joe Vanaki wrote a great piece in the Globe today.
Speaker 2: I think we've had a good conversation tonight, and thank
Speaker 2: you for joining us. Stay there. Rob will give you
Speaker 2: my direct lines and we can talk anytime off air.
Speaker 3: Okay, thanks to appreciate you covering the important topic.
Speaker 2: You're very welcome. You're very welcome. Rob. Give him the
Speaker 2: direct line. We come back. We're going to talk with
Speaker 2: a gentleman who we talked to two or three weeks ago.
Speaker 2: He has visited stadiums in twenty four countries around the world,
Speaker 2: upwards of twenty five hundred professional sports stadiums. Where do
Speaker 2: you hear, sir? His story? Come back on night's side
Speaker 2: right after the ten little bit of a change of
Speaker 2: pace here on a cold December night,