Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back. We originally had intended to do
Speaker 2: one hour. We're gonna go into the second hour. My
Speaker 2: guest still with us is a resident, longtime resident of
Speaker 2: the community of the South End, doesn't live too far
Speaker 2: at all from mass and cast name is Brian McCarter.
Speaker 2: Grew up here in Massachusetts and now lives in the
Speaker 2: South End and is putting up with what's going on there. Brian,
Speaker 2: I just need to mention one thing to my audience
Speaker 2: and then we'll get right back. We have full lines,
Speaker 2: so I'll get to all the callers. I just want
Speaker 2: to remind our listeners that if they want to pull
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Speaker 2: your comment. If you want to comment about tonight's topic,
Speaker 2: you're more than welcome to do that. I know it's
Speaker 2: tough to get through on the phone line. Sometime. It's
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Speaker 2: name is Dan Ray and my guest is Brian mccartitt. Brian,
Speaker 2: very quickly here. I haven't asked you this question, but
Speaker 2: I want to ask you this question. Explain to my
Speaker 2: audience people who have never been in at Massive Cast,
Speaker 2: maybe never been to the South End in Boston. Maybe
Speaker 2: the only time they've been to Boston is to go
Speaker 2: to Fenway Park, or go to a Bruins or a
Speaker 2: Celtics game, or to I don't know, you know, go
Speaker 2: down the Entertainment District to the theater district. Explain to
Speaker 2: them what you have to put up and what your
Speaker 2: neighbors have to put up besides just the mere presence
Speaker 2: of these folks who in some cases are pretty whacked
Speaker 2: out on some of these potent drugs. Just give us
Speaker 2: a description as best you can of what life can
Speaker 2: be like in that part of the city.
Speaker 3: Well, it's frankly sad to see your number of people
Speaker 3: struggling with addiction, but you know, as far as the
Speaker 3: residents' day to day lives, you know, I've been propositioned,
Speaker 3: I've been assaulted, I've had stuff stolen off the porch
Speaker 3: at packages routinely. I've seen guys with hatchets and knives
Speaker 3: and bags full of drugs stepped on needles. But every
Speaker 3: three or four days I have to call on an
Speaker 3: ambulance because someone's passed out and you need to be revived,
Speaker 3: screamed a routinely, and uh, just uh, it's just sometimes
Speaker 3: it's just it's just tough. Care and help people.
Speaker 4: It's tough.
Speaker 2: And I don't care if you're a martial arts expert.
Speaker 2: You don't want to end up in a street fight
Speaker 2: with someone who is who's high on some form of drug.
Speaker 3: No, no, yeah, you don't. You don't know what kind
Speaker 3: of weapons they are carrying, and it's just something you'd
Speaker 3: rather you know, a void.
Speaker 2: And what about just some of the ugly aspect of it.
Speaker 2: I mean, you see people who are shooting up in
Speaker 2: whatever portion of their body they need to shoot up
Speaker 2: in correct, and it doesn't matter what they have to
Speaker 2: pull down or pull up in order to get that high.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct. So oftentimes people that have been injecting
Speaker 3: a long time, the armbands won't work anymore, so they'll
Speaker 3: often have their pants down and they'll be using legs
Speaker 3: or ankles or you know, feet or hands or places
Speaker 3: you would not expect.
Speaker 2: And most of these people, obviously, when nature calls in
Speaker 2: whatever form or fashion, they do whatever they have to do,
Speaker 2: irrespective of whether it's on someone's front porch, the lawn,
Speaker 2: or their their backsteps.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's that's a constant issue. The city has made
Speaker 3: an effort to hire a contractor to handle the bodily fluids,
Speaker 3: but it's clearly only one or two people since getting
Speaker 3: them come out and clean up the piece smell is
Speaker 3: quite hard to accomplish. I've not been able to do it.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you. Let's get back to the calls again.
Speaker 2: People have held through the news. I know we're going
Speaker 2: to move people a little more quickly and hopefully we'll
Speaker 2: do a second hour here Bob and Cambridge. Bob, you're
Speaker 2: next on Nice that with my guest Brian McCarter.
Speaker 6: Hello, Dan, Hello Brian, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 6: I'll be kind of quick. I think I have a
Speaker 6: solution to kind of like cut down on a number
Speaker 6: of heads down there. The Losston Police have a very
Speaker 6: good and reliable canine unit as well as the state police.
Speaker 6: I suggest canine handlers with dog, just three of them abreast.
Speaker 6: You will clear those people out of there or set them.
Speaker 7: On their way.
Speaker 6: They will move, Dan and Brian. Has this ever been done?
Speaker 3: That's i I've heard in a while, honestly, because that
Speaker 3: both the DEA and the police have complained they don't
Speaker 3: have sufficient probable cause for a search. You brought a
Speaker 3: canine unit down here to take minutes to find the drugs.
Speaker 6: Okay, the dogs are going to be bugging anyway because
Speaker 6: they can sense the drugs. Okay, the people are going
Speaker 6: to be scared. They will move, But I mean, this
Speaker 6: is ridiculous. Nobody's making them move.
Speaker 4: They've got to be moved out.
Speaker 2: Well, Bob, I think your suggestion is good. I'm not
Speaker 2: impressed by this district attorney. He does not seem to
Speaker 2: be someone who is particularly active in the community. They'll
Speaker 2: show up the obligatory show up when there's an a
Speaker 2: homicide and say this is terrible. We're very concerned. But
Speaker 2: in terms of doing what you're suggesting, just the presence
Speaker 2: of those dogs that would get the folks moving, that's
Speaker 2: for sure. And I wouldn't have three dogs there. I'd
Speaker 2: have ten or twelve dogs there, because you know you
Speaker 2: it's strength in numbers, the strength.
Speaker 6: Sure is, but you don't need too many of those
Speaker 6: bad boys.
Speaker 2: No, understand you, Bob. That's that's a great suggestion. I
Speaker 2: don't think this police commissioner would do that unless he
Speaker 2: was authorized by the mayor. And I don't think the
Speaker 2: mayor won to do anything like that either, to be
Speaker 2: really honest with you, because I don't think her long
Speaker 2: term plan is to stay as mayor of Boston. I
Speaker 2: think that she has political ambitions beyond Mayor of Boston,
Speaker 2: which is why things were pretty darn good when tom
Speaker 2: Monina was mayor because Menino his goal was to remain
Speaker 2: mayor of Boston. I mean, his primary focus and his
Speaker 2: concern was the city of Boston. I'm very I wish
Speaker 2: tom Monina was still running this city. I think this
Speaker 2: problem would have been addressed, in my opinion.
Speaker 4: Good Man.
Speaker 6: One other thing quick, I know you got a lot
Speaker 6: of other people.
Speaker 4: I waited a long time. That's no big deal.
Speaker 6: And when they rought the traffic light panhandling everything right,
Speaker 6: they should be arrested from peting traffic.
Speaker 4: Okay, they should be arrested.
Speaker 2: Well, the problem is if they stand on the island,
Speaker 2: they're going to say they're not impeding traffic. And also,
Speaker 2: panhandling has been recognized by the US Supreme Court as
Speaker 2: as a form of speech, believe it or not. Okay,
Speaker 2: let's go back to the dogs. I would agree with you.
Speaker 2: Thank you for you. Thank you, Bob, appreciate it right
Speaker 2: back at you.
Speaker 4: Bye, Bryan by thank thank you.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, I think that's an idea. I mean I
Speaker 2: think that you basically make it uncomfortable for the people
Speaker 2: to remain there. I mean, they're settled in, they have
Speaker 2: everything they need, you know. I think Bob's idea is
Speaker 2: a good one. We'll take a quick break. Coming right
Speaker 2: back on Nightside, Brian. I never expected would do more
Speaker 2: than an hour on this, but we're well into it
Speaker 2: and we got full line, so let's stay with it.
Speaker 2: People will be talking about this one tomorrow at work
Speaker 2: and at school and uh wherever they gather tomorrow, because
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people listening. Will be back on
Speaker 2: Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: We're going to get everybody in and I appreciate those
Speaker 2: of you who waited through the newscast. You will be
Speaker 2: in priority here, starting with Bill in Boston. Bill, you
Speaker 2: are next on night Side. Oh, with my guest Brian
Speaker 2: McCarter of Boston South End, living close to mass and
Speaker 2: cast open end drug market. Go ahead, Bill.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I've was really upset that Marty Walsh tore down
Speaker 4: the bridge to Long Island. It was a perfect solution
Speaker 4: to the pull up people and you know, put them
Speaker 4: out to that island and they would be isolated and
Speaker 4: there was a you know, a facility there and stuff.
Speaker 4: So that was really really tragic. And I think there's
Speaker 4: this current mayor who's buddies with the Henry's wife who
Speaker 4: runs the Globe. So so she's not worried about this
Speaker 4: because there's no political Miley job of Mass and cast
Speaker 4: that's a that's a no brainer for her. So the
Speaker 4: only thing she's interested in is the you know, the
Speaker 4: Trump things, you know, way out of the city. That's what.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's looking to take Elizabeth Warren's job. When Elizabeth
Speaker 2: Warren decides to hang up her cowboy.
Speaker 4: Boots, that's it. That's and so and so she doesn't
Speaker 4: you know, they play around with the issue a little bit.
Speaker 4: But and this is this is a nationwide problem. This
Speaker 4: isn't just Mass and Cassa. If you go on YouTube,
Speaker 4: you can find you know, homeless centers all over the country.
Speaker 4: You know, every huge major city has got you know,
Speaker 4: homeless encampment. And there's drugs and the old deal. And
Speaker 4: you know, I've been living in Boston for a long
Speaker 4: long time, you know, over fifty years. And I rented
Speaker 4: an apartment in nineteen eighty in Brighton for two hundred
Speaker 4: dollars a month and maybe it was one ninety and
Speaker 4: I look up about that apartment go for now, and
Speaker 4: you know, it goes for like twenty five twenty six
Speaker 4: hundred or something like that. That's like a thousand percent
Speaker 4: over one thousand percent increase real estate, you know, rentals,
Speaker 4: you have to make ninety grand a year to make
Speaker 4: a you know, to pay the rent by yourself in
Speaker 4: a one bed apartment in Boston, and people have maken that,
Speaker 4: and a lot of people become homeless because of that.
Speaker 4: You know, they're going to apply it to this and
Speaker 4: once they've become homeless, you know it's over. And the
Speaker 4: emotional things that happen to people after homelessness is just incredible.
Speaker 2: Right, And by the way, you're absolutely right, you're all
Speaker 2: those points you made are great points, but that doesn't
Speaker 2: make it any easier on my guest, Brian Brian McCarter
Speaker 2: and the other residents in the South End who are
Speaker 2: not homeless and who are simply trying to live their
Speaker 2: lives in some relative piece and quiet.
Speaker 3: And they have people Actually a data thing too, it's
Speaker 3: not so much a homeless problem here as a drug problem.
Speaker 3: So by the city's own numbers, they have shelter beds
Speaker 3: for the entire population of mass and casts uh and
Speaker 3: the only ones that are not shelter about one hundred
Speaker 3: at any given time and generally refuse the offer of shelter.
Speaker 3: So it's it's not actually a homeless problem, it's it's
Speaker 3: just a drug problem.
Speaker 2: But I think I think what Bill is saying is
Speaker 2: that a lot of Bill, let me just jump in here.
Speaker 2: I don't want to start an argument with either one
Speaker 2: of you, But I think what Bill is saying is
Speaker 2: that homelessness in some cases leads to drug issues, and
Speaker 2: that you know, I think there's there's a relationship there.
Speaker 2: So what's the solution, Bill, in your opinion, what's the solution?
Speaker 4: Or I would if you can't eliminate the problem, and
Speaker 4: you're not going to eliminate the problem with drug addiction,
Speaker 4: you can split it up and not have Boston have
Speaker 4: the whole deal.
Speaker 5: You can you know you have how do you do that?
Speaker 4: Was you know, I don't know how do you do that?
Speaker 4: You have to create a multi uh city approach or
Speaker 4: you know, you can't throw everything onto Boston.
Speaker 2: No, but but what but Bill, think about it for
Speaker 2: a second. Okay, just for a second. I understand what
Speaker 2: you're saying, Namely, the city that's going to say, hey,
Speaker 2: you know what, I know you got you know, five
Speaker 2: hundred hardcore drug addicts. I don't know what the population
Speaker 2: of mass and cast is. What what do you think
Speaker 2: what do you think that population is prian of a
Speaker 2: hardcore you know, regular clientele there? What are we talking
Speaker 2: about in terms of numbers?
Speaker 3: You know, at the peak of Atkinson Street, the city's
Speaker 3: numbers were about four hundred. I've seen shelter figures of
Speaker 3: like six hundred. So we'll call it submerging three or
Speaker 3: six hundred people per day.
Speaker 2: Okay, so feared up. So let let's let's just play
Speaker 2: with the number four hundred. Name me three cities who
Speaker 2: you're going to say, First of all, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: the cities they're going to open up there there there
Speaker 2: there city to one hundred drug addicts. And then how
Speaker 2: do you keep those drug addicts even if you convince
Speaker 2: them to go to loll or wherever. You know, they're
Speaker 2: not going to go to Weston and Wellesley. We know that, right, Bill, right?
Speaker 4: You know It's funny you mentioned Lowell because I went
Speaker 4: to Lowll Tech and Lowell is a nice Lowell has
Speaker 4: a lot of If you give Loell a lot of money,
Speaker 4: extra money, they might go for it.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, then the question is okay, so here's my
Speaker 2: follow up question, Bill, here's my follow up question. You've
Speaker 2: come with an idea, which is great, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2: My follow up question is, Okay, you give Lowell twenty
Speaker 2: million dollars whatever, and they say, oh yeah, we'll send
Speaker 2: the buses down, We'll pack two buses, we'll take one
Speaker 2: hundred drug addicts. Okay, every you get the drug addicts
Speaker 2: on there, whatever, Fine, how do you keep them loll?
Speaker 2: I mean you know, you can't like put ankle bracelets
Speaker 2: on them and say, oh you're gonna stay low I
Speaker 2: mean lo the money and they could be back. They'll
Speaker 2: catch a ride back to back the massive gas. And
Speaker 2: I think it's an insoluble problem the way it's being done.
Speaker 2: And I like the idea that our friend from Cambridge
Speaker 2: came up with is that bring the police dogs over
Speaker 2: there and rust them out.
Speaker 4: I don't know, I you know, I guess you know
Speaker 4: when they beat, you know, when general's battle people, they
Speaker 4: try to split the army, you know, the enemy up,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean? So you know, all right,
Speaker 4: you're saying one hundred, how about twenty? You so twenty
Speaker 4: you say, listen, Wellesley, you can take twenty drug addicts.
Speaker 2: Oh good luck with that, man. I'm gonna now ask
Speaker 2: what are you smoking?
Speaker 5: Bill?
Speaker 4: How about guilt? How about guilt? You make all the
Speaker 4: liberals and Wellesley?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah right, you know what? Remember? Remember remember when
Speaker 2: the governor of Florida sent the the immigrants to to
Speaker 2: Marthina's vineyard. How long after they gave him sub sandwiches
Speaker 2: and and Marthin's vinue sweatshirts. How quickly were they on
Speaker 2: the bus to to the Air Force base of Cape Cod.
Speaker 4: That's true, that's true.
Speaker 2: All right. Look, I don't mean to make light of it,
Speaker 2: but I think there's got to be a solution here.
Speaker 2: And I think that when Brian talked about mandated treatment,
Speaker 2: I think you got to look at these people and say, hey, look,
Speaker 2: we can do it the easy way of the hard way.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know we can. We can convict you, we can
Speaker 2: lock you up and you can go cold turkey in
Speaker 2: the in you know, in in in prison. We don't
Speaker 2: want to do that to you, but we got to
Speaker 2: get you squared away. That's I think what you were saying, Brian.
Speaker 2: And I don't want to put words in your mouth,
Speaker 2: but I think that's what you were saying. Am I
Speaker 2: correct on that.
Speaker 3: So there is a bill right now that just is
Speaker 3: coming out of committee at the state to expand, which
Speaker 3: is where you commit people to treatment involuntarily if they
Speaker 3: are no longer able to handle their own affairs. And
Speaker 3: so the idea would be to make it mandatory to
Speaker 3: be interviewed by a social worker trained in addiction to decide,
Speaker 3: you know, why are you able to handle your affairs
Speaker 3: anymore and put them at the er door basically before
Speaker 3: they're allowed to be discharged. So that would get you
Speaker 3: about well people today, something that I check my numbers again, but.
Speaker 2: Well, there's got to be something done. That's that's the
Speaker 2: that's the issue bill. Look that innovative approach bill. Thank you,
Speaker 2: and some people are going to agree with you. But
Speaker 2: if you can get Wellesley to take twenty to twenty
Speaker 2: of them, I'm going to nominate you to be like
Speaker 2: the next president of the United States. Thanks Bill, Thanks man.
Speaker 2: Talk to you. Okay, here's the news. We will do
Speaker 2: thirty minutes. If you're on the line, all of you
Speaker 2: on the line, you will be heard. I only have
Speaker 2: one line open six, one, seven, nine, three, ten thirty. Brian,
Speaker 2: I appreciate your patience, but You're getting exposed to a
Speaker 2: lot of people tonight in a good way, and people
Speaker 2: will be talking about this tomorrow. And I'm delighted that
Speaker 2: you've been able to stick with us, and you see
Speaker 2: that there's a lot of interest in this beyond the
Speaker 2: South End, and I think that's a good thing. At
Speaker 2: the bottom line. We'll be back on Night's Out with
Speaker 2: my guest Brian McCart a longtime South End resident. These
Speaker 2: people in the South End they need some help and
Speaker 2: they're not getting it from their politicians, and they're not
Speaker 2: getting it from the Boston Police Department. I think they
Speaker 2: get it from and when I say the Boston Police Department,
Speaker 2: to talk about the leadership of the Boston Police Department,
Speaker 2: the average police officers, the BPPA guys who work with
Speaker 2: Larry Calderone, the head of the union, they of the
Speaker 2: backbone of the police department. But they can only do
Speaker 2: what the leadership permits them to do. And I think
Speaker 2: I think that something new has to be tried, because
Speaker 2: what do they say, The definition of insanity is keep
Speaker 2: doing the same thing and getting the same result, and
Speaker 2: keep doing it time after time after time. We'll be
Speaker 2: right back on night Side as we deal with this issue,
Speaker 2: and I think it's such an important issue. We're doing
Speaker 2: two hours tonight back on Night Side.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: Okay, we will pick the pace up a little bit.
Speaker 2: Let's go Tom and Fitchburg. Tom, appreciate your taking the
Speaker 2: time and your patients. They're on the here. Tom.
Speaker 8: Hey, Dan, how you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your patience.
Speaker 2: You're on with my guest Brian McCarter at the South End.
Speaker 8: Hey Brian, how you doing?
Speaker 3: Hey Tom?
Speaker 8: So, anyways, I just had a couple quick things, you know.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's a real tough situation down in mass and
Speaker 8: cass I mean, I don't really have too many solutions
Speaker 8: for you.
Speaker 5: I mean these.
Speaker 8: People that are you know, in the government level and
Speaker 8: the mayor, you know, I don't think they have a
Speaker 8: solution for anything, all right. I mean if you look
Speaker 8: at and I don't know if you guys have been following,
Speaker 8: you know, the Karen Reid trial, you know, nobody has
Speaker 8: an answer for anything. I mean, the state of Massachusetts
Speaker 8: looks foolish retrying her again the second time.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't want to open up that can of wrooms.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about that later this week, I promise, but
Speaker 2: I want to focus on this. Can you imagine living
Speaker 2: in the South End, Tom and having people literally using
Speaker 2: your property as a public toilet and leaving their their
Speaker 2: hypodermic needles in your backyard.
Speaker 8: No, I couldn't imagine waking up to that every single day.
Speaker 8: You know, I have children and bring them to school
Speaker 8: and go to work and just live my life day
Speaker 8: to day and seeing people will defecate on the sidewalks
Speaker 8: and the ibrier nets everywhere. I mean, it doesn't seem
Speaker 8: like anybody has a plan to do anything because it
Speaker 8: doesn't benefit the people that are in the positions that
Speaker 8: can do something about it.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think what happens is a lot
Speaker 2: of people turn they vote the same people in office,
Speaker 2: they get the same results, and maybe it's time to
Speaker 2: try something new. That's all. I'm not here to advocate
Speaker 2: for any particular candidate whatsoever, but I think that if
Speaker 2: someone's been in office and hasn't responded, you know, then
Speaker 2: then maybe it's time for them to try another line
Speaker 2: of work.
Speaker 4: I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 8: I think, in the words of I don't know if
Speaker 8: you know who this is, famous wrestler Owen Hart. Enough
Speaker 8: is enough, It's time for a change. That was his
Speaker 8: motto going down to the ring.
Speaker 2: You know, I know who Owen Heart was. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: wrestling the only sports that's never been touched by any
Speaker 2: sort of scandal, by the way.
Speaker 8: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah. But it's
Speaker 8: unfortunate for the residents down there. I mean, they got
Speaker 8: a big dealing life, and you know, it's too bad
Speaker 8: that they couldn't come up with and I think it's funny. Yeah,
Speaker 8: it's uh, just put them all on a plane like
Speaker 8: the Santas. Didn't send them somewhere some somewhere else, you know,
Speaker 8: you know, like they did in Marcus Vineyard. I mean,
Speaker 8: who knows, nobody. You know, it's these people that are
Speaker 8: in these positions that have the power to make a change.
Speaker 8: They need to really step up to the plate and
Speaker 8: you know, figure out what they can do to make
Speaker 8: a difference in the community and in society and a
Speaker 8: positive direction. Not in this let's let everybody run around
Speaker 8: and you know, do what they want and leave hypodermic
Speaker 8: ginos and you know about the dogs down there, I
Speaker 8: understand about the dogs. I mean that's a pretty decent idea,
Speaker 8: but who knows the fetanol. I mean, one little thing
Speaker 8: of fetanol can kill people instantly, So I mean that
Speaker 8: would be putting kind of the German shepherds of the dogs,
Speaker 8: the police dogs at risk. So I mean what is
Speaker 8: the overall So, I mean that is what it comes
Speaker 8: down to.
Speaker 5: The call.
Speaker 2: I think if you if you allow the people who
Speaker 2: are in the South End, who are not residents, who
Speaker 2: are not paying taxes, who are not trying to do
Speaker 2: the right thing, and you allow a group of miscreants,
Speaker 2: people who are badly addicted uh to substances over which
Speaker 2: they have no control, no ability to say no, and
Speaker 2: you just do nothing and leave them there. That problem
Speaker 2: is only going to grow, and it's like a cancer.
Speaker 2: It's going to spread to other parts of the city.
Speaker 2: And I think for the mayor to ignore it uh
Speaker 2: and put and to focus on more bike lanes. That
Speaker 2: probably pleases a constituency a bike of bike riders, but
Speaker 2: it does nothing for the people who have invested, you know,
Speaker 2: their their families and their and their money and properties
Speaker 2: in the South End. Tom. I appreciate your call. I
Speaker 2: wish we had an answer, but we'll keep going. Maybe
Speaker 2: we'll find one.
Speaker 8: Okay, all right, Dan, thanks a lot, Thanks, thank you,
Speaker 8: thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Tom Next, stay back in Boston, Mick and Alston. Mike,
Speaker 2: you were next on Nightside with my guest Brian McCarter.
Speaker 2: He's a resident of the South End. You have a
Speaker 2: question or comment for him, Mick.
Speaker 5: I have a couple of comments, Dan, and I'll welcome
Speaker 5: Brian to your show to start off. I'm not a
Speaker 5: fan of Michelle Wou. I think you're right, she's like.
Speaker 4: Looking past this.
Speaker 5: Marty Walsh and Tominino would have probably handled this a
Speaker 5: lot better. The bike lanes in Alson Brightness, trangling all
Speaker 5: the small businesses. She doesn't listen like west Roxbury.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 5: She just does what she wants. And as far as
Speaker 5: mass Cast goes, I think since Long Island closed, that
Speaker 5: became a big problem there. That's where all the buses
Speaker 5: took you to Long Island, and that's where all the
Speaker 5: acts just habtly go to.
Speaker 2: My understanding by I'm not looking to defend Marty Walsher,
Speaker 2: but my understanding was that the bridge too long, too
Speaker 2: Long Island, and Brian, if I'm wrong here, please correct
Speaker 2: me that that bridge was becoming unsafe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the engineers from the state to declare it no
Speaker 3: longer you know, fit for safety, so it had to
Speaker 3: be shut down, torn down and redone.
Speaker 2: Right, And I guess they don't have the money to
Speaker 2: redo it. And I also guess that the mayor of Quinsy,
Speaker 2: who's looking out for his constituents, doesn't want to allow
Speaker 2: bus traffic to trans you know, it's you know, Long
Speaker 2: Island is actually I think technically the City of Boston,
Speaker 2: but the mayor of Quinsy doesn't want buses to go
Speaker 2: be going through his neighborhoods to get there. As I
Speaker 2: understand that, I think.
Speaker 3: Yeah, roughly they so they've been tying up. I think
Speaker 3: it's the last or second to last permit in court currently.
Speaker 3: So even if tomorrow the litigation you ended, estimates I've
Speaker 3: heard from various politicians would take ten more years to
Speaker 3: have the facility open and maybe even a billion dollars.
Speaker 3: So at this point, it's it's kind of a pie
Speaker 3: in the sky thinking that that's going to restart, which
Speaker 3: you still have to do in the long term. Thinking
Speaker 3: of Boston, you need to restart that facility, but we
Speaker 3: need something now.
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, we need we need something yesterday. Go ahead.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, Mick, Brian Dan, what about the NBTA boats?
Speaker 5: Why not setting the people out there.
Speaker 3: On boats when people are overdosing? Uh, it's the time
Speaker 3: to respond to the boat. Isn't saft enough to get
Speaker 3: them to the emergency of them? That's the medical reason.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, it would seem that I
Speaker 2: don't know, it would seem that they could depopulate it somewhat, Brian,
Speaker 2: if they could say to people, you know, put people,
Speaker 2: let's say in a I don't know, you know, in
Speaker 2: a in a in a facility for for a couple
Speaker 2: of days, to make sure that they haven't taken anything.
Speaker 2: Put them on the boat and get him out there.
Speaker 2: But I guess you've still got to build a facility,
Speaker 2: which I think you said could cost as much as
Speaker 2: a billion dollars right.
Speaker 3: To redo the whole bridge, and you know bridge is
Speaker 3: two hundred and something million, and then all the furd
Speaker 3: maintenance on the buildings. You know, easily it would end
Speaker 3: with your typical Boston instruction costs skyrocket. It could be
Speaker 3: it could end up being a billion dollars for that
Speaker 3: Philly which is which is why collins plan to use
Speaker 3: a retired cruise ship is like sixty million. Why don't
Speaker 3: we just do that now until we can do with.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, yeah, I think I think that's a
Speaker 2: good idea. That If that's Nick Collins's idea, I think
Speaker 2: that's a that's a decent idea. Well, you know, Mick,
Speaker 2: we've covered a lot here tonight. You know, how is
Speaker 2: Alston doing with with drug abuse? Is that a huge
Speaker 2: factor over there or no, you're on the other side
Speaker 2: of the city.
Speaker 5: Well, no, you know, it's everyweight Dan, but I don't
Speaker 5: think it's as bad. It's it's definitely not as bad
Speaker 5: as mass cast.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, but that massive leads the leg but.
Speaker 5: It's everywhere, you know, throughout the stair. I guess numbers
Speaker 5: of overdoses are going down now, but long overdue because
Speaker 5: it's spending epidemic for over twenty years.
Speaker 2: Right. Well, I think the fentanyl is being cut off
Speaker 2: now that the borders closed, and Trump's not getting enough
Speaker 2: credit for that. I'll criticize Trump on a number of items,
Speaker 2: but you've got to give them credit for closing that
Speaker 2: border and cutting down Fentinel as well as hopefully child
Speaker 2: trafficking and stuff like that make I appreciate you call
Speaker 2: very much. I got to keep rolling here, Okay, all right, Dan,
Speaker 2: thanks man, thanks for calling in. Brian. I'm impressed with
Speaker 2: the number of people who have waited tonight to talk
Speaker 2: about this issue. I'm glad.
Speaker 5: I'm glad.
Speaker 3: I'm glad it's getting the attention it deserves, and I'm
Speaker 3: glad people have thoughts and want to share them. Keep
Speaker 3: them coming.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, We've got more more calls lined up, Brian, Darryl,
Speaker 2: and Lee. At least I guarantee all of you. I
Speaker 2: got one line at six one, seven, two, five four
Speaker 2: and one line at six one, seven, nine, ten thirty.
Speaker 2: We will wrap it up at eleven. By eleven, I
Speaker 2: promise we kept Brian. I haven't had a guest for
Speaker 2: two hours, by the way, Brian, in a long time,
Speaker 2: just so you know. Okay, So you've brought an important
Speaker 2: story to our attention. We picked it up at a gala.
Speaker 2: Carley's piece in the Boston Globe this morning, which I
Speaker 2: thought was a compelling piece, well written. As always, She's
Speaker 2: a great reporter, and I'm gratified that you've given us
Speaker 2: this time tonight, and I hope the callers who are there,
Speaker 2: stay and if we get a couple more, we'll finish strong.
Speaker 2: Heading to the finish line here on Nightside. Back on Nightside,
Speaker 2: right after these brief messages.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: By the way, tomorrow night at eleven o'clock, I will
Speaker 2: have with me a journalist, Scott Kerrman. Scott has just
Speaker 2: written a very interesting book about the life of Michael Ducaccas.
Speaker 2: The political career of Michael Ducaccas from the Massachusetts Governor,
Speaker 2: the Duke Weekly Conversations with the last honest politician. I
Speaker 2: kind of have been inclined to agree with him. Well,
Speaker 2: did that to Warren? I let's keep rolling here. I
Speaker 2: got Darryl in Canada, Daryl in New Brunswick. You've been
Speaker 2: very patient. You're next on Nightside. Go ahead, Darryl.
Speaker 9: Hey Dan, Brian, good effort, good conversation. I was just
Speaker 9: letting Brian know that if he has a problem with
Speaker 9: the urine smell in certain areas, you have a product
Speaker 9: that actually might help out, because right next door, I
Speaker 9: actually have one footage on my treaty camera is somebody
Speaker 9: doing the exact same thing. You're talking about, And.
Speaker 2: What's the solution other than probably getting your shotgun out
Speaker 2: and scaring the hendle.
Speaker 9: Nope, Nope, it's a it was actually a gal and
Speaker 9: but it's a product that actually can actually get rid
Speaker 9: of the smell. So, but the idea of.
Speaker 2: The name of the product, Daryl, you got us in
Speaker 2: suspense here, what's the name of the product?
Speaker 9: You can actually give me a call later, or Brian
Speaker 9: can give me called give him my number and I'll
Speaker 9: let him know.
Speaker 2: I don't think just give us the name, Daryl. Let's
Speaker 2: let's let's wasting a little time here. Let's if you
Speaker 2: got the name.
Speaker 9: Break Actually I actually don't have the product in front
Speaker 9: of me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good, Okay, Well, you know what, why don't you
Speaker 2: send me an email and I'll get the information of Brian.
Speaker 9: And I'm sure i'd like to let you know. Is
Speaker 9: the idea about the people in the homeless situation and
Speaker 9: the addict situation is you guys are talking about sending
Speaker 9: people elsewhere. So if you guys can actually talk to
Speaker 9: different communities and whatnot across the country, maybe you can
Speaker 9: actually put these people into a like a boot camp
Speaker 9: style thing.
Speaker 2: And I wish I had thought of that one, Darryl,
Speaker 2: that that is a brilliant idea. Maybe we could get
Speaker 2: some boot camps up in Canada and go cross border.
Speaker 9: They know, I'm just trying to help out, because no, no,
Speaker 9: I think that.
Speaker 2: I think if they don't look some of us who
Speaker 2: did boot camp, it's not pleasant, particularly if you have
Speaker 2: nasty drill sergeants. Well that's the old thing.
Speaker 9: Is a lot of a lot of people don't have
Speaker 9: any hope in the future. And if you can actually
Speaker 9: break that cycle and actually give them hope.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, Brian, Daryl Darrel, all good suggestions. Thank you,
Speaker 2: my friend. We'll talk soon. Thank you very much. Let
Speaker 2: me go from Darryl in New Brunswick to Brian and Chelms.
Speaker 2: For Brian, You're next on Nightsacer. Right ahead.
Speaker 4: Hey, Dan's BC from North Chelm shirt.
Speaker 2: I know, my man, BC. This is a friend of mine.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, Brian.
Speaker 10: So that whole area down there, my first experience down there,
Speaker 10: started playing baseball in the Yackey League in nineteen ninety
Speaker 10: one and there was two fields down there there, and
Speaker 10: that was a problem in nineteen ninety one, and I
Speaker 10: stopped playing in that league in two thousand and every
Speaker 10: year it was worse and worse. It was open air
Speaker 10: drug markets, people taking drugs, openly, street walker prostitution. I
Speaker 10: mean that this is a problem that's been going on
Speaker 10: for you know, over thirty five years down there, and
Speaker 10: there's been no mayre that has dealt with it other
Speaker 10: than lip service. And now here you are in twenty
Speaker 10: twenty five and it's you know, it is just the
Speaker 10: last time I was down in that area was probably
Speaker 10: about two years ago and unrecognizable. It's just I feel
Speaker 10: for those residents down there. I was involved in baseball
Speaker 10: in the South End for years and it's just horrible
Speaker 10: it's been thrust upon those people, and it's it's lip
Speaker 10: service from politicians and the residents there that are trying
Speaker 10: to live their lives are you know, it's it's sad.
Speaker 10: And someone mentioned Lowell. I'm in chums are right next
Speaker 10: to Lowell. Lowell's got their problems with that too. It's
Speaker 10: not you know, it's not a walk in.
Speaker 4: The park there.
Speaker 10: There's a couple of methadone clinics down here, the new
Speaker 10: courthouse down there, and you know it is, it's a
Speaker 10: problem there too. I got friends that work in the
Speaker 10: shelters down there, and they're dealing with that on a
Speaker 10: daily basis there. So I don't know what the answers are,
Speaker 10: but it was a problem in nineteen ninety one and
Speaker 10: it's gotten nothing but worse because there's been a refusal
Speaker 10: in Massachusetts to deal with the issue.
Speaker 2: Well, on BC, I kind of agree with your analysis,
Speaker 2: but we've dealt with it tonight, and hopefully we've raised
Speaker 2: the issue for some of these politicians and maybe some
Speaker 2: some younger politicians. We'll have some answers that the older
Speaker 2: politicians have not provided. BC. I got to get till
Speaker 2: more in here if I can. Okay, Thanks Bryan.
Speaker 10: Good luck to you, brother, Good luck, Thanks Dan, thank you.
Speaker 2: Thanks Brian, Thank you very much. Let's keep rolling here.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get Lee in Boston again, get at least
Speaker 2: one more in Lee. You got to be quick for me,
Speaker 2: if you could go right ahead.
Speaker 7: Lead, yes, really quick. So the last Carl I hit
Speaker 7: it on the nail on the head there and I
Speaker 7: pretty much everything I was gonna say, But I just
Speaker 7: want to say one thing. You know, there's some activists
Speaker 7: and uh, I'm in I'm in Dorchester. So some activists
Speaker 7: has been working on this issue for a very long time.
Speaker 7: One of it is actually a candidate. I'm not gonna
Speaker 7: get too much into that, but as a candidate running now.
Speaker 7: His name is the MGAs and Rosa. He's been working on.
Speaker 2: I've had Jamgas on this program. He was a football
Speaker 2: coach there and he had needles in Clifford Park if
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken, and he did get some action from.
Speaker 7: The city, right, So we need, you know, more people
Speaker 7: like that in office to actually, you know, uh solidify
Speaker 7: this issue. It's not going to be an overnight thing.
Speaker 7: We all know that. And one more thing is that
Speaker 7: you know the current administration they're definitely not looking to
Speaker 7: uh fix this issue, and it seems like it's just
Speaker 7: walking over it and just putting more bike lanes. As
Speaker 7: we do know that is what's happening.
Speaker 2: It's bike bike lanes and soccer teams. That's that's the
Speaker 2: dark teams.
Speaker 7: Oh that's a whole nother Oh go, I.
Speaker 2: Know, I knew, I know that would get a rise
Speaker 2: out of you. Hey, look, I appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 2: Thank you get involved. Thank you much. Last of the
Speaker 2: on this hour, Dot I got about a minute for
Speaker 2: your dot. You medte no well.
Speaker 11: You know, I've been out on that bridge. I had
Speaker 11: to go out to Long Island one day to pick
Speaker 11: up one of my sons and I went in that building.
Speaker 11: This was it around ninety This is thirty years ago,
Speaker 11: thirty more, and I went out there to pick him up.
Speaker 11: That place was a disaster. I mean they'd have to
Speaker 11: tear it down and build a new place.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 11: Horrible, And I can't imagine what. No, And you know,
Speaker 11: you can't blame the mayor and Quincy. He doesn't want
Speaker 11: all that traffic going over there a new bridge.
Speaker 4: It's true.
Speaker 2: He's defending his own community, his constituents.
Speaker 11: Tom Koch, absolutely I agree with that's right, and I
Speaker 11: agree with him totally. It's a but boy, that mayor.
Speaker 11: All she talks about is how beautiful her city is.
Speaker 11: It's her city, you know, she her city metaphorically at least.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 11: But anyway, I'll tell you, frankly, that log Island is
Speaker 11: not the answer because they'd have to pour millions and
Speaker 11: millions into it.
Speaker 2: All right, we got you. I just got to wrap
Speaker 2: up here with Brian dot Great to hear your voice.
Speaker 2: You sound strong. Talk soon, Okay, Thank you, dear, thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you, Brian McCarter, thank you for spending two hours
Speaker 2: with us tonight. I hope it's an investment in which
Speaker 2: some of the politicians will get involved in UH and
Speaker 2: do something for you. I hope that it can rattle
Speaker 2: the police department at the leadership and the police department
Speaker 2: at the leadership at city Hall. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 2: Give you a final word, Brian. Anything you'd like to say,
Speaker 2: go right ahead.
Speaker 3: Well, appreciate having me on and all your callers and
Speaker 3: some suggestions. And I hope the mayor take leadership on
Speaker 3: this and tries to actually address the issue.
Speaker 2: Well, we can always hope, we can always hope. I
Speaker 2: hope there are some people who are maybe running for office.
Speaker 2: Who have you talked to Josh Kraft? Has he has
Speaker 2: he at least lent you an ear?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they've reached out.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I just whoever solves the problem, it's fine.
Speaker 2: Again, that's what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to
Speaker 2: solve problems, not just preeing for the cameras. Thank you
Speaker 2: so much, Brian. Please keep in touch and if I
Speaker 2: can be of any help, stay there. I want Rob
Speaker 2: to give you my direct line so that you can
Speaker 2: always reach me and if I can be of any
Speaker 2: help to you on this issue, please let me know.
Speaker 2: You've been very kind for your time Tonight, We'll have
Speaker 2: you back, Brian, stay there. Rob will give you my
Speaker 2: direct line. Will we come back. Let's talk about what's
Speaker 2: going on in Los Angeles. A lot of activity out
Speaker 2: there tonight, monitoring it for you, and we will talk
Speaker 2: about it. Who's to blame. There's a variety of viewpoints
Speaker 2: back on Nightside after this