Fwd: Dramatically Increased Drug Usage and Increased Safety Risks in Davis Square
Susie Purcell
Begin forwarded message:
From: "blair masswind.org" <bl...@masswind.org>
Date: September 3, 2024 at 6:22:58 PM EDT
To: Susie Purcell <susa...@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Dramatically Increased Drug Usage and Increased Safety Risks in Davis Square
Please post to condo group.
Thanks
From: Susie Purcell <susa...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2024 6:20 PM
To: blair masswind.org <bl...@masswind.org>
Subject: Re: Dramatically Increased Drug Usage and Increased Safety Risks in Davis Square
Include Me
Thank you Blair
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 3, 2024, at 5:35 PM, blair masswind.org <bl...@masswind.org> wrote:
Dear Neighbor,
You are included as part of a broad group of Ward 7 neighbors who may be eager and capable to help respond to the rising influx of homeless people openly using and selling illegal drugs in our public spaces.
Please share this with your neighbors, and post this to your condo association newsgroups.
Voices, and votes, are powerful in numbers
You are invited to help with mobilization efforts.
The recent influx of homeless people and open use of illegal drugs has brought along needles, booze bottles, discarded clothing, human waste, and stolen property along the bike path and in our yards.
See attached PDF fotos shared by one resident on a short walk last Sat AM.
A walk through the park is no longer promises safe, wholesome, family fun.
The sounds from the path into our homes are abrasive and upsetting. We see contorted or unconscious people every day, We worry about them and this growing public safety challenge. Illegal, highly addictive drugs are being sold and consumed within a few feet of our homes. Former addicts who are on the tough road to recovery are now confronted with this temptation. Teenagers and returning college students are now easily able to obtain hard drugs. As this ordeal continues, it poses an increasing safety risk to all, creating adverse perceptions of our community, possibly devaluing our homes.
No one seems to have a clear understanding of the key drivers. We hear rumors of displacement from prior encampment locations, creation of a new safe injection site, opening of a methadone clinic, or other possible reasons causing this migration to Davis Square. Reddit postings are full of concerns, complaints, and rumors, but nothing more.
Opinions range from blunt/direct to caring/compassionate, but no one seems to have factual info on why this is happening here now, or has proposed any action for improvement. In a brief chat yesterday with Teele Square firemen, they anecdotally shared that police have been directed to take a passive approach to drug enforcement here. What is the real story?
To start, we need to demand clear documentation outlining the city's exact directives to law enforcement and the interventions that the city has planned.
Note that this matter was raised at a recent Somerville City Council meeting on 08/22/2024. https://somervillema.granicus.com/player/clip/2561?view_id=1&meta_id=117574&redirect=true
Discussion of the topic begins at 1:09:40, but the group concluded that the topic would be "sent for discussion."
The attached PDF has a collection of pix taken on a Sat AM walk on the community path,
and the pix below, at our fence, and upon our property, provides recent powerful imagery.
<image039.jpg>
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We have a community of creative, caring, intelligent neighbors capable of doing great things.
Let us help our city, to help us, and to help our unhoused neighbors.
Please reply and simply type "Include Me" if you want to participate in crafting a win/win/win solution to this public safety crisis. A newsgroup will be setup for those who opt in, and an invite will be sent out so that we can meet, organize, collect facts, brainstorm solutions, and identify next steps. (May we have a volunteer for newsgroup administrator?)
Meanwhile, please note this offering from the city:
https://www.somervillema.gov/events/2024/09/03/virtual-online-overdose-prevention-training
Thank you neighbors!
PS-
Updated observation from walk this AM:
“We walked a different way and found more evidence of drug use.
We saw two people trying to revive a third person on Mass Ave.
We also saw a guy shooting up and dropping the needle into the MBTA air shaft grate at 7 Hills Park.”
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<Davis Square Community Path August_2024 - Copy.pdf>