The Boston Globe - 13.08.2019

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2019 The Boston Globe Opinion A

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At the corner of grim

and desperate

Portraying homeless people

as a nuisance is demeaning

I was appalled by the article “Spread of homeless rattles

South End” (Page A1, Aug. 9). The reporting leans heavily

toward the concerns of South End residents and how hard

it is to have struggling people in their neighborhood. I don’t

doubt that. It is hard. But how much harder is life for the

people on the streets?

I don’t think anyone ends up homeless, addicted, or

dealing drugs without some serious trauma, hardship, or

oppression in their life. Now these individuals are being

mistreated by the Boston Police Department, and the Globe

is portraying them as a nuisance, which is demeaning and

dehumanizing.

ELIZABETH SAUNDERS

Dorchester

For South End residents,

drug dealing and using is in-your-face

Thanks for the article “Spread of homeless rattles South

End” and for state Representative Jon Santiago’s op-ed “All

hands on deck to clean up a troubled corner” in the same

edition. As a South End resident directly across from

Boston Medical Center for more than 20 years, I have seen

how the charm and character of historic brownstones and

brick sidewalks often intersect with the cold and cruel

reality of the homeless and

drug-addicted. Grab a sticky

bun at Flour Bakery on

Washington Street, with costly

condos above, then take a quick

left on East Concord Street and

go one city block down to BMC.

Today,thattwo-blockjauntis,

sadly, a journey between two

unacceptably different worlds.

The economic, racial, and

social diversity of the South

End has long attracted many of

us to live here. We fear not the

differences among us. We have

compassion, tons of it. But today’s level of in-your-face drug

dealing and consuming is intolerable — such as the man

and young woman on our stoop last night, rubber bands

tight around the upper arm, cooking a tiny foil packet with

needles ready, blocking my ability to open the front door.

GLEN BERKOWITZ

Boston

Long Island site’s closing

displaced the vulnerable

Re “Sweep of homeless district draws fire” (Metro, Aug. 8):

There was no longer a place to flush the homeless out of

public view along Boston’s sidewalks and thoroughfares,

once the shelter and treatment programs on Long Island

were closed without warning. It was no island paradise, but

it did provide a refuge and respite, before a rusted bridge

became an excuse for the chaotic evacuation, and a

diaspora of society’s forsaken washed ashore at the

confluence of Mass. Ave., Southampton Street, and Melnea

Cass Boulevard.

Long Island was never Shangri La. But what city officials

accomplished was to displace the vulnerable from limbo

and consign them to Dante’s Inferno.

THOMAS F. SCHIAVONI

Boston

Lack of affordable housing

helps fuel this crisis

Excellent story by your team about how the opioid epidem-

ic is exacerbating issues of homelessness in the South End.

A related element worthy of more exploration: how the

lack of sufficient affordable housing is increasing the plight

of the homeless.

Imagine being addicted and jobless in Boston and

becoming inspired to turn your life around. One look at

housing prices would be demoralizing enough to send you

back in the other direction. After all, what’s the use, when a

place to live is so blatantly unattainable?

This is how Boston property owners and legislators take

care of the lesser-privileged in our city: The wealthy keep

cashing in, stomping all over their backs, and tell the police

they need help doing it.

Did someone say, “Bring back rent control”?

JARED PENDAK

Bradford, Vt.

Re “Safe injection sites are another tool on the path to re-

covery” by Cindy F. Friedman and Jeffrey N. Roy (Opinion,

Aug. 9): I recently spoke with a mother whose son had

started using fentanyl after a period of abstinence. I rattled

off my typical advice on how to reduce the risk of harm as-

sociated with opioid use, which included keeping naloxone

on hand and ensuring her son wasn’t using alone.

She responded that her son no longer had anyone to

inject with. As a result, in her own home, each time her son

injected fentanyl, a family member was present, armed

with naloxone, ready to respond to an overdose.

I was moved by our conversation, and by this family’s

compassion, understanding, and unconditional love for

their son. They understood what it meant to truly be with

someone in moments of need. This family had made a

conscious choice to do all that they could to help their son,

not on their terms, but on his. It is far past time that our

society followed suit.

Not every family is able to do this, and many people who

use drugs don’t have this type of support. Our policy

makers need to recognize the value of all human life,

without exception. A good place to start would be the

creation of overdose prevention sites.

ALICIA VENTURA

Jamaica Plain

The writer is director of special projects and research

with the Office-Based Addiction Treatment program at Bos-

ton Medical Center, and is a member of the advisory board

for Families for Sensible Drug Policy.

Onefamilyhasmadetheirhome

asafe-injectionsite

DAN WASSERMAN

By Steven W. Tompkins

B

oston is in crisis.

The recent attack on an

officer from the Suffolk County

House of Correction at South

Bay is indicative of a larger

problem confronting all of Boston. It’s easy

to believe that the opioid and homelessness

crisis is contained to the Newmarket

Square area, which some refer to,

unfortunately and inaccurately, as

“Methadone Mile.”

This isn’t so. Many of the homeless are

not originally from Boston but find their

wayherefortheeaseofaccesstonarcotics,

and others come for the services offered to

addicted people. The scope of the problem

goes beyond Newmarket. It reaches down

Melnea Cass Boulevard into Roxbury and to

the Orchard Hill School, where needles are

commonly found on playgrounds. It

reaches into the South End, Andrew

Square, and beyond, unabated.

Unfortunately, while many

organizations — including our own — work

to stem this rising tide of addiction, it’s not

enough. The water is too high, the current

is too persistent, and our resources are too

limited.

This is utterly unacceptable.

All of these neighborhoods must be

returned to the livable/workable

environments that residents and businesses

rightly deserve, not for a day or a week, but

permanently. To do any less is a failure of

the collective leadership of Boston.

Last week, I was joined by several public

safety officials, including Suffolk District

Attorney Rachael Rollins, Boston Police

Commissioner William Gross, MBTA Police

Chief Kenneth Green, Boston Fire

Commissioner Joseph Finn, and

representatives from the mayor’s and

governor’s offices, the Boston Public Health

Commission Police, and the Newmarket

Business Association. This initial

conversation was productive, with all

agreeing to work together to bring stability

and safety to the Newmarket area.

However, this was only the first step.

Moving forward, we must bring other allies

into this fight. That includes the Boston

Medical Center, the Boston Public Schools,

and others.

We also must demand action from our

representatives in city, state, and federal

governments. We need a coordinated

funding approach to create and maintain

more treatment and recovery beds, with

money to provide critical aftercare services.

I agree with the sentiment that we

cannot arrest our way out of this situation.

Conversely, I applaud Commissioner Gross

and his officers for targeting the drug

pushers and others who are preying on our

vulnerable homeless and recovery

population. But what do we do with those

who are not dealers, but victims?

The answer, again, lies partially in

funding and beds. We simply do not have

enough capability to treat those in need.

Additionally, we need a coordinated plan to

prevent the cycle of

recidivism. I urge DA

Rollins to continue her

leadership on this issue

by engaging directly with

the Boston Municipal

Court and Massachusetts

Probation Service to

develop plans stressing

treatment and recovery

for those without serious

criminal records — not a

48-hour return to the

street with no plan, no

resources, no recovery,

and no hope.

As sheriff of Suffolk County since 2013,

and with 16 years in the department, I’ve

watched our incarcerated populations

change dramatically. More than 70 percent

are remanded to our care and custody for

addiction-related crimes, with more than

ever before self-reporting opioids as their

primary addiction. I see firsthand the

devastating impact of addiction, not only

on the directly afflicted but also on their

families and our communities, while the

opioid epidemic continues to rage.

Our department has transformed from

an incarceration facility to a de facto

mental health institution and substance-

abuse treatment center, with detox services.

We created our groundbreaking OASIS

program to administer intensive treatment

for substance abuse, complete with

discharge planning, along with our PEACE

program for emerging male populations;

the Common Ground Institute, which

teaches vocational skills to help those

returning to the community secure

employment; and our Family Matters

program, which works with inmates’

families to ensure that a safe, stable

environment awaits them upon release.

More long-term solutions are required.

A reinvigorated Long Island facility would

allow recovery practitioners to bring

addicted people out of harm’s way from the

treacherous crosstown expanse of highway

that has become home to so many; offer

protection from the lurking threat of drug

dealers who, in their attempts to prey on

those suffering the illness of addiction, add

an additional obstacle to an already

interminable conflict; and reduce the sheer

numbers of people taxing the services of

residential and

recovery organizations

— services that are

already stretched thin

after the emergency

influx of new clients

created by Long

Island’s closure.

Reestablishing

Long Island is critical,

but if bridge

reconstruction

remains stalled, other

solutions must be

considered.

Newmarket can’t wait, Boston can’t wait,

and a vulnerable homeless population can’t

wait.

While the abrupt closure of Long Island

exacerbated the problems around

Newmarket, those problems did not begin

overnight. Similarly, they won’t be solved

overnight. In that spirit, I call on our

friends and partners to continue meeting

regularly, support each other, and not

disparage each other on social media. We

can and must take back this vital part of the

city while finding dignified means of

helping our residents most in need of

mental health and recovery services.

The situation in Boston with opioids and

other addictive narcotics is reflected across

this country. I call on my fellow elected

officials to join me in making Boston a

model for confronting it with compassion,

science, and courage.

Steven W. Tompkins is the sheriff of Suffolk

County.

A neighborhood that reflects

a citywide and national crisis

Weneedplans

stressingtreatment

andrecovery—nota

48-hourreturntothe

streetwithno

resourcesandno

hope.

KEITH BEDFORD/GLOBE STAFF/FILE

People sleep along a fence on Melnea Cass Boulevard near Massachusetts Avenue in May 2016.

We have

compassion,

tonsofit.But

today’slevelof

drugdealing

andconsuming

isintolerable.