The grim situation at Mass and Cass continues to deteriorate while the Boston City Council and Mayor Michelle Wu dither and delay about what to do.
Wu’s proposed ordinance to clean up the tent encampments and get people into shelter has been put off for another week and has now gone two months without any action.
Wu can and should stop deferring to the do-nothing council and send police and social services in now to restore order and safety to the blighted, drug-infested Mass and Cass neighborhood – before it gets any colder.
Can anyone imagine the late Tom Menino or Ray Flynn waiting on the City Council to act on an important issue? They viewed the council largely as rubber stamps or inconsequential and ruled from a strong mayoral position.
Wu, a former council president, does have to deal with the council now on budgetary matters but not when it comes to a crucial public safety emergency like Mass and Cass. She has the right to deploy police in a crisis.
The latest disturbing news, that authorities found a toddler wandering around the blighted and dangerous area, should only prod Wu to act even more swiftly to send in police. City Council President Ed Flynn – who has been proactive on Mass and Cass – has called for an investigation into the two-year-old boy found with a woman on Southampton Street last week.
But several councilors have been impediments to Wu’s plan for Mass and Cass, raising questions about the ordinance’s legality in an eight hour debate last month. One councilor, Frank Baker, questioned why the ordinance was needed, saying it was “wasting our time” to debate it.
The latest excuse from the council to not act on Wu’s ordinance is that lame duck Councilor Ricardo Arroyo has Covid. We wish him well but that shouldn’t stop a majority of the council from voting.
Arroyo, who was defeated in the preliminary election and is on his way to the dreaded private sector, has been a roadblock for months and clearly has no intention of approving Wu’s proposal.
But Wu still has allies on the council and should try and ram through her ordinance. If she can’t, she still has the power to take action.
Wu endorsed Arroyo’s opponent in the preliminary and ever since then the Hyde Park councilor seems bent on getting even with the mayor by slowing down her agenda.
The situation at Mass and Cass demands an “emergency” response – not sit around waiting for a petulant councilor to get revenge.
