This is a photo of tents being cleared at Mass. and Cass in Boston on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.
The transition from summer into fall means Boston can ramp up public safety efforts at Mass. and Cass, the epicenter of the city's opioid crisis, Mayor Michelle Wu said Wednesday.
Wu, discussing the apparent improvements in the area recently, said that large events over the summer may have required temporarily redirecting police officers away from Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. The city's hardest issues, including Mass. and Cass., require "relentless coordination," she said.
"I'll be honest: Over the summer, it was hard with a lot of community events everywhere," Wu said on the "Java with Jimmy" show. "When you have multiple big festivals on the same day as a parade, as something else, and the entire city's attention is on, at least on the public safety side, for example, you need a full call-up, you need every officer out just making sure that things are safe along that large event route or whatever it is, then people can end up getting pulled away from more specialized assignments like this."
The mayor continued, "Now that things have quieted down a little bit in terms of large events -- you know, our officers are always going to be there when they're needed for an emergency, a response, a call -- and we want to try to build that capacity, to have that dedicated focus at Mass. and Cass and other neighborhoods that need that."
Wu said the city has installed fences in the area to manage foot traffic, in addition to ramping up public safety and public health efforts.
"We are trying to, again, move to a system of dedicated services in places where people can be throughout the day as well, rather than just sort of everybody milling about and then, you know, being a little bit of a magnet for more predatory behavior that can happen," Wu said.
