Here's your park curfew right here.
Because of a recent spate of violence and drug arrests on the Boston Common, the city has decided to enforce the park's curfew for the first time. That means the park is off limits from 11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m., unless you're just passing through.
What that really means is 50 or so homeless people have lost their sleeping spots. I had read about the decision to enforce the curfew but its significance didn't hit me until I exited the T the other night at 12:45 a.m. and found the park, which was always littered with crumpled forms of sleeping people, desolate. It was a little eerie.
I'm a little split over the decision.
As someone who comes home very late and has to walk home through the park, it's kind of nice not to have to worry about an incident, and it's even nicer seeing park rangers driving around at night.
But, at the same time, the homeless are now scattered to the other parts of downtown, some of which aren't as safe as the common. Many of the homeless interviewed by the Globe said they don't feel safe in the shelters, which are often hotbeds of drugs, disease and violence. In the park, they band together and look out for one another.
Some of them believe they are scapegoats for the park violence — which saw a bullet smash through a window of the State House, which is on park and is where Gov. Deval Patrick works. (The homeless had no hand in the violence; it was a teenager arguing with another group of teens.) I don't blame them for coming to that conclusion.
I know some people in Beacon Hill are applauding the decision. It doesn't surprise me; rich yuppies whose biggest daily challenge is taking their dog to a pet manicurist (we have one here) aren't likely to feel much sympathy for the homeless.
I'd like to say I empathize with the homeless, but I'm afraid of exposing myself as a hypocrite. Maybe I am.
1 comment:
It's hard to empathize with the often mentally ill state that drives folks to the streets. The other day I came home to find a guy sitting on my recycle bin going through my trash.
He waved his hands around, got pissed and left - I guess because of the look on my face. I"ll just say it left my mouth hanging open as I pulled in the drive way.
A final thought - if they were to put a curfew on Hemming Plaza I don't want to think about how many folks would end up in my neighborhood. The police already have them moving all day long at the behest of business owners.
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