THE PRINT EDITION
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 4, 2021
VOLUME XIX- ISSUE 74
Mass/Cass Relocation and Demolition Begins
by Rick Winterson
T
he Mass/Cass tent city is being torn down. Its destitute denizens are being (or will be) housed elsewhere. The by-now massive tent city will disappear before winter weather hits our City. Since early this year, Mass/ Cass had grown like a poisonous mushroom; by now, it stretches along both sides over many, many blocks of public streets. But it will soon be gone, and the unfortunate residents of Mass/Cass have been promised a place to live, if they can’t find somewhere safe to go on their own. As of Monday morning at 8 a.m., November 1, the project to dismantle Mass/Cass began. Mass/Cass started its short life when then Mayor Walsh converted a parking lot at the Boston Medical Center (the BMC) into a “convenience
REAL ACCESS!
There’s still a lot to do along Southampton. station” for the homeless in the City of Boston. This area rapidly became overcrowded, and many homeless were “camping out” in tents along the sidewalks on the northeast corner of the Massachusetts Avenue/Melnea Cass Boulevard intersection.
T he enc a mpment qu ic k ly became known as “Mass/Cass”, a nickname formed from two key syllables in the roadways’ names. T he e x t reme ly den s e automobile tra f f ic at t his intersection, coupled w it h sidewalks that soon became
totally obstructed, forced Mayor Walsh’s decision to move this “tent city” across the intersection and a block or t wo down Southampton Street. This was a stretch of road already known as “Methadone Mile”, because of dispensaries on Bradston and Atkinson Streets, as well as the construction on Atkinson of what the City is calling a public “Engagement Center”. Since its relocation, the tent city has signif icantly expanded along both sides of Southampton, Atkinson, and Bradston. It now is openly drug-infested, unsafe to traverse on foot, and has become a public health crisis. Quite justif iably, the MBTA has eliminated its bus stop at that point on Southampton. And everyone still calls the e nc a mpme nt “M a s s /C a s s”. In October, Interim Mayor Kim Janey issued an Executive Order from her office. Her Continued on page 3
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