Boston’s ‘Methadone Mile’ removed but ‘anarchy’ spills onto streets, locals say

The tent city corridor in Boston known as “Methadone Mile” has been dismantled at the behest of the mayor, but some residents say disorderly conduct by its former inhabitants is getting worse. 

On Nov. 1, Boston police were ordered to take down the tent colony in the south part of Boston in accordance with an order by Democrat Mayor Michelle Wu, who argued the area was growing too dangerous with an open-air drug market and crime running rampant. 

Wu said that anyone who was living in the homeless encampment in the corridor of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, or Mass and Cass, would be offered state-sponsored shelter and connection with social services. 

But according to a local report, residents and business owners in other areas of the city say they have seen an increase in disorderly conduct since the tent encampments were removed. 

“I still sometimes come outside with my daughter and find people shooting up on my front stairs or smoking crack and, of course, the defecating all over the place,” said South End resident Makeda Payton told WCVB. 

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The Newmarket Business Association has partnered with the city to pack and store items since the tents started being cleared last week, the local report notes.

Sue Sullivan, executive director of the association, told the outlet that the street became so dangerous that the city had no choice but to act.

“Sex trafficking, drug dealing, just everything you can imagine going on. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” Sullivan said.

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Sullivan told the outlet that instances of disorderly conduct cropping up in other areas are part of the growing pains of fixing the issue for good.

“Call it in every single time. Make sure that everyone is aware that you’re seeing this because then they will increase the outreach workers or police patrols,” Sullivan said.

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According to local reports, more than 100 people have accepted the city’s offer to move into shelters since the tents were removed.

Over the course of three days, outreach workers, police officers and city employees worked to take down more than 75 tents at the encampment and place personal belongings in a storage facility managed by the Newmarket Business Association.

“How else to honor the homeless than by honoring their belongings?” Carol Costello, program director for the association, told WCVB.

In August, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association told NBC10 Boston that officers had responded to more than 5,000 calls in the area since the beginning of the year – a drastic increase in crime that reportedly moved Wu to act.

Sullivan described the area as “anarchy” and a “powder keg” ready to explode before the mayor ordered the tents to be dismantled.