In an Aug. 10 letter to his fellow councilors, District 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn called for an emergency council session to develop a plan for addressing significant public safety concerns in Downtown Boston.
Councilor Flynn underscored how the Boston Police, whose ranks have been reduced by some 600 officers for a variety of reasons, is currently overwhelmed and understaffed as the department now grapples with a rise in violent crime, along with a sense of disrespect for officers and their families.
In his letter, Councilor Flynn also recounted how together with Mayor Michelle Wu; Rep. Aaron Michlewitz; Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden; and Rishi Shukla, co-founder of the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association (DBNA), he helped establish the One Downtown Task Force in March to proactively address that neighborhood’s mounting quality-of-life issues and public safety concerns.
The group’s formation came one month after the Downtown Public Safety Summit, hosted by the DBNA, brought the issue of serious public safety concerns in Downtown Boston to the fore.
The One Downtown Task Force met again on Aug. 5 at Suffolk Law School to discuss recent issues, as well as well as the group’s next steps.
This meeting came in the aftermath of one homicide, five people shot, two stabbings, and a worker assaulted within the course of a month near and along the Tremont Street/Boston Common corridor. The latest incident occurred just before 2 p.m. on July 31, when a fight resulted in a non-fatal stabbing near the Park MBTA station.
“I highlighted the urgent need to address the recent rise of violent crime in Downtown Boston – which serves as our economic engine and home to thousands of young families, professionals, college students, and longtime residents,” Councilor Flynn wrote in his letter. “We have to acknowledge the status quo is untenable. Boston is not the safest city in the country. We must include the recommendations and opinions from the public, neighborhood organizations, police and first responders as part of this emergency session and overall strategy. It is critical that we both hire hundreds of police officers and work closely with state and federal partners as well. We must demonstrate a willingness to support police officers and their families.”
Councilor Flynn called on his fellow schedules to schedule a “critically important emergency session” as soon as possible.
“We must include the recommendations and opinions from the public, neighborhood organizations, police, and first-responders as part of this emergency session and overall strategy,” he wrote. “It is critical that we both hire hundreds of police officers and work closely with state and federal partners as well. We must demonstrate a willingness to support police officers and their families. Our residents and businesses deserve safer and healthier neighborhoods.”
One day after the letter was dispatched, Councilor Flynn told this reporter he had already heard back from Council President Liz Breadon, who pledged to help him set up an emergency session, including Councilor Henry Santana, who chairs the council’s Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice, by the end of this month to devise a plan for addressing downtown’s public safety and quality-of-life concerns.
“City councilors have a responsibility to provide positive leadership on public safety issues, and they’re not doing that,” said Councilor Flynn. “They are allowing city administration to manage all aspects of public safety and take the City Council completely out of the discussion. The City Council needs to understand we have serious challenges in the city with public safety, and we can’t ignore the crisis we’re in, with the low number of police officers now in the city.”