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Migrant families to move from Logan terminal to Roxbury recreation center
By adamg on Wed, 01/31/2024 - 9:40pm
CommonWeatlh Beacon reports on the transformation of the Melnea Cass Recreation Center into temporary shelter for immigrants, at least through May 31. CommonWealth notes Gov. Healey and Mayor Wu toured the site today and were met by protesters, some of whom are actual Roxbury residents and some of whom are the rag-tag anti-vaxxers who used to stand outside Wu's house banging on buckets but who had been looking for something else to scream through bullhorns about other than the evils of masks.
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Comments
Roxbury residents have a valid reason to protest
since this takes a recreational resource away from a neighborhood that needs it. I do think "Why not Wellesley?" is a reasonable question to ask.
Yes ...
And that's why I made a point of noting the difference between the sorts of people who showed up.
Can you please provide a copy
Can you please provide a copy of the survey results of the protesters. I’d love to see your process for breaking down various demographics in a crowd.
Failed city-council candidate Cathy Vitale was there
She's decided this is what she'll now focus on now that nobody cares anymore about Covid, as voters made clear in November.
In the interest of accuracy
I counted three failed City Council candidates and one failed congressional candidate.
Would you say the same
About the folks over in Dorchester who didn't want the Comfort Inn on Morrissey Blvd turned into supportive housing for those who were once down in the Methadone Mile?
I mean, it's a tough spot. If the Commonwealth enforced the right to shelter law as it is written, this would not be a problem, but some might see that as being an immoral stance. That leads us to the administration looking to use facilities they own to shelter these people.
The Comfort Inn
Isn't a community resource. Ignoring any consideration as to whether migrants are being dumped in Roxbury, the community in Roxbury loses the use of a valuable resource -- a rec center -- for an indefinite period. An office building in Medford isn't a community resource, either.
FWIW
The state rented an office building in Medford to use as a shelter facility so it's not just Boston where spots are being opened. (Although I wouldn't consider Medford a rich suburb.)
If office buildings work, one would think there's ample vacant office space in Boston so they wouldn't need to take away a highly used recreational facility.
It amazes me that they would
It amazes me that they would tote converting office buildings for residents but then don’t try here amazes me. It’s a damn shame they would cram 400 families into a gym give them free everything want people to support but say hey let’s make others relocate to use the facility but then we’ll spruce it up again. The park was closed for 2 years. People are struggling day to day in Roxbury and other cities no matter what color you are and residents get no help but others do. Everything is about a dollar. They could’ve used the round tree instead of turning into an indoor drug haven other hotels more empty office buildings along with getting their own homeless residents a place to stay. We have people in our own city who work but have no place to sleep at night with their families I can guarantee they wish they had a warm place to stay and shower. People are sleeping in cars. You all are booting regular life long residents completely out. No local stores rising rent what’s next……..
Medford?
Can you link to a news article or press release about this? I can't find anything. This is the first I've heard about it.
City council agenda/minutes
They Mayor included a note in a recent email and there's some discussion on the below Reddit thread posted by a city councilor.
https://old.reddit.com/r/medfordma/comments/19fnbeb/city_council_highlig...
We have empty school
We have empty school buildings in the city office buildings and more so many options even in the state to help the state’s homeless crisis. I think as well why not Wellesley, Newton etc are great questions. Taking away a recreational resource for already disadvantaged individuals then to say we’re going to relocate the services with no care about how the individuals will make it to the other locations. It seems as if people in Roxburys opinion no longer matters it shows money talks and the governor did not want to offend the individuals in those other towns. Why not house them back on the Vineyard or back on bases. Use the jail to house the individuals from Mass and Cass who keep getting high on the street it’s a whole empty side to the jail and house the homeless residents and migrants in those hotels and office buildings. Our how bout every rep who is okay with this sponsor a family and take them in they won’t. They want to expedite everything for these individuals but will leave a Veteran on the street with no health care nor work.
Other than Westie High
name one other BPS or city owned school building that is closed.
This has the feeling of a
This has the feeling of a class issue. Lets take away local resources from people that historically do not have the institutional power or wealth to fight back.
I guess the Governers relection donations do not primarly come from Roxbury, as compared to Weston.
What about using West Roxbury High School?
The police still use it for training, so the city is spending money to maintain it.
Oh yeah, that's a white neighborhood. Nevermind.
Where does it end?
This current issue will be repeated over and over and get bigger and bigger. How does any country allow limitless numbers of people cross a border that only exists on a map and expect working citizens who can barely pay their Federal, State, City taxes, and be ask to support those coming in? Is that not a recipe for popular discontent not to mention economic disaster. The working people do not have LLC's, Trusts, etc...to shield them from the taxes they must pay.
Not to mention that the average worker needs to pay for shelter, food, fuel.......
Racist Speech.
Racist speech.
Racist speech.
Guess that's cool you bigot.
Hm
Pointing out that a neighborhood is majority white is "racist speech"?
Ok then.
Migrants in university dorms summer 2024?
To shift the migrants out of recreation centers, how about the use of Harvard and BU dorms this summer? There are hundreds of thousands more migrant families that the state will need to solve for based the millions arriving in the US requiring accommodations. Instead of temporary band-aids, Healey will need to consider eminent domain over underutilized private property to make room. We shut down venues like the TD Garden during the Covid crisis. Why can't the same be done for this crisis? Are we that racist?
Pretty sure...
...that is not how eminent domain works.
Lets take the temperature down a bit, shall we?
There were 7,500 families in the shelter system as of this winter. That number is increasing, no doubt, but it's nowhere near "hundreds of thousands", despite what you might hear on Fox News or OANN in the run up to their semi-annual pre-election xenophobia campaign.
Interestingly, colleges like East Nazarene University are already providing space for families in need, only to be met with angry protests from a portion of the local residents.
I'm sorta surprised Commercial landlords
with vast holdings of empty space haven't looked into providing some of these emergency needs.
Guaranteed rent via Federal funding for utilizing long vacant properties seems like an easy way to establish goodwill with the State towards future development projects.
The Lafayette City Center at DTX, …
… empty for many years, comes to mind.
I thought that had offices on the upper floors
belonging to financial or tech companies. Maybe those are gone now? The new "WNDR Museum" is opening in the first floor storefronts.
oh
Oh so thats where that is.. I keep seeing ads for it :p
But yeah I checked the building's website and except for the chauncy/lafayette corner on the 1st floor, the building is filled. And that first floor is retail space that they are willing to subdivide. Not exactly shelter space.
Yeah
Yeah but most commercial buildings lack proper showers and cooking facilities.
The Rec center, since it hosts sports, probably has mens and women's locker rooms with showers. (food can be brought in)
Good idea, it would be a place to go vs the airport or sleeping in South Station.
Do you really think
that commercial office space can be easily retrofitted for residential housing? The floor, elevators and stair layout doesn’t work out.
Why can't we use Newton school gyms?
No one is using them right now.
What about Widett Circle?
The 23 acre complex recently bought by the MBTA has several abandoned buildings that could be quickly converted into emergency shelter for the migrants. The site is easy to secure and is a much better solution than depriving the residents of Roxbury of their recreational complex.