South End leaders proposed Wednesday a tougher, tightly coordinated plan to confront open drug use and homelessness at Boston’s long-troubled Mass. and Cass intersection.
Gathered at the Hampton Inn on Massachusetts Avenue, members of the South End/Roxbury/Newmarket Working Group on Addiction and Recovery said their recommendations aim to knit together systems of public health, public safety and the courts.
“The status quo is not acceptable,” said Rep. John Moran, a South End Democrat. “Over the past years, residents of the South End, Roxbury, Newmarket and across our neighborhoods have experienced a visible rise in congregate outdoor drug use, especially in the spring and summer months. The reality has carried serious consequences, public health risks, a strain on services and impacts on neighborhood safety, including break-ins and other crimes.”…