{"id":1999558,"date":"2023-08-13T19:23:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T23:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-as-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/"},"modified":"2023-08-13T19:26:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T23:26:58","slug":"outrage-as-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-as-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Anger rises as immigrants receive housing priority over Boston&#8217;s homeless camp."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Foutrage-as-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1999558&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Mass and Cass: A Troubled Neighborhood in Upscale Boston<\/h2>\n<p>Just a few miles from the ivory halls of Harvard College and blocks from some\u200c of the most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ca-governor-breaks-his-own-covid-rules-to-eat-fancy-french-food\/\" title=\"Ca. Governor Breaks His Own COVID Rules To Eat Fancy French Food\">expensive real estate<\/a> in \u200bthe \u200ccountry is \u200ba\u2063 deplorable out-in-the-open encampment of \u200dwandering drug users, a plethora of homeless Americans including U.S. veterans, mentally ill, suspected human trafficking, and heaps of scattered\u2064 trash that looks more like a staged scene in\u200d a movie on the ghetto district of downtown LA than upscale Boston.<\/p>\n<p>The South \u2063End\/Roxbury neighborhood, known as &#8220;Mass and Cass&#8221; for its location at the corner of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue, has for a long time been in its condition. &#8220;Ever since I can remember,&#8221; retired Massachusetts State Trooper Daralyn Heywood, who served as the first female \u2063commander of the state police of the South End barracks, told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>Heywood, a Republican, made an unsuccessful bid for state senate \u200blast year. She now works as a private investigator.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/ms-13-sex-offender-arrested-in-texas-5461636\">MS-13 Sex Offender Arrested in \u2062Texas<\/a> &#8211; 8\/13\/2023<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/mayor-says-immigration-crisis-to-cost-nyc-12-billion-over-3-years-5456715\">Mayor Says Immigration Crisis \u2064to Cost NYC $12 Billion Over 3 Years<\/a> &#8211; 8\/10\/2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>She and others familiar with Boston politics are outraged by an unintended hypocrisy born out of a recent power grab over the troubled neighborhood\u2014one they\u2064 say underscores \u2063just \u2062how\u200c far\u2063 gone the American\u200d government is when it comes to taking care of illegal immigrants &#8220;over their own.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just disgusting. We have Citizens of \u200cthe United States, some veterans, in desperate need of help in a \u2063right-to-shelter state, yet we are\u200d buying up hotels for\u2063 illegals,&#8221; said Massachusetts State Rep. Peter Durant (R-Spencer).<\/p>\n<p>The unwitting hypocrisy\u200b brought on by government officials began a little over a week ago when Boston City Council\u2063 President Ed Flynn, \u200dson of legendary Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, became \u2063acting Mayor during a 10-day vacation taken by Boston \u200cMayor Michelle Wu.<\/p>\n<p>Three days into Mayor Wu&#8217;s vacation, Mr. Flynn declared public outrage over Mass and Cass, released an open letter calling for its cleanup, and brought along local press for\u200d a walkthrough of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>Flynn told the Boston Herald, &#8220;It was worse than [he] thought,&#8221; and told a local podcast that it was \u200dso\u200b dangerous that outreach workers had to be pulled from the area. Mr. Flynn suggested a warrant sweep.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:640px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A row of\u200d tents that many Boston residents call home in an area known \u200das Mass and Cass. \u2064(Photo by Alice Giordano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Not long \u2062after Mr. Flynn&#8217;s public decries, Wu&#8217;s\u2064 press\u200d office\u2062 issued a public statement\u200c indicating that &#8220;while she is physically unavailable,&#8221; she would \u200b\u201cstill be \u2062making all major decisions that need to be made\u201d relevant to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>Her office\u2063 also said there would be no \u200bwarrant sweep.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200d&#8221;mayoral miff,&#8221; as termed by one national media outlet, \u200bfell in the same\u200b week Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency over what\u2062 she called a crisis in a shortage of housing and public services for the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/national-emergency-germany-may-introduce-mandatory-vaccines-as-coronavirus-cases-climb\/\" title=\"'National Emergency' -- Germany May Introduce Mandatory Vaccines as Coronavirus Cases Climb\">rapidly rising number<\/a> of migrant \u2062families arriving in Massachusetts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Weeks earlier, it was \u200drevealed Healey had allocated millions\u200c of taxpayer \u2062dollars \u2062across the\u200d state to secure entire\u2064 hotels and\u200c other housing for thousands of immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>But neither she, Mayor Wu, nor Mr. Flynn has\u2063 made any moves to declare a state of emergency for housing for the people\u200b of Mass and Cass. &#8220;It&#8217;s hypocrisy at its highest level,&#8221;\u200d said Durant.<\/p>\n<p>In May, \u2064Rep. Durant filed\u2063 a records request with Gov. Healey&#8217;s office asking for an\u2062 exact figure\u200c of the money being pumped into housing for\u200d illegal immigration and also \u200cfor a list of the specific hotels that she was securing with \u2062the money.<\/p>\n<p>He made the records request after learning Healey had\u200c secured housing in \u206428 towns for 3,853 migrants, with more entering the state daily.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Healey denied Rep. Durant&#8217;s request\u200c claiming that the \u2062&#8221;Office of\u2063 the\u200d Governor is not subject to the Massachusetts public records\u200c law.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He and \u2063Mrs.\u200b Heywood and others, including an \u200bon-site social worker who spoke to The Epoch Times on the condition of anonymity,\u2062 questioned why Mr. Flynn, Mayor Wu, and  Gov. Healey aren&#8217;t \u200ddeclaring state of emergencies for the estimated 200 people that make up the Boston encampment.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:640px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A patrol officer \u2064who worked for a\u2064 private security company hired by the City of Boston walks through a homeless encampment in the city&#8217;s South End district (Photo by Alice Giordano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mrs. Heywood said years ago, when the population at Mass and Cass was much higher, police were at least able to bring some of the worst cases from there to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-as-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/\" title=\"Anger rises as immigrants receive housing priority over Boston's homeless camp.\">government-run \u200bmental health \u200dfacilities<\/a>, but she said they were defunded and closed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If they are spending millions on housing immigrants and really \u2063concerned\u2064 about humanitarian needs, why \u200dnot for\u200c their own?&#8221; asked Mrs. Heywood.<\/p>\n<p>She said \u2062while there is definitely \u2063a mixture of violent criminals, heavy drug users and people with what she called &#8220;hardcore,&#8221; mental illnesses, many also\u200b just need housing and \u200coutreach services, like \u200bthose \u200dbeing provided to immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his push for public attention\u2064 to the Mass and Cass plight, Flynn\u200b did not respond \u2063to repeated inquiries \u200dfrom The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>The only move so far \u2064to fix the problem was to take away the tents and other makeshift shelters, including a construct\u2063 of\u2062 cardboard boxes and tarps, which was done under Mayor Wu&#8217;s \u200cadministration and\u200c Mr. Flynn&#8217;s watch as head of the Boston\u200b City Council.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Healey \u2063was still serving as Massachusetts attorney general at the time.<\/p>\n<p>A Jan. 12, 2022, picture that ran in \u2063Politico shows a bulldozer scooping up their only means of housing along with furniture and \u2064other items that made up the only place they \u200dcalled\u2063 home.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, \u200da\u200c whole new landscape \u200cof such makeshift \u2064housing has returned.<\/p>\n<p>Fueling the allegations of hypocrisy against Mr. Flynn, Mayor Wu, and Gov. Healey, all of whom have promoted the Black \u2063Lives Matter slogan, is the neighborhood&#8217;s backstory as a place meant to \u200dsymbolize an \u200bimproved life \u2064for laborers, minorities, and the less\u200d fortunate.<\/p>\n<p>Melnea Cass Boulevard, the epicenter \u2063of the squalid district, is named after\u200c a local civil rights\u2062 activist and co-founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a union for \u2063African-American employees who worked\u2064 for the local railroad cars manufacturer The Pullman Company.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Durant said there is &#8220;just \u200cno excuse to buy at the\u2064 very least to house \u2062the people, especially the \u200dveterans who\u200d served\u2062 this country,&#8221; alongside\u200b immigrants at the\u200d hotels being paid \u200dfor by taxpayers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mrs.\u200b Heywood called it the &#8220;ultimate government betrayal&#8221; and questioned why the hypocrisy isn&#8217;t angering more.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the situation has proven to be a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-education-nominee-ignored-sexual-assault-allegations-lawsuit-charges\/\" title=\"Biden Education Nominee Ignored Sexual Assault Allegations, Lawsuit Charges\">double-edged sword<\/a> for businesses that contend with the residual effects of \u200bthe Mass and Cass community.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, \u2064business owner Domingos DaRosa told CBS News that his property \u2063is not only \u2064riddled on \u200da daily basis with used needles, \u2064but \u200dsome of the residents are starting\u2062 to use them to\u200d threaten property owners who kick them off their property.<\/p>\n<p>DaRosa, who was\u200b later issued a court summons\u2063 in 2020 for taking some of the used hypodermic needles from Mass and Cass and\u2063 dumping them on the lawn of\u200b then Gov.\u200c Charlie Baker&#8217;s house in Swampscott, \u2062an oceanfront community about 15 miles north of Boston.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What\u2063 about OUR community? Who \u200dcares about the safety and inhumane conditions of our community impacted by\u200c this humanitarian crisis?&#8221; Mr. DaRosa asked in a Facebook post. He was later cited for harassment and ordered to stay away from Baker&#8217;s property.<\/p>\n<p><b>Meet The People of \u200cMass and \u2063Cass<\/b><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, (Aug 12), the day Mayor \u2063Wu \u2063was scheduled to return from \u200bher vacation and take back the rights,\u2062 The\u2063 Epoch Times \u2062walked into the zone of Mass and Cass with no police escort and \u200dspent the day talking to many of the hundreds of people who call \u2062the squalid encampment home.<\/p>\n<p>One resident, a\u200c 27-year-old\u2064 white man wearing a Red Sox hat who \u200blanded there at Mass and Cass after he and his \u200cmother got evicted, offered up a bottle of water, saying,\u2062 &#8220;I know you must \u2062be hot standing out here all day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:640px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A young man who grew up in Boston walks through a Boston homeless encampment where\u200b he has been \u200dliving since he\u200d and\u200d his mother were\u2063 evicted (Photo by Alice Giordano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The young \u200bman who asked to \u200bremain anonymous\u200b told The Epoch Times that he knows &#8220;everyone thinks we&#8217;re all\u2063 strung out druggies here, \u200dand we&#8217;re not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Another resident that spoke with \u200bThe Epoch Times was Michael\u2064 Banks, a\u2062 tall black man who spoke\u2062 especially articulately.\u2064 Until just a few months ago, he lived in an \u200bapartment in nearby Roxbury until alcoholism, he \u200dadmitted, &#8220;got the\u2062 better of \u2062him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Banks, lucid \u200band clearly not under the influence \u200cof drugs or alcohol, spoke about the disgust\u200b he felt about the way the \u2062city officials and media have portrayed the area, noting that when Flynn did his &#8220;media \u200cwalkthrough,&#8221; he didn&#8217;t stop \u200bto talk to a single person living on the streets \u200bof Mass and Cass.<\/p>\n<p>He said the \u200dsame goes \u200dwith the \u200dmedia, which has been running stories\u2064 almost \u200ddaily about the Flynn\/Wu controversy alongside the stories about all the services being offered &#8220;unconditionally&#8221; to\u2064 illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nobody has bothered\u200c to come and talk to us,&#8221;\u2063 he said, &#8220;you&#8217;re actually the first.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Banks\u200d talks about how the\u2062 media chooses to write about the smell \u2064of human urine, the scatter \u200cof needles,\u200d and \u2064people\u200c having sex in public\u2014as if &#8220;we want to live in this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said the encampment had been used as a &#8220;political freak show&#8221; and that he and others have talked about how degraded they feel over the &#8220;well-publicized priority&#8221; their own government \u200dofficials are given to illegal immigrants over them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ve complained about food\u200d and scratchy sheets,&#8221; said\u2064 Mr. Banks, &#8220;and we&#8217;re American citizens quite literally sleeping on\u2064 the pavement.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Asked about \u200bthree recent stabbings reported here recently by the Boston police and even a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/\" title=\"Boston's long-established homeless camp overlooked as priority given to immigrants for housing.\">stolen dog traced recovered<\/a> near the encampment, Banks responded, &#8220;Yeah, of\u200c course, there&#8217;s some bad people here.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what happens when you put all your homeless people, from people with severe\u2064 drug addictions to \u2062people\u2063 who just shouldn&#8217;t be out on the streets, in one spot with no bathrooms and \u2064no privacy,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to one\u2064 man standing alone, talking to\u2062 himself \u2063with his eyes closed, and rubbing his arms seemingly uncontrollably. The Epoch Times also observed many disabled people \u2063including a man who was missing his foot and was confined to a wheelchair.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Where are Flynn and Healey&#8217;s concerns for him?&#8221;\u200d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>Until recently, Danielle Boyle, one of the dozens of women who call the encampment home, worked at a local \u200dDunkin&#8217;\u200b and lived in\u200b a trailer in nearby Revere.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Boyle said\u2062 when\u200c the property was sold, she was told\u2064 to leave\u2062 because the trailer was being moved.<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old admitted she had a troubled life and struggled \u200bwith an addiction to cocaine\u2064 and heroin. She spoke \u200dfluently with The Epoch Times for more than an hour, in large part about all the attempts\u2062 she has made to get housing and being told &#8220;there was a \u200bwaiting list.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d kill to\u2063 be in any\u2064 hotel room<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just miles from Harvard College and pricey real estate lies a shocking encampment. It houses drug users, homeless Americans (including veterans), the mentally ill, and suspected victims of human trafficking. The area is strewn with trash, resembling a wasteland rather than a civilized society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":1999559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1999558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}