On separate Mass. and Cass issues, Boston City Council shows unity and division

Politics

Councilors agreed that businesses near Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard should get a tax break but disagreed over an issue related to the street cleaning there.

During Wednesday’s Boston City Council meeting, Councilor Erin Murphy brought forth two items related to Mass. and Cass, the area surrounding the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. 

The first was a push for a tax break for businesses there. The second was a call to examine whether street cleaning equipment used at Mass. and Cass should also be used in other parts of the city. They were met with very different responses from her fellow councilors. 

Various crises affecting residents intersect at Mass. and Cass, where those struggling with homelessness, substance use, and mental health regularly gather. Mayor Michelle Wu said last week that public safety had noticeably deteriorated there recently. In the days since, officials across the city have been vocal about the best ways to decrease crime and get people the help they need. 

Help for businesses

Business owners in the neighborhood are being negatively impacted by the situation at Mass. and Cass, Murphy said. So she filed a hearing order Wednesday to discuss offering property tax abatements to business owners in the Newmarket Area, which contains Mass. and Cass. 

“We know that they’re struggling, through none of their own doing, and we’ve failed them in not providing a safe environment. Many have been adversely impacted by the deteriorating conditions of the neighborhood that aren’t accurately reflected in property tax valuation, including declining public safety, cleanliness, and quality of life over a number of years,” Murphy said. 

To deal with the conditions, 65 members of the Newmarket Business Association spent $3.9 million in security costs and incurred $1.9 million in damages just in 2021, according to the order. These costs have only risen since then, and business owners recently invested $500,000 in security, including the installation of closed-circuit television cameras. 

To help these businesses, the city could offer a property tax abatement to the ones feeling the most negative impacts. The abatement would be an effort to compensate for increased fees, costs of doing business, and “negatively impacted quality of life,” according to the order. 

This idea was met with wide support by Murphy’s colleagues. Eleven councilors signed onto the order. Only Councilor Frank Baker, who was absent, did not. 

“They’ve put up with enough, they deserve better,” Councilor Michael Flaherty said of the businesses near Mass. and Cass. “This city needs to partner with them, and I think a call for an abatement is fair, it’s reasonable, it would be a practical solution for this body to work with the administration to bring some much-needed tax relief to the folks that have endured more than anyone can ever imagine.”

Collisions over street cleaning

A few minutes later, Murphy spoke about another hearing order she filed. The street cleaning equipment being used on roadways near Mass. and Cass by the city and its contractors is also being used to clean streets in other neighborhoods like Back Bay, Downtown, and Chinatown, according to the order.

This could potentially pose a health risk to residents, Murphy said. In the order, she called for using “specialized equipment, solely designated for this area,” because of the “hazardous and infectious” materials commonly found at Mass. and Cass. 

There was pushback from some of Murphy’s colleagues on this topic. The Boston Public Health Commission assessed the relative risks of spreading infectious diseases by public works vehicles as “low to negligible,” Councilor Gabriela Coletta said. She acknowledged that the direct use of needles poses a higher risk of spreading infectious disease across Boston, but said that the overall harm to the public purported in Murphy’s order should not cause alarm to residents. 

One of the streets singled out in Murphy’s order was Atkinson Street, where overdoses are a daily occurrence. A street sweeper has not gone down Atkinson Street in seven months, Coletta said. Instead, the city uses flusher trucks that spray a cleaning solution on the street. These are used in areas such as Faneuil Hall after horses are stationed there. In addition, Coletta said that street sweepers undergo high pressure washes after every use. 

“I don’t take issue with my colleague looking to elevate and call for accountability as it relates to the situation happening at Mass. and Cass,” Coletta said. “I do take issue with the framing, whether intentional or unintentional, that pushes a narrative where the public is made to feel fear, unwarranted fear, for their health without due diligence done by the people they should trust most.”

Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune said she looked forward to learning more about the topic, but urged her fellow councilors to “avoid any sort of ‘us versus them’ mentality.” Louijeune, who is Haitian-American, said that the Haitian community was unfairly targeted during the HIV crisis in “dehumanizing” ways meant to keep them separate from others. 

“Any time we think about having to use separate things, or having to keep things differently because of a certain population that is already facing a lot of stigma, I just want to call that out,” she said. 

On Wednesday evening, Murphy released a statement firing back at her colleagues for being “willing to play politics with a public health issue.” She said hearing orders are simply used to get more information about specific issues and accused others of spinning it to earn points during election season. 

“There’s a reason that the Boston City Council gets called a ‘clown show‘ in the media,” Murphy said in her statement. “It’s because some members would prefer to stand in the Council Chamber and lob insults rather than trying to solve problems.”