Some people might look around Boston’s Downtown Crossing neighborhood, which has been beset by rising crime and addiction challenges, and see nuisances to be eliminated and problems to be solved.
Friar Thomas E. Conway looks around and sees people in need of help, souls to be saved.
“It’s quite complicated. Because everybody’s redeemable. Everybody can be saved. Everybody can [be saved] in terms of addiction recovery, everybody’s possible,” said Conway, the executive director of the St. Anthony Shrine on Arch Street, in the heart of Downtown Crossing.
He’s also under no illusion about the size or scope of the problem he and his fellow Franciscan friars face as they go about that work.
“We’ve got a lot of folks. We’re kind of overwhelmed with the number of people and the magnitude of the problem,” he told MassLive on a rainy Tuesday morning. “It used be that homeless people were ... simply out a job or had a drinking problem.”
But it also comes with the territory. They’re members of a Roman Catholic order that specifically calls for them to live among and serve the poor and the marginalized.
“Now, it’s multiple levels of ... criminal history [and] complicated medical histories — addictions, horrible, horrible things,” he continued. “But we’re doing the best we can.”
These were the stories that Democratic mayoral candidate Josh Kraft had come to Downtown Crossing to hear.
For a few minutes on Tuesday, Kraft, the wealthy son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Conway, whose vocation demanded that he take a lifetime vow of poverty, discussed the common ground between them.
“Too many people are stuck in a vicious circle of homelessness, mental health [problems] and, of course, addiction,” Kraft, who’s looking to unseat incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu, said Tuesday during a news conference outside a 7-Eleven on Summer Street, just around the corner from the St. Anthony Shrine.
“And they’re being preyed upon — whether it’s drug dealers, or human traffickers, or others taking advantage of them,” Kraft continued. “They’re stuck in this vicious cycle, and we want to be as supportive ... as possible to get them on the path to recovery and stability in life.”
The news conference, and the brief neighborhood tour that followed, came the day after Kraft, 57, rolled out his plan to clean up the open air drug market and public safety issues plaguing the area of the city known as Mass and Cass.
It takes its name from its location at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard that’s within walking distance of the sprawling headquarters of the Boston Police Department.
On Monday, and again on Tuesday, Kraft accused Wu of mismanaging the “humanitarian crisis” at Mass and Cass. which he said have now spread into other sections of the city, including Downtown Crossing.
That approach includes a mix of increased law enforcement, as well as what he described as a “recovery-first” approach to helping people living with addiction and housing and other services to get people off the street.
“We’re all about getting people on the path to recovery as quickly, efficiently and compassionately as possible,” he told MassLive when he was asked to explain the biggest contrast between his plan and Wu’s management of the issue.
On Monday, Wu sent Boston City Council a $4.8 billion budget plan that boosts spending by 4.4%. It includes modest funding bumps for city police and fire departments.
Asked Tuesday how he’d pay for his plan, Kraft said he’d seek regional solutions and philanthropic support.
“We know this is a regional problem. It’s not a Boston problem. We will work with our partners in the state, regional and municipal governments and community organizations to find the money,” he said.
The brief walking tour took Kraft to the Godfrey Hotel on Washington Street and to Café Bonjour, a nearby eatery on Temple Place. Both serve tourists and management at both places had one big ask on their respective wishlists.
More cops.
“We draw a very nice crowd ... people from all over, tourists, and you want them to have a nice experience,” Driss Elkmori, Café Bonjour’s owner and manager, who’s done business in the city for 30 years, told Kraft.
“And they do have a nice experience. However, on the street, it’s not a very nice experience,” he continued, nodding in the direction of the MBTA’s Downtown Crossing Station just down the block. “We have the T station right here that draws a lot of homeless [people]. It’s been very, very challenging ... and it’s always constantly calling the police all the time.”
In February, Wu, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, Boston City Councilmember Ed Flynn, and state Rep. Aaron Michelwitz, D-3rd Suffolk, met with a group billing itself as the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association, to hear about similar concerns, and to look for solutions.
One immediate result? Sidewalks, handicap ramps, vacant building facades, and more in downtown Boston will get an upgrade this spring.
During an appearance on GBH News’ “Boston Public Radio” program on Tuesday, Wu defended her management of Mass and Cass and the challenges that have faced other neighborhoods as a result.
She also dinged Kraft, noting that “some of what has been put forward in this so-called ‘plan’ are items that already have been in progress, and that the [Boston] police department and our Public Health Commission and the city have already implemented. Some are points that we have evaluated and do not believe would move us in the right direction.”
“But overall, I think what’s concerning here is that there’s, you know, this isn’t a new issue, and we’re not parachuting into a conversation,” she continued. “I’ve had the chance as a city councilor and now as mayor, to be involved from day one and within the first two months of our administration.”
Back on Arch Street, Conway, who ministers to that same population every day, credited Wu and other city officials for their attentiveness.
And away from the pressure cooker of elected politics, he’s just looking for a solution — and cooperation.
“The city councilors and the mayor are paying attention,” he said. “Ed Flynn has always been terrific about this ... There’s no one saying that there’s an easy solution. But it’s helpful if everyone works together ... that’s the big help.”
MassLive Reporter Tréa Lavery contributed to this story.
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