Mayoral candidate Josh Kraft referred to as on Mayor Michelle Wu to take “emergency measures” after a 4-year-old boy stepped on a discarded needle in South Boston, in an announcement Monday.
“Mass and Cass is a public health emergency, and the large number of discarded needles are a part of this emergency,” stated Kraft. “The city disperses hundreds of thousands of needles every year, which they are happy to promote. It is also their responsibility to pick up discarded needles promptly to keep Bostonians safe – especially our children. Today, I am calling upon Mayor Wu to commit to taking emergency measures to pick up all discarded needles throughout Boston.”
On July 11, a 4-year-old boy was jabbed by a used needle strolling barefoot in a grassy space close to the nook of Columbia Highway and Mercer Road, requiring intensive blood testing for infectious illnesses and weeks of medicines to stop doable HIV an infection, his mom informed the Herald.
For the reason that incident, the South Boston mother has referred to as for town to take the needle subject “more seriously,” with steps like extra needle disposal bins in parks and extra intensive clean-up sweeps.
Kraft argued Monday the issues of Mass and Cass have “spread to other parts of the city.”
“This is something that no mother, or any 4 year old child, should ever have to endure,” Kraft stated. “As a result of Mayor Wu’s failures to make progress at Mass and Cass, many people have been harmed including an innocent child.”
The candidate and son of Patriot’s proprietor Robert Kraft stated he would “bring a new and different approach and urgency to this problem” however didn’t state additional steps.
Wu additionally responded to the South Boston incident at an unrelated press occasion Monday, saying “as a mom, it’s just not okay.”
“It’s not okay to even have that as a possibility in the back of your mind, that’s something that you have to worry about,” Wu stated.
The mayor referenced every day sweeps by the Cellular Sharps Crew searching for to take away needles.
“Those sweeps happen in public parks,” Wu stated. “Those sweeps happen in key areas of the city. This was in a part of patchy grass that was not quite in the park. So it just is a signal to us that we have to be more aware of areas outside where we were thinking as well in the immediate short term.”
Wu additionally stated the presence of needles “to begin with is something that we need to tackle.”
“We do not accept that those who are trafficking drugs or dealing are going to use the city of Boston as a place to prey on people,” stated Wu. “So we’re going to continue to end outdoor congregate substance use, looking at every possible way to ramp up the treatment and resources while also making sure that enforcement is at the right level in the right places.”
Almost 50 particular person stories of needles have been submitted by way of 311 stories on Monday as of seven p.m., with as many as 13 syringes reported collected at particular person websites. The stories unfold all through town, together with Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Mission Hill and Hyde Park. The entire stories over an hour previous have been closed, with some reporting recovered needles and others reporting none discovered.
