Charlestown Online

[anothertownie]

I'm sure everyone has heard of the recent violence in the area of the Projects and High School. Fights and beefs excalating to gunshots. What a mess! It is time to tear down the projects! I'm sorry if this offends some, for I'm sure there are "good" people living there. But the majority, I would say, are "bad." It has been done in other projects (Orchard Park etc.) The projects there were torn down, the residents went through an elaborate background/Cori check and those that were found to have a checkered background were not allowed back in and transfered elsewhere...many to Charlestown! I grew up in the Bunker HIll projects and I would not walk through there by myself today..not even in daylight. As for the high school, an old townie once said, "there isn't a Charlestown High School anymore....it's just a high school in Charlestown." How true. How many people from Charlestown attend that school? How many times has the administration disrespected the community by not attending meetings? How many more homes in the area of the high school need to put bars on there first floor windows and their door ways? How much more grafitti do we have to see on homes, caused by the students at the high school? This is ridiculous. It about two years Charlestown will be like Detroit a few years back. So, any suggestions as to how we, as a community proceed with this menace to our society?

[julie w]

your right i was agaisnt but after today ..it would be alot safer..i just want the good people to have an affordable place to live..it s time

[LaLa]

I agree. The one and only solution is to tear the projects down. Too many gangs there. Too many drugs and junkies. I am very sorry for the people that are good that live there. But if they did that back ground check then they'd get housing without a problem. Close the high school too while we're at it.

I also just heard there was an explosion of some sort down by the high school at Blue Circle Cement off of Medford Street.
Not a good day for Charlestown. Hope everyone is ok. I have no more information. I hope I gave the correct info so far.

[LaLa]

I was wrong. It was Lafarge not Blue Circle. Sorry.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/09/ambulances_resp_1.html

[sidcarton]

I agree. Tear the eyesore down!!!! What a wasted social experiment! (Aren't they all? ) I often hear people complaining about the yuppies, but at least they are not the ones trying to kill each other, dealing dope, passing along illigitimacy from one-government-dependant-to-another for generations! It is sickening what goes on in this town! Let's bulldoze the "bricks" and make it a fancy neighborhood like the Back Bay. Trust me-the WHOLE town will benefit from it!
By the way, why does this town need a high school, exactly?

[corps]

Last night Fox 25 reported that a guy was stabbed and robbed in the navy yard by four males. He was listed in serious condition and they got 2 dollars. WHAT ARE WE AS A TOWN GOING TO DO ABOUT THESE THUGS???????? Fox 25 reported Medford Street but it took place on First Ave near Store24.

FOX 25 Report>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A man was stabbed several times and robbed Tuesday night in Charlestown. The incident happened at about 11 p.m. on Medford Street. The man was stabbed while walking down the street. He was approached by five others, who stabbed him several times in the back.
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corps

[anothertownie]

We need to wake up and do something to make our own noise. We will all suffer if we don't. I say we get as many people to the next Public Safety meeting, show some anger, call the media about it...it's a start anyway.

[corps]

Lets not wait until the next public meeting!!!! Something needs to be done now. We need to call our elected officials!!! Where is our district councilor, state senator, state rep? The head of BHA, BPD, Charlestown high need to be held accountable. How do we do this?
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corps

[looper]

Corps you are right. South Boston would not put up with this cr@p!!!!! Someone would be held accountable. We need a community wide meeting at the KoC. The CNC is useless, lets not wait on them. EJ how do we organize this?

[anothertownie]

Lets do it!!

[corps]

Dont believe that the Projects should go? Read this article. What are we as a town going to do about it?
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Peril in Charlestown
Shotgun attack on students, concrete eruption raise tension
By Maria Cramer and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | September 29, 2006

A brazen shotgun attack on a group of Charlestown High School students headed to class yesterday morning may be linked to the notorious Bloods street gang, officials said, as they pledged aggressive new security measures.

No one was injured in the attack, which sent students diving for cover, but school and police officials said the gunfire probably marked an escalation in a neighborhood feud that had spilled into the halls of Charlestown High, in the midst of a renaissance with achievement test scores improving sharply this year.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and school officials vowed to protect students, as police hunted for the unidentified shooter and sought ways to defuse the feud. Two metal detectors and several security cameras will be installed at the school as soon as possible, and more police will patrol the surrounding neighborhood, officials said.

``Send your kid to school," Menino said in an afternoon City Hall press conference. ``It's the best place for them."

As police investigated the shooting, a malfunction at a nearby concrete plant around 12:45 p.m. sent an eruption of white dust into a school bus yard, and 61 bus drivers were sent to the hospital with mild respiratory problems. The ride home was delayed for thousands of students across the city.

Menino and school officials said they were examining possible involvement in the shooting by affiliates of the Bloods, a Los Angeles-based gang known for drug dealing, gun violence, and a long-running feud with the Crips gang.

``I believe it is common knowledge that there is Blood activity in the projects around the school," said Michael Contompasis, the interim school superintendent. ``That's what the police are focusing on."

Some students and residents speculated that the shooting stemmed from a dispute between a clique of students and a group of neighborhood youths who may be members of the Bloods or at least are loyal to the group.

The shooting occurred around 7:45 a.m., as students headed to the 1,200-student school adjacent to the sprawling Charlestown public housing development on Bunker Hill Street.

At least three students were on the grounds of the housing development when the shooter opened fire while standing in the middle of the courtyard, police said. After shooting, the suspect fled on foot, leaving a shotgun in nearby bushes, police said.

Several residents reported hearing at least three shots, but police would not specify how many shots were fired, saying only that they recovered one shell casing.

The gunfire created moments of chaos, as dozens of students and residents spilled into neighboring streets and headed towards the school.

Police responded to the gunfire with a show of force. More than a dozen uniformed officers swarmed into the development and the school, searching for evidence on sidewalks and rooftops, in bushes and sewers. Police dogs also helped search.

Tajahnea Bell, 14, and fellow student Estefany Montero said the police presence offered little reassurance.

``We're very scared," Bell said. ``I don't want to get shot."

``I'm getting transferred," Montero said.

Parents rushed to the school after the shooting to fetch their children. ``I came to get my kids out of here," said Jacquelyn Peña, 36, as she walked down Polk Street with her son, René, 15. ``This place is dangerous."

School officials tried to carry on a normal day. Classes let out at 1:30 p.m., and students streamed out, still chattering about the shooting.

Police Superintendent Robert Dunford told reporters the immediate catalyst for the shooting might have been a fist fight Wednesday night between high school students and residents from the housing complex.

He said detectives had identified several ``persons of interest" as suspects in the shooting but would not elaborate.

``There is no evidence that this a hate crime. There is no evidence that this is a bias crime," Dunford said. ``All we have right now is a fight between kids from the high school and kids" from the neighborhood.

During the Wednesday night confrontation, the residents apparently said to a Charlestown High student, ``What are you doing in our hood," said the school's headmaster, Michael Fung.

Fung said he was not sure how many people were involved in the fight or how many were students, but Stephanie Batista, a junior who witnessed it, said five youths were involved. ``It was just people hitting people," she said.

The students who were shot at yesterday apparently had nothing to do with the fight but simply made the mistake of walking through the housing development, Fung said.

He said students are repeatedly warned not to walk through the development or down Polk Street, which borders the school and is a short cut to the bus stop on Bunker Hill Street. Students have been harassed and robbed, Fung said. ``It was a close call," he said. ``That's the price you have to pay when you work in urban schools. The gangs here really make life very difficult."

Residents of the housing development said they also live in fear of the violence. Three women, who all asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the gang members range in age from 14 to 21, all male. They usually wear red T-shirts and loiter around the courtyards.

The violence, the women said, has been increasing since June 2005, when Kevin Walsh, a 16-year-old Charlestown football player who lived in the development, was fatally stabbed. In June, his brother, Adam Walsh, was charged with attempted murder after he shot a 20-year-old man in the legs and buttocks.

But others said the violence in the neighborhood has been a constant for years.

``Here there is no peace," said Victor Santano, 51, who lives on Carney Court. ``One lives in fear. It's like living in a war."

John R. Ellement, Maria Sacchetti and Suzanne Smalley of the Globe staff contributed to this report.



© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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corps