Boston Globe: Menino, Davis tour Roxbury's Dudley Square area
Quality of life issues are focus
About a month after a 15-year-old was gunned down during the day near Dudley Square, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis toured the neighborhood last night to address quality-of-life issues that have dogged this crime-stricken section of Boston.
Accompanied by staff from numerous city departments, Menino spent more than an hour pointing to darkened street lights, unkempt and overgrown lots, and cracked sidewalks, while city employees scribbled notes. Before the night was out, public works crews were out addressing some of the issues.
"When you have a street that's not lit properly it becomes more of a haven for people to do illegal things, and we're trying to make sure our streets are safe," he said.
"It's not about votes," Menino said, who is running for an unprecedented fifth term of office, "it's about talking to people, listening to people, getting grief from people."
The mayor and the commissioner also stopped at Nunez Market, near the site of the May 7 murder of Soheil Turner, who had just left the store when he was shot in the head at 7:20 a.m. while waiting for the school bus. Menino and Davis paused in front of a memorial to the eighth grader.
Although lighting and graffiti are not central to efforts to combat crime, Menino said, it is part of the "mosaic" of issues that can affect the lives of residents.
Many hands were shaken along the route as the mayor received honks and shrieks from residents. Others complained of a lack of city services.
Sherley Torres, 27, was with her two children visiting their grandmother on Zeigler Street when she encountered the scrum of officials.
Her children posed for a photo with Menino.
"Anything helps at this point, because it feels like things are getting worse and worse every time," Torres said. "The violence just doesn't stop. So definitely any visits the mayor can do and come and address the violence, definitely, it's a huge difference."
