Co-chairs: Dianne Lescinskas, Jennifer Deabler
Minutes: Doreen Miller
In attendance: Donna Blythe-McColgan, Elizabeth Doyle, Heather Harris, Heidi Moesinger
Walgreens, 1100 Dorchester Avenue
- Ongoing Issues
- Rats, garbage
- Homeless people loitering, and drug addicts shooting up
- Public defecation on a frequent basis
- Man armed with a gun across from Walgreens
- Woman armed with a knife at the dollar store across the street
- Theft commonplace
- Simple suggestions that have been made to management
- Add motion lighting.
- Cut back trees to create better visibility.
- Have store management responsible for maintaining safety.
- Response from all stakeholders
- There has been an overall lack of satisfactory response from city officials and the management at Walgreens.
- Efforts to contact Walgreens communication department, community events and media relations have gotten no response.
- Efforts to contact Keith Williams, director of the Problem Property Task Force, have gone unanswered to date.
- Julie from Councilor Baker’s office has been responsive to our needs and reports that ISD has indeed found code violations related to lack of security and lighting – that was 2 months ago.
- George Huynh, community liaison, says he emailed Keith Williams and is waiting for a response. He asserts that the Problem Property Task Force is “doing everything possible” to address the situation.
- C-11 police claim as it is private property, they really can’t do much of anything.
- Next steps
- The co-chairs will email Dan Hunt and Brianna Millor about the issues at Walgreens.
- Heather Harris will email the name and telephone of the manager at Walgreens along with a list of issues and suggestions for improvements to the co-chairs, who will forward it to Donna.
- Donna Blythe-McColgan will then contact Senator Nick Collins to have his office call the manager directly. She is also willing to walk down and speak with the manager directly.
- If we don’t hear back from Dan Hunt or Brianna Millor by the end of the month, we will consider penning a letter to the Dorchester Reporter to publicize and highlight this safety issue.
- Elizabeth Doyle is in the process of setting up a meeting with Brianna Millor and the leadership team at CSHCA to discuss community issues. This will be one of the topics along with the request that the new community liaison be more engaged and on top of situations in our section of Dorchester. Until a new liaison is appointed, there will be no abutters’ meetings with regards to development projects.
Crosswalks by Savin Hill Park and Patten’s Cove
- The city claims that it is in a legal battle due to the lack of curbs throughout the city.
- The lack of sidewalk curbs at the tennis courts prohibits installing a crosswalk there.
- Would it be possible to at least get signage or a speed hump installed there?
- The co-chairs will continue to push for improved safety measures to access our parks and public spaces.
Next Safety Committee meeting: Tuesday, December 20th, 7 PM, Zoom link on the CSHCA calendar