A Boston family was hit with the worst case scenario — the question is, what is the city going to do about it?

Earlier this month, Caroline Flynn and her young children were in a South Boston park near their home when her 4-year-old ran screaming from a play area without shoes on.

Her child had a needle sticking out of his foot, Flynn said.

The site was the corner of Columbia Road and Mercer Street, but discarded needles have been terrifying parents in several neighborhoods. Back in 2019, frustrated parents and teachers begged city and school officials to stop drug addicts from tossing their filthy needles and syringes onto the grounds of Roxbury’s Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School.

There was outrage, there were protests.

In 2022, officials were trying to reclaim Clifford Park near Mass and Cass as needles, public sex and human feces pushed community members and youth sports teams away from one of the few public spaces in the area.

“I call the kids the nameless victims,” said community activist Domingos DaRosa, who coaches kids on the Pop Warner Boston Bengals. “The community’s dying.”

Other children had been stuck by needles. When a 7-year-old girl pricked her finger on a discarded needle at a Hyde Park playground, city officials called it a “tragedy.”

“The reported incident at Iacono Playground is a tragedy, and while the city of Boston has launched comprehensive efforts to remove needles from our city’s parks, it is clear that there is more work to do,” Bonnie McGilpin, a spokeswoman for the city, said in a statement.

That was in 2015. Needles have been picked up, and more discarded. Stopgap measures to deal with the opioid crises at Mass and Cass have come and gone, with addicts regrouping in the area and in surrounding neighborhoods.

Flynn, whose child is undergoing rounds of medical testing, is fighting back. She said she’s taking steps to warn her neighbors and looking for change from public officials.

But she can’t be allowed to join the many parents and city residents who’ve called for action only to see the problem recur, time and again. This has to be the last time a child is injured and a family endures an agonizing wait for test results to see if their youngster is infected from a needle jab.

The city has earmarked money, some $91 million, but not for a targeted effort to stop the opioid crisis from degrading the quality of life for Boston residents. That’s the taxpayer’s projected bill for a new White Stadium.

Which does Boston need more — a new stadium befitting an expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League, or neighborhoods where residents don’t live cheek by jowl with addicts and drug dealers, and where children can play outside without fear of being jabbed by a discarded needle?

Boston Public School students could still get a new stadium, one that they wouldn’t have to share with a pro soccer team. That would run about $20 million. That leaves tens of millions to spend on getting addicts off the street, finding housing for the homeless, and cleaning up community streets.

Where is taxpayer money better spent?

Editorial cartoon by Al Goodwyn (Creators Syndicate)