South End

Re: “Moving out of the South End, furious residents fed up with drug use and crime,” Oct. 26 ). As a retired Boston Police Officer, I noted with irony that a South End resident had complained that “The city has not maintained consistent law and order…this is no place to raise a family.” Over the years, as many progressive liberals moved to the South End, dedicated BPD Officers tried to enforce “quality of life” crimes, including public drug and alcohol use, vagrancy, trespassing and the growing number of mentally ill, homeless people infiltrating the South End. For their efforts, these officers were often derided as “racist” and accused of being “heavy-handed, jack-booted thugs” by the progressive South End residents. Consequently and in response, the police pulled back and stopped enforcing these “minor criminal offenses.” Hence, we now have a South End where residents complain about the lack of “law and order.”

The South End of today is a textbook example of Professor James Q. Wilson’s “Broken Windows” policing strategy,  popular in the 80’s and 90’s but whose wisdom was forgotten as the years went by. So, pardon me if I snicker as I hear our formerly compassionate progressives bemoan the lack of “law and order” and consider moving out as the only alternative. “You get what you pay for, and what goes around, comes around” was a popular police saying back in the day. True then, true now. You can back the blue or support the thugs and criminals.

Compassion is wonderful, but it has costs and consequences.

James W. Carnell

Quincy

Shutdown

You know they’re getting desperate when they say the quiet truth out loud, yet this is where we are in 2025.

Democrats pass the Affordable Care Act in 2010 without a single Republican supporting it.  The premiums and deductibles imbedded in the legislation escalate to the point where the scheme is no longer effective or affordable.  Democrats insist on additional funding to keep the scheme intact.

They refuse to support a clean continuing resolution without the funding. Republicans respond with “let’s fund the government first then we’ll try to manage this growing fiscal time bomb.”

Democrats refuse and blame everyone else for this debacle, including the president. Ed Markey tries to shame the president over his rebuild of the White House while Congress shirks its responsibility. Governor Healey says the president is forcing low-income Americans to starve.

And then House Whip Katherine Clark drops the truth bomb, saying there will be “families that are going to suffer” because of the shutdown, and “it is one of the few leverage times we have.”

The shutdown is good for Dems politically – they don’t give a damn about the shutoff of government benefits – they’ll spin it with their media partners to gain favor with the public. They’ll simply do what they always do – blame Republicans for their own mistakes. They’ll exploit this crisis to ensure their return to power.  And if that doesn’t work, they’ll just create more congressional districts until it does.

Sean F. Flaherty
Boston