Drug den cleaned out in Dorchester
Residents in a Dorchester neighborhood are breathing a sigh of relief after city workers cleaned up a trash-strewn vacant lot and towed away a disgusting camping trailer that had become a drug den and hive of illegal activity.
“It gives hope to the community,” Darryl T. Smith, assistant commissioner of constituent services at the city’s Inspectional Services Department said Thursday, as a crew cleaned up the vacant lot behind the home on Paxton Street. “They are having to put up with trash and vagrants. They are going to have a sense of relief.”
At least two people were living in the trailer, which was left abandoned in a weedy lot near Paxton and Harvard streets. The trailer had busted out windows, missing siding and was littered with used drug needles, feces and trash.
“I’m happy they are cleaning it up,” said Carl Cody, 26, who lives with his mom across the street in a well-kept home with a grassy front yard, part of a newer development on Harvard Street.
Denise Lindsey, who lives across the street, said the late-night comings and goings made her feel unsafe. “It’s definitely an eyesore,” she said.
The clean-up was prompted by neighbor complaints to the mayor’s Neighborhood Response Team for Dorchester and Mattapan, a team of city workers that responds to quality of life and code enforcement issues such as illegal dumping, illegal sales and dangerous properties.
While that team has been around for seven years, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has recently gotten tougher on owners of dangerous properties.
On Paxton Street, Smith, who is chairman of the ISD response team and a resident of the neighborhood, said the trailer was a hub of illegal activity with numerous people living there and doing drugs inside.
Two juveniles were arrested last week for doing drugs inside, Smith said.
Tyrone Davis, 40, of Boston, who owns the adjacent property at 8 Paxton St., was cited for keeping an unsafe house and other violations, and has since boarded up the property. He declined comment Thursday at the scene. The Cave family, who own the vacant lot could not be reached.
ISD cited Davis and the Caves each with $1,315 in fines related to the vacant lot, which is the subject of a legal dispute between the two parties. The Cave family was also cited for illegally storing gasoline and cars and for two unsafe porches.
The Neighborhood Response Team holds meetings open to the public every Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Mildred Avenue Community Center in Mattapan.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1350722
