Detonations Begin for Long Island Bridge
The detonation of Boston Harbor’s Long Island bridge began on Monday, eliminating a gateway to help for many of the city’s homeless.
Monday’s use of denotations removed parts of the span, according to a spokeswoman from the US Coast Guard. The blasts will continue for four weeks. The detonations are set to start at 11 a.m., and a safety zone of 1,000 yards from Moon Island to Long Island will be enforced.
The abrupt closing of the bridge in October displaced hundreds of homeless and recovery residents who relied on Boston’s Long Island Shelter.
In response to the shelter closing, a coalition of local clergy created the Boston Warm day centers. In February, Boston.com wrote about how this center helped the homeless as other forms of aid struggled to keep up with demand:
Pine Street Inn has been opening earlier in the day and adding staffers and volunteers, so homeless Bostonians can stay inside. But this isn’t enough, according to June Cooper, Executive Director of City Mission Society, who helped start Boston Warm.
“We know that many of the people that come to the warm centers have never had that opportunity — to be somewhere warm and safe — for many years,’’ said Cooper. “Many people have been sleeping [at other shelters like Pine Street Inn and Rosie’s Place], but they have to get up and out real early, some folks have told me by 6 a.m..’’
Boston Warm was initially slated to operate until March, but Cooper said they’re having meetings about the need to keep the day shelters open for an additional month.
“We know that the resources that the city is putting in place will take longer than anticipated,’’ Cooper said.
In March, Boston.com also spoke with two men who use the Boston Warm center to see how they’ve been navigating this winter:
Didi Gilbert, 29, had never stayed at the Long Island shelter himself, but has become cynical of the ways the city is helping its homeless residents.
“The Bible says to help the poor, because it’s the right thing to do, but governments do not help the poor because it’s noble,’’ Gilbert said. “They do it because it affects other people. But it will be warm in April, and then people will forget [about the homeless].’’
This is Gilbert’s first winter without a home, and though he said that there is “no etiquette to being in destitution,’’ he tries to be grateful for any help he’s received. He said he’s worked in soup kitchens and group homes before, but now that he’s on the other side of the situation, he realizes he took a lot of things for granted.
“There’s this weird bureaucracy that turns everything into an obstacle course,’’ Gilbert said of the way homeless care is structured. “You wake up one place, then you have to leave, then you go somewhere to be warm, then somewhere else for food.’’
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