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City councilor’s call for downtown events to be canceled draws pushback from colleagues, Mayor Wu
After a stabbing in Downtown Crossing, Councilor Ed Flynn said that already-scheduled events in the area should not take place.
A Boston City Council member suggested this week that some downtown events should be postponed or canceled due to safety concerns, exposing rifts among some of the city’s elected officials.
On Wednesday evening, in response to a news report about a stabbing in Downtown Crossing, Councilor Ed Flynn said in a post on X that some already-scheduled events on Boston Common should not take place.
Flynn, a former City Council president, is one of the most outspoken advocates for the police and for public safety measures among his colleagues. In a follow-up post the next day, Flynn said that there are not enough police officers stationed downtown, including on the Common.
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“Many city officials do not support the police and their families and it is impacting recruiting and retention,” he added.
Earlier this month, Flynn introduced a hearing order to discuss staffing concerns within the Boston Police Department. A spike in voluntary retirement and resignations in recent years is causing officers to fill in the gaps with mandatory overtime. Overworked officers are becoming emotionally and physically exhausted, potentially harming their ability to interact with the public and respond to criminal activity, according to the order. Eight other councilors signed on as cosponsors.
A spokesperson for the BPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
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Flynn’s comments about possibly canceling downtown events ruffled feathers in City Hall. In response to a report about his comments, Councilor Henry Santana released a statement in support of public events in the area.
While police statistics show that downtown is a safe area, there are still safety concerns there that are “more pronounced” than in recent years, Santana said. But canceling events would not be an effective response.
“I believe public events on Boston Common and in Downtown Crossing are a part of the solution, not the problem. These events bring positive energy and much-needed activity to Downtown and our city, supporting local businesses and bolstering our tourism industry,” Santana said in his statement.
Council President Ruthzee Louijeune also appeared to respond to Flynn, albeit in a cheekier and more concise fashion while promoting a festival for young people that occurred downtown this week.
Mayor Michelle Wu and her administration are not taking Flynn’s comments “as a serious request,” a spokesperson told Boston.com in a statement.
“Boston is the safest major city in the country, with historic record low crime citywide thanks to the hard work of officers and residents through community policing and our dedicated approach to ending violence through coordinated, data-driven, year-round efforts,” the city spokesperson said. “Shootings are way down, homicides this year are 75% below the five year average in Boston—at the lowest level of any major city—and Boston Police have been extremely effective in making arrests when incidents do take place, including most recently at Downtown Crossing.”
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Notably, Boston has seen a big decline in homicides. Through early July, Boston was on track to record the lowest murder rate in recent history. In addition to the work of the BPD, experts also cite Boston’s world-class hospital network, an aging population, and relatively low gun ownership rate as being factors, according to a Boston Globe report.
In her public statement, Wu mentioned events like the annual Mayor’s Garden Contest awards and Shakespeare productions on Boston Common.
“We welcome the councilor to get into the community and join the thousands of residents and visitors who have been enjoying our city this summer at these fun and inclusive events,” Wu said in a statement, referring to Flynn.
Flynn shot back at Wu Friday, calling attention to the ongoing crisis surrounding Steward Health Care and specifically the looming closure of Carney Hospital in Dorchester.
Flynn and his colleagues overwhelmingly passed a resolution last week urging Wu to declare a public health emergency. Wu’s office said that such a declaration would “not create any new authority or resources at the local level to address this crisis.”
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