Rt. 2 bridge over Minuteman Bikeway, where homeless have slept. / Globe photo
UPDATED, Jan. 8: State workers have removed metal spikes aimed to discourage homeless people from sleeping under a Route 2 bridge after Arlington officials objected to them, officials said.
The bridge, which crosses the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway near the Alewife MBTA station, has long been a place where homeless people congregate, Arlington town officials said in a statement released Monday, Jan. 7. About three or four people sleep there regularly during the winter, officials said.
In response, town leaders plan to soon begin soliciting residents and service providers to sit on an Arlington Homelessness Task Force to meet regularly to discuss support and programming to assist the homeless population. The town is also planning a public forum this winter to host an open and frank discussion of homelessness in Arlington.
Installed in December by state
The spikes were installed in December by the state Department of Transportation, which owns the bridge, after town officials asked about cleaning and removing trash from the area.
“Recently, sanitary and public safety conditions under the overpass became a concern for the community, with acts of violence reported and debris, human waste and used needles appearing in large numbers,” said the statement from John Guilfoil, a public-relations firm.
Opinion, Jan. 7: Spikes to keep out homeless people? That’s outrageous
In response, the transportation department installed last month two rows of spiked “bird deterrence strips” under the bridge. Then once the public became aware of the action, Jan. 7, the spikes were removed. NBC 10 Boston tweeted video showing that action.
“Upon further discussions with officials from the town of Arlington, MassDOT has removed the measures under the Route 2 bridge,” MassDOT spokesman Patrick Marvin told The Boston Globe. “The Department will continue to have conversations with the town, community members and stakeholders in order to develop a plan to reduce trespassing in the area while assisting vulnerable populations and ensuring public health and safety.”
Arlington officials said they did not request the spikes. Transportation officials said they were intended to keep out trespassers.
Chapdelaine: Continue to address issue
“Serving our vulnerable homeless population and reducing the number of people living on the streets is a serious concern in metropolitan Boston, with a multiyear rise in the number of persons living on the streets,” Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine said in the statement. “There is always more work to be done and new ideas to explore, but the bird strips that were placed underneath the overpass are not the solution we had in mind. We greatly appreciate and value our working relationship with MassDOT and will continue to work with the state to address the issue of homelessness.”
The Arlington Police Department and Health and Human Services Department have partnered with the City of Cambridge and assigned representatives to its well-resourced efforts to support this vulnerable population. As members of the Cambridge Homeless Outreach Team, Arlington officials conduct weekly outreach to the homeless population currently residing in the Alewife area in an effort to build trusting relationships and ultimately provide connections to support and resources. This partnership began in early fall and has continued this winter. Each week, the team meets with individuals living in the Alewife area and is able to connect them with resources such as shelters, medical support and food resources.
“Although Arlington does not have in-town homeless shelters, we work with a number of programs in Greater Boston as well as group homes in town that help people take the next steps after a shelter,” said Christine Bongiorno, director of health and human services for the town. “As a community, we care deeply about our homeless population. We work with other communities and private and public organizations to provide responses that address the unique needs of the homeless while balancing concerns about public safety and litter.”
Arlington also works closely with outside partners on a grant that will house homeless individuals in Arlington this winter. The Housing Corporation of Arlington, which relies on financial support from the town, has housed nearly a dozen homeless families and individuals over the past several years, and that program will continue in 2019.
Homeless near commuter bikeway
The Rt. 2 bridge location, near Thorndike Field woods and others waterways, is a thoroughfare for commuters who use the MBTA station, bicyclists, and dog walkers. Over the years, the area has attracted homeless people who sleep under the bridge or camp out in tents nearby.
Chapdelaine told the Globe that the spikes appeared after discussions with state officials about ways to discourage homeless people from sleeping under the bridge, but the town never sought to install spikes there.
MassDOT spokesman Patrick Marvin told the Globe that the spikes were not installed to discriminate against any one group but rather to keep out “trespassers.”
In a separate statement, he said: “As a result of feedback from municipal stakeholders and in order to ensure safety, measures were installed at this location to discourage trespassing.”
Marvin did not address Chapdelaine’s statement that the town had requested MassDOT to remove the spikes. He said the department “will be looking into this topic.”
Spikes raise ire in other places
As this 2014 report from The Guardian shows, the use of spikes to deter the homeless have long raised protests elsewhere.
Arlington’s challenges with addressing the problem of homelessness come as Massachusetts faces growing numbers of residents without homes, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report released last month. From 2007 to 2018, the homeless population grew by nearly 33 percent in Massachusetts, second only to New York, which had an increase of almost 47 percent during that time, the report said.
In a single night last January, Massachusetts had about 20,000 homeless people, the HUD report said.
Kelly Turley, associate director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, told the Globe the number could be double that.
The state’s soaring housing costs are driving homelessness, and officials should focus on programs to keep people in their homes and help build more affordable housing, she said.
In Arlington, the town’s police and human services departments try to help homeless people living near the bridge, Chapdelaine told the Globe.
Arlington also cooperates with Somerville and Cambridge on efforts to connect the homeless with services and help them find housing, he said.
Issues in the past
Health and safety issues have emerged near the bridge. In 2014, police investigated an armed robbery nearby.
In 2015, a double shooting near Thorndike Field led to the arrest of two homeless men, police said.
The shooting left two other men — a 17-year-old from Somerville and a 21-year-old from Waltham — with serious but not life-threatening injuries, police said. At the time, investigators said the shooting was not random.
In 2016, a proposed bylaw targeting the homeless would have required a permit to camp on public land, but the measure was later dropped.
Resident Stephen A. Revilak, a Precinct 1 Town Meeting member, among those opposing the bylaw, told the Globe that he spikes under the bridge send a message to homeless residents: “Get out.”
A short distance away, the blue tarp of a tent was visible in the wooded area near the Route 2 overpass.
Cambridge resident Susan Bernstein told the Globe that the spikes were a punitive measure against homeless people.
A man who asked the Globe to be identified as Steve S. said he has been homeless for about four years and has stayed under the Route 2 bridge. “Everybody had their own little space,” Steve said.
Globe, Jan. 7: Spikes against homeless people are removed from under Route 2 bridge in Arlington
Globe, Jan. 6: Arlington asks MassDOT to remove spikes keeping homeless from sleeping under Route 2 bridge
Boston.com, Jan. 3: Homeless people slept under this Route 2 bridge. Then spikes were installed where they once rested.
This news summary was published Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, and updated Jan. 8.
