Police, civil liberties activists, community leaders, and youths from several Boston neighborhoods blasted a proposed anti-loitering law yesterday, calling it racist and useless in curbing violence.
Stung by the criticism, the petition's sponsor, Councilor Paul J. Scapicchio of East Boston, later withdrew the proposal. ''We pulled back and decided not to vote on it,because the police had issues with it," he said. ''If they're not going to enforce it, then we have to take it off the table. We'll go to the police and work on something different."
In sometimes emotional testimony before the City Council's government operations committee, several witnesses said the measure would unfairly target innocent members of minority groups without achieving its intended aim of stemming gang problems.
''I am here to say that if you pass this ordinance, as is, you are stealing the ability to have the rights that any other kid in any other neighborhood has," said Donovan Walker, a community activist in Roxbury and a member of the Developmental Neighborhood Coalition. ''I grew up with the opportunity to hang out on the block. If you are going to go after the gangs, then you need to provide the police with the resources, not this tool."
The proposed law, which would have targeted neighborhoods where gangs are prevalent, would have given police authority to arrest youths who gather in public places if they are suspected of being gang members. After a similar law was enacted in Somerville, Scapicchio proposed the measure last month, saying that gang members assembling on street corners in his East Boston district have frightened and intimidated residents.
Like Somerville's law, the Boston proposal has become intensely controversial, with proponents lining up behind it as a solution to enduring problems with gangs and critics calling it thinly veiled racism.
Yesterday, several councilors not on the committee came to support the measure, including Jerry McDermott of Allston-Brighton and Rob Consalvo, who represents Hyde Park and Roslindale. Several others, including Chuck Turner of Roxbury and Councilor at Large Felix Arroyo, opposed it.
At one point, Maureen E. Feeney, the chairwoman of the committee, lashed out, interrupting as Walker criticized the proposal for having a ''racist slant."
''It's not about the white community," said Feeney, a district councilor who represents Dorchester. ''I can take you to Bowdoin Street and Geneva Avenue [in Dorchester] where not just white people, but black people say: 'Help us. Our child cannot go outside.' I am about making our streets safer for every child, for every stranger."
Police Superintendent Paul Joyce, who heads the department's Youth Strike Force, said the ordinance would do little to curb violence in the city. He said such a law would set Boston police policies back 20 years, to a time when officers used a ''stop and frisk" strategy that targeted young black men. At that time, the Police Department's relationship with the black community suffered, he said.
''We want to utilize every legal option to shutting down gang activities, but we don't want to jeopardize the trust we've built with the community over the years," said Joyce, who worked in the department's gang unit in the late 1980s. ''Issues of crime can't be put on the shoulders of police officers alone."
Joyce said the key to combating violence is partnerships between police and community activists and clergy members. ''I think we have a lot of tools at our disposal," Joyce said. ''We have challenges. We have gangs. The key is sharing information."
Scapicchio said he was moved by Joyce's words. ''If the police have issues, then [Mayor Thomas M.] Menino's not going to sign it, and then it's not going to pass." he said.
State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios of Cambridge, who attended the hearing, opposes the law and called on the council to look at alternatives.
''I agree we have to do something, but we don't just have to do anything," said Barrios, who is chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety. ''We want to build bridges, not put up barriers."
To take effect, the ordinance would have to be signed by the mayor and be passed by the Legislature, and then be signed by the governor.
Menino said the city needs more funding, particularly block grants that support community groups to combat gangs.
''They continue to talk about the numbers [of crimes] going up in urban areas," Menino said. ''It's because they don't have strong neighborhood organizations for police to partner with."
This story ran in the Boston Globe on 11/5/2004.
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