They gathered yesterday — about 200 strong — on Franklin Field in Dorchester to support the families of the three young women murdered nearby last weekend and to issue a call for peace in the Boston’s most violence-wracked neighborhoods. The rally, called “Shake the City” by organizers, followed a community meeting on Wednesday night with police and community residents.
In all of it, writes the Globe’s Adrian Walker, “One thing was missing: good answers.” The responses — from the mayor, police leaders, and others — were “as predictable as the outrage was fresh,” writes Walker.
He’s right that a lot of familiar calls have been made — for more cooperation from residents, for an end to the “stop snitching” culture, and for more mentoring of young people heading down dangerous paths. Then come the even grander calls — to find jobs for all who want them, to tackle all the root causes of urban poverty that are behind the chaos that unfolds too regularly across a swath of minority neighborhoods in Boston. It’s easy to grow weary of cries for solutions that have eluded urban America for decades and are not likely to arrive any time soon.
But what’s also true is that we do have experience quelling the worst of gang-fueled gun violence in Boston and other cities, and we ought to be insisting that proven approaches be used to the fullest extent possible.
The Globe reports today on a novel approach being tried in Springfield, which is showing some promising preliminary results.
When it comes to strategies with a track record, the current issue of CommonWealth includes this Conversation interview with criminal justice researcher David Kennedy, one of the main forces behind Boston’s remarkably successful effort to combat gun violence in the mid and late 1990s. The Ceasefire model that Kennedy and others developed is a very targeted approach to curtailing gun violence among gang members by delivering a focused message of zero tolerance for gun violence to gang members and help for those willing to turn away from “the life.” It doesn’t claim to cure poverty, it doesn’t fix broken families. It gets gang members to stop shooting as a means of settling beefs — conflicts that often have nothing to do with drug markets, money, or much of anything beyond a perceived slight here or a sideways glance there. (The approach also was not the product of community policy plans hatched under former Mayor Ray Flynn, who penned this revisionist history of anti-gang efforts in a Boston Herald column last week.)
Boston officials have claimed that the city is back on track in making use of the Ceasefire strategy. The best thing community leaders could do to make a meaningful difference in the near term is apply pressure to make sure the city is living up to that vow.
–MICHAEL JONAS
BEACON HILL
A former employee of the firm owned by Massachusetts Republican Party chairman Robert Maginn is suing Maginn, the Sunday Globe reported, alleging that he illegally compensated employees for contributions to GOP candidates
Accidental Governor’s Councilor Charles Cipollini, who has no Republican primary opponent, is being endorsed by one of his three potential Democratic challengers — his brother, Oliver, who is running to make sure “one of us with the same mindset will get in.”
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Fall River officials are looking to ban the sale of synthetic drugs, such as bath salts and synthetic marijuana, from stores around the city.
The Lynn Daily Item provides an overview of summer activities that require a permit in Massachusetts, such as building a backyard fire pit.
The Berkshire Eagle praises Pittsfield’s new cultural district designation.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
The Atlantic leaps to the defense of a skinnydipping congressman, arguing that he’s just following a longstanding Washington practice.
ELECTION 2012
A pact between Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren to keep third-party PAC advertising out of their US Senate race has, remarkably, held up so far, the Globe reports.
The Beat the Press panel offers their favorite election cliches.
Secretary of State William Galvin offers his take on the upcoming elections on Keller@Large and what effect the races will have on turnout.
The Globe reports that President Obama’s support among Jewish voters in Florida is slipping. Ed Koch, who not long ago was ripping Obama, says he’ll be the president’s secret weapon in winning Jewish votes in Florida, but the sharp-tongued former New York mayor “isn’t great at staying on message,” reports The Jewish Daily Forward. The New York Times zeroes in on the economic and political drags Obama’s cautious approach on housing has caused. New York magazine finds some desperation in the subject lines of Obama’s nonstop campaign emails.
Paul Krugman is back from vacation and throwing haymakers at Paul Ryan. And here’s the latest in what’s becoming a long series of stories about GOP operatives trying to get Mitt Romney not to act like a robot.
Governor Deval Patrick will speak at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, the AP reports. Via the Springfield Republican.
WBUR reports on pressure points in Elizabeth Warren’s campaign management.
CHARITY
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a special report on “How America Gives,” comparing charitable donations by states and income levels. While Massachusetts ranks 14 out of 51, including the District of Columbia, in total contributions, Bay State residents rank 48th in percent of income given, with 2.8 percent compared to the national average of 4.7 percent.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
A business advocacy group estimates that the state’s inventory tax has cost Massachusetts over 50,000 jobs, the Springfield Republican reports.
EDUCATION
The Freetown-Lakeville Regional School District has voted to adopt school choice, opening its doors to students from other districts.
HEALTH CARE
A survey by the Massachusetts Hospital Association shows the number of unfilled nursing positions at hospitals is on the rise.
A Leominster woman donates a kidney to her former mother-in-law.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The Brockton region is on track for the worst summer for EEE-infected mosquitoes in a decade.
The Cape Cod Times reports on the “explosion” of the seal population on the Cape over the last two decades.
EXPLORATION
What if Curiosity actually discovers life on Mars?
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/PUBLIC SAFETY
The Worcester Telegram and Gazette looks at the effectiveness of the state’s five-year-old teen license law.
MEDIA
Changes to Twitter’s API, designed to limit the number of third party app users, are angering developers, the Nieman Lab reports.