Sgt. Thomas Lema of Boston Police District A-1 recently responded to inquires about the number of robbery incidents on Hanover Street in Boston’s North End. Since the first of the year, there have been 3 reported robberies on Hanover Street all in the past month.
1) The first robbery occurred on June 23, 2013 at 4:10am in the vicinity of the Rose Kennedy Greenway by Cross Street. Victim stated that he was going into the North End to eat and got robbed by 2 males that got out of a vehicle & fled the scene.
2) The second robbery occurred on June 26, 2013 at 2:19am at the 7-11 convenience store. Suspect brandished a small gun, took money from the register & fled on Commercial Street towards North Washington Street.
3) The third robbery occurred on July 8, 2013 at 11:16pm, on Hanover Street near North Bennett Street, when a male brandishing a knife, attempted to gain access to a vehicle occupied by two persons.
District A-1 is hosting the next North End Public Safety Meeting on Thursday, August 1, 2013, 6:30 pm at the Nazzaro Community Center. The meeting is open to the public.
When I grew up in the North End robberies were a rare as a good Adam Sandler movie. And lets set the record straight the North End was not safe because of the wiseguys.The area was safe because of the residents who took pride in our neighborhood the motto was commitment to family and commitment to community that was lost when greed replaced the good hard working people who were forced out.
Very true .when is greed equated when 2 generations working like my father 14 hrs. A day with 6 boys getting ahead sending 5 of 6 to college . I’m the only one son and proud of All my brothers that did’t attend college by choice.my father had every other Monday off 7 days a week.then when someone offers 2 million dollars to buy your property you sell is that greed or reward.God bless america
I would have to say different it was for the good wiseguys we had that controlled the north end with old family strong holding are ground like no other town we all looked after each other but what happened 2 things the good wiseguys got framed and the young children growing up did not follow there parents ways so in other words we lost the control of the north end by people who had money to invest and we took it and did not want to look back on what we did because we knew what was going to happen I can go on for ever but I wont LOL but the LOL is on us that still live here and the ones that have moved but still are a part of the north end and still have it in are hearts till the day we die
Thank God this society has moved past that wiseguy era. It was truly a thorn in the side of the American community, here and elsewhere.
No one is ever forced out. Different kinds of “working people” replaced the original North End residents. There is no shame in taking an offer for your house far above what you paid for it. Honestly, good for you!
Also, MichaelD, Paul Passacantilli sr and Frank Gargano, it is not that our younger generation does not understand you. It is that we 30-year-olds just literally cannot understand your English writing.
what is it you don’t understand.. people writing their thoughts from their hearts?
when talking about residents being forced out, we are talking about renters, not the owners. good for the owners for making the kind of money they got for their property. bad for the renters who were forced out due to higher rents and condo conversions. you 30 yr olds are part of the ongoing problem in the noth end. no respect for the neighborhood, or as your post proves, the original residents. you literally cant understand them? tell your parents to get their money back from whatever schools you went to. let me guess ct.
I’ll tell you what – it’s not the 30 year olds that are putting cones in public and handicapped parking spaces. It’s not the 30 year olds fraudently requesting handicapped parking spots out front of their building to add an extra, private spot to their condo. It’s not the 30 year olds that are roaming the Gassy in hordes on Friday and Saturday nights, damaging cars, signs, flowerpots.
There are 3 immediate problems in my opinion.
1) Businesses are too cheap to band together and pay for a daily cleaning service to clean in front of their shops/restaurants. Most of the litter you see is from the bakeries, the take out joints, the pizza shops. But most owners don’t live here, so why should they care. There are a few great spots that clean up their street-front daily and it makes such a difference (Pagliuca’s, Trattoria il Panino come to mind).
2) Parking rules are enforced far too lightly. The North End Chamber of Commerce seems to have a sweetheart deal with the BTD where the BTD will not enter the neighborhood until 6pm on Saturday’s. Heaven forbid we ticket or tow their patrons who take up spots illegally. And even still, how many ticketing agents do they send? 1 or 2? For an entire neighborhood?
3) There simply needs to be an extra patrolman or two from 10pm to 4am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday walking around the entire neighborhood. Not just one police glad-handing his buddies on Hanover while eating a Canoli and sitting on his motorcycle. We need to catch punks in the act who are damaging property, urinating in public, committing crimes and harassing residents.
Just a thought….The guy in the first robbery claims he was going into the North End to get something to eat, unless a restaurant that I don’t know about is serving an extra early bird special, exactly where was this guy planning on eating.
Probably Bova’s ?
Most likely heading to Bova’s.
As I have said all along, it will never be as before, but still a most wonderful place to live in Boston.
Best chef not cook in Boston
Thank You Paul for remembering the great days of Roberto’s on Lewis and North.
I have mixed feelings on the “Old North End” vs. the “New North End.” I’m sick of the Old North Enders who grew up here acting like they own the streets. They walk around let their dogs mess up and down the streets, are the people putting cones out to illegally save spots and are responsible for their offspring becoming the punks who walk around and make a commotion. On occasion the street noise is due to college drunks but no one acts as disrespectful and loud as the neighborhood punks who walk in hordes and linger in the street and block sidewalks as people try to pass.
I love the charm of the “Old North End” but hate the attitudes that come with the few remaining families that have been in the neighborhood for generations. I think bringing in more polished professionals will help clean the neighborhood up and turn it around.
Also much of the charm of the neighborhood comes from hundreds of years before the immigrants who became the Old North End generations.