Threats, racial slurs and violent acts from some of the teen invasion are shown in this video on Commercial Street, shared by a neighbor, just before midnight on Saturday.
“The new bike path (cycle track) has created a giant area for teen hordes and it’s very unsafe. I really thought one of these teens were going to take out a gun and shoot somebody. I won’t even walk my dog around the area past 10 pm and I’m a 6 ft, 28 year old man. We’ve lived here for 5 years and this festival season is exponentially worse than any other,” says the resident.
One teen is shown flipping over a police barricade, pushing women while another started throwing shoes at cars.
See more coverage of the teenager hordes in the North End.
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Matt – You are doing an excellent job of reporting on this story. Additionally, North End residents need to continue to photograph and videotape these episodes. This is a huge quality of life issue for residents of the North End. These teenagers are not just innocent youth just having fun, and they cannot be tolerated one more night.
Have lived in the neighborhood over 10 years and the last 2 weekends have been the worst behavior I’ve seen. Thank you, Matt for covering this, this is very important for our community to confront and fix. The next 2 feasts on the next 2 weekends are much larger and there will undoubtedly be more trouble. Not only did these kids (late teens only or also early 20 yos?) disrupt the peace but us residents will be left to clean up their broken bottles (seriously, how did anyone let them walk down the street with bottles? I heard glass being broken repeatedly between 10:30-11. This isn’t open container Bourbon St.) and trash. City living always involves a little sacrifice in the way of peace and quiet and we all know in the summer/weekends it will be more crowded/rowdier. But this was something else.
I witnessed several teenagers bold as could be drinking alcohol right next to the bounce houses and young children on Battery St both Friday and Saturday. I also saw several people using the corner of Battery and Commercial as a public urinal… even though there were porto-johns right there! Unbelievable!
one of my neighbors encountered a bunch of these kids drinking while sitting on the swings in the Gassy last night. She called the cops twice. the cops chased them and then more kids came back. Another neighbor told me these kids trashed the dog park last weekend and it sounded like they were in the flights again last night.
question: does anyone know where these teens are coming from? Boston, suburbs?
According to Capt Fong they are coming from the North Shore
It is terrible that these kids are coming from surrounding cities and disrupting these feast that have been a north end tradition for over a 100 years. I am part of one of the society’s and have been going since I was a baby with my grandfather. There has never been trouble like this before. Let me make it clear none of these kids are affiliated with any of the feast. And all they are doing is tarnishing them. So before people start blaming the feast for these issues it isn’t the feast fault and the feast don’t stand for the trouble. The feast are about family , tradition , and honor. They are meant to be happy times where you honor your families patron saint and you get to see family and friends you sometimes don’t see all year long exept for that specific weekend. They have been a tradition for as long as I can remember and I hope to see them go on forever. So I just ask please don’t start pointing fingers at the feast as being the root of the problem because it isn’t . The root of the problem is the teenagers causing all of the issues. God bless everyone have a great day
The intent of the feasts is wonderful. I, too, have gone for years and have taken my family (during the day). But the reality is that the feasts are now a magnet for late night trouble. I know it happens other weekends in the summer, but it’s more of a problem when the feasts are running. That’s a fact.
Defend them all you want, but the feasts have to be looked at / maybe changed to help with this issue.
What will it take? One of our neighbors, or our kids getting killed? Don’t think that’s not possible. The video says it all. Is that really worth it?
JC, I agree with what you said. Our world is different and the feasts are different then they once were. We have to take steps to change things. I listened to Captain Fong’s Q & A video (I wasn’t able to attend last weeks meeting) and it was disheartening. I heard the same answers we’ve gotten in the past, but now things have ramped up to a level that is dangerous, scary, unsafe, obnoxious and UNSUSTAINABLE. However, Captain Fong had no solutions or helpful answers.
This is disgusting but it is happening all over. I moved away from the North End (North St) a year and a half ago (glad I moved now) and the same thing is happening in the town I moved to in NJ. The police are powerless. These kids have no respect and their parents don’t care.
There is such rage and anger with these kids. I do think Trump, while seeking the GOP nomination, then the campaign, and since he became president has been so demeaning, hateful, toxic, inappropriate, disrespectful, dishonest, bigoted, misogynistic, boorish and rude this has to have a negative effect on teenage boys, whom may think that is the president can act that way, why can’t I. Hate crimes have triple since he became president.
Flipping over a police baracade perfectly captures the disrespect some people have for authority.
Take your area back. I live in party central in Newport Beach and for about one weekend I refuse to live in fear. I put a speaker on my balcony and blasted my Rat Pack music. Everyone took their parties indoors.
Never would have been tolerated when I grew up!
Same story different day. The North End contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy and the police presence is an utter joke. We are subsidizing the rest of the city’s nonesense; you’d think the Mayor would throw us a bone during feast season.
I am seriously thinking about doing some analysis on the economic contribution to the city of our one sq mile and make a case for more police. Who is running the North End Chamber of Commerce these days?
Maybe some of the old guard could reemerge and take care of this nonsense if the feckless Mayor won’t.
Where is the old Mob when there needed Whitey and Steve’ would never let it happen, The Italians were a group to be reconed with. I grew up. Dudley St in Roxbury, we tried but failed to stop that When I was stationed at the coast guard base wwe walked to market sq we were honered
Thanks for the suggestion, but I have a feeling most folks in this neighborhood do not think organized crime is the solution to this particular problem.
We need to make our beloved local political reps to do their jobs and take this on as one of the issues to be addressed. Aaron, Sal: please make this a priority! Thanks in advance…
It’s so frustrating. All of our flower pots were turned over and the flowers ripped out on Salem St. Our large pots were flipped again last night. I received a text from a friend walking by was was too afraid to say anything because there were 12 of them.
How sad to have this happen to the North End,which used to be a safe, friendly place when I lived there for many years in the 70’s,80’s and 90’s.The feasts were popular then,also, but never had this kind of behavior from outsiders.It seems to be a symptom of the times: disrespect, anger, defiance,disregard for people’s property.
Besides parents raising more socially responsible kids, why can’t police ,for a few weeks ,be stationed there,behind the rink, along Commercial St. etc to ward off the hoards of teenagers coming there? Maybe if the groups of teens are met with police when they get there, they will get the message that they are not going to be tolerated . It is definitely a quality of life issue for North Enders,who deserve a peaceful neighborhood.
People only get away with what you allow them to get away with. The BPD obviously can’t handle or don’t
want to handle the problem. I think that State Police should do the job, like they do at the Seaport area.
This seems to be an ongoing problem & no North End Resident should have to be subjected to this.
Again I will say, Bring in the Dogs. I’ve witnessed how affective they are. It is scary & I think these kids
deserve whatever happens to them & if there parents complain, then all No. End Residents should start
lawsuits for any destruction of property in our neighborhood that their darling kids created.
There is such rage and anger with these kids. I do think Trump, while seeking the GOP nomination, then the campaign, and since he became president has been so demeaning, hateful, toxic, inappropriate, disrespectful, dishonest, bigoted, misogynistic, boorish and rude this has to have a negative effect on teenage boys, whom may think that is the president can act that way, why can’t I. Hate crimes have triple since he became president.
I agree, living on commercial street across from the pool, the kids have been extra rowdy this summer. Perhaps calling the Mayors hotline and requesting more support could help. Especially if as a community we make an effort to speak up. I looked up who to call for something like this Is what I found.
“Residents are encouraged to use this resource as a means of preventing late night disorderly behavior and reduce the incidents of possibly further criminal conduct.”
-Please call the Party Line at 617-343-5500.
-Residents may also report any disturbance to 911.
-Residents may also report any disturbance to their neighborhood district station.
Below is a link to our BPD District. In the link you will find ways to contact them. In my opinion perhaps if many of us reach out to them directly, and preemptively, perhaps additional support could be offered during the upcoming festivals.
http://bpdnews.com/district-a-1-a-15
Say whatever you want, but this is a feast problem.
Casey thank you so much for the info. The problems that the No. End endures has been going on for over
20 years. If you took a survey on how many people call the BPD & did not get help, you would be shocked.
Strength is in Numbers, let us see how many people show up at the next Safety Meeting, which is the first
Thursday of the Month at the Nazzaro Center. Thank God for Matt Conte who has been following the
events taking place down here. I said before the Summer started, wait & watch what happens when the
Summer is here & now you are only getting a taste. I know people who actually shut their buildings
down with no mail deliveries or package deliveries during the Feasts. The No. End has no Police
Enforcement or Trash Enforcement & here we are AGAIN.
Could not agree more. Their response time is unacceptable. I’ve made multiple calls where they just don’t show up…at all…or show up an HOUR after the call. completely uncalled for.
This is sad & heartbreaking to see. Organized crime is not the answer nor is ending a tradition that has been going on for over a century.This has been going on for at least a couple of years WITH NO END IN SIGHT.
Remember the days when you picked up a job or two during the summer to have some money. It wasn’t as simple as going and asking a parent. I was capable of holding a job and was expected to get out and work. My father told me when I was young that if he got a call from jail, he would disavow that he knew me. They cancelled deferments and I was drafted after high school. I wasn’t idle, but that sure took away the potential.
These adults aren’t working and if they do get arrested the family lawyers shows up. They are spoiled and have never been disciplined.
Yes Michael, there is no end in sight. But what we are waiting on is a change in the society, not a change in the feast schedules or locations. The presence of police hasn’t been a deterrent. What is needed now is an organized police round up. The lawyers that they send in aren’t cheap and there equally dilettante parents will be aware that their little children came to the North End to buy drugs and get high in public.
It is so unfortunate that social media has been so destructive so rapidly to civility in the world.
One would think that the city of Boston and its law enforcement agencies would be able to handle a few hundred unruly intoxicated teenagers.
Where are our resources going, and why are we not at the forefront of policing crowds, we certainly have experienced all types of crowd policing in the past. Boston has had it’s fair share of celebratory parades with thousands of people in the streets.
We have had our experiences with passive crowd control with occupy Boston, and we certainly have had to manage angry rioters in our short history.
I realize that we had time to plan for crowd control for most of the aforementioned.
What we must realize now is that although this was not economically devastating to the neighborhood, it was however quite scary for some residents and visitors to experience.
Civil unrest is here to stay! demonstrations and rioting have become the new sport, and social media skills are all that is required to make the team.
We need to make sure our law enforcement is getting the resources it needs to protect themselves and the citizens that their oath swears them to protect.
No one has all the answers to resolve such a rapidly deteriorating society in this world, and the type of policing that will be required going forward is going to be a daunting task.
Let’s make sure we are funding them adequately, if we don’t, public safety is going to be a luxury item instead of a staple.
Do not blame our police officers, they are the soldiers who put their lives on the line every day to make sure those of us who are civil can feel free and safe to enjoy our lives each day.
Put pressure on your politicians, know what belief system you are actually voting for.
Regards to our men and women in BLUE,
Richie M.
I think what we all need to do going forward is to call 9 1 1 when we see and hear large groups of kids, that are drunk and unruly. Keep it up until the situation is resolved for that night anyway, and then continue to do so relentlessly until we force the “powers that be” that we mean business and we will be relentless until changes are made.
911 is for emergencies. Given all the emergencies that occurr in Boston, your anxieties at the site of a bunch of teenagers have to rate rsther low. Some communities are starting to charge back for chronic callers.
Chloe, You are so right, but 9 1 1 Calls have been going on for many years with no avail. We have to get
the State Police to represent the area. The Safety Meeting with Police is the 1sr Thursday of the month at the
Nazzaro Center about 6 or 6 30. Strength is in numbers. If Matt was to do a survey on this site about our
BPD responding you will be shocked at all the unanswered calls or drive bys with no Arrests or fines.