'Tis time for another installment of Get Off My Lawn North End. Recall that in the spring local business owners and residents, quite angry that revelers—most of them, it was thought, collegians—were treating the neighborhood "like it's South Beach," asked the police to start arresting the most obnoxious and egregious party people (say, ones who throw bottles through bedroom windows). Turns out things have reached a "fever pitch" as police attempt to stem the sheer tide of vomitous partying. The Globe's Martine Powers recently did a Saturday night ride-along with the BPD:
Each night, the rhythm is the same: At 1:30 a.m., an exodus of tipsy, jolly women and men from Faneuil Hall bars to their North End digs brings a series of shouts, hoots, and howls that echo through the narrow cobblestone lanes. The police have been trying to dim that echo as best they can in a pleasant, non-confrontational way ("move along here, folks, nothing to see"). And local City Councilman Salvatore LaMattina proposed an ordinance that would fine landlords when their tenants cause repeated nighttime disturbances.
But the complaints still flow. At this month's community meeting, a resident reported seeing a man urinate in a fantastic arc off the top of an apartment building onto the alley below. One byproduct of the police effort, however, has been the revelation of a problem with the theory of who's doing the partying. Conventional wisdom held that college students, especially from Suffolk University, were the main offenders (Suffolk even sends someone to ride along with police). But it turns out, per Powers in The Globe, that many offenders "are not college students, but young professionals" seemingly reliving their glory days. And just how are Boston's finest suppose to combat nostalgia?
· North End Beset by Culture Clash [Globe]
· North End to Drunks: Knock It Off or Go to Jail [Curbed Boston]