LIFE IN THE BLUE ZONES: Boston: String of violent assaults interrupts Michelle Wu’s feel-good honeymoon.
A string of recent random violent assaults — including an 82-year-old man pummeled by ATV and dirt bike riders — is interrupting new Mayor Michelle Wu’s feel-good start to her administration.
Wu has said nothing so far about the shocking, brutal attack on the elderly man that started on Boylston Street and continued onto Storrow Drive last week.
But she has had time to announce the extension of outdoor dining season in Boston and sign an ordinance to divest city funds from the fossil fuel industry, making good on her “Green New Deal” for the city.
But reality gets in the way of the best-laid plans, and right now Wu needs to confront a wave of lawlessness that is putting a damper on tourism and businesses like restaurants, and show support for the victims.
So far all we’ve heard is silence.
Will she back police if they try to crack down on the ATV and dirt bike riders who are running roughshod on city streets? Or will her defund-the-police mentality get in the way?
The assault on the 82-year-old man has shocked city residents and visitors, and is at least the third recent incidence of violence in Boston that has triggered unpleasant headlines.
In South Boston late Sunday night, a 43-year-old man was knocked unconscious by three juveniles at the Andrew Square MBTA station, according to Transit Police.
Elect a Democratic mayor, get random street violence. It’s a pattern, it seems.