Charlestown - Charlestown one square mile of mixed up, lost souls. A community that once took pride in watching out for each other. A neighborhood where respect and pride came in the name of a gentle smile, a tip of the cap. That neighborhood is gone forever. Is that for better or for worse? Depends who's answering the question. The stuffed shirts at City Hall will tell you Charlestown is entering the twenty-first century and its great for Boston, that is the upscale development of Charlestown, a once proud Irish American community that took pride in policing itself, has all these do gooders and know-it all taking control of this one square mile of heaven, as some of the older "Townies" would call it.

The old Townies the ones that refuse to sell out to the spoiled stuck up snobs from suburbia are pleasantly pleased, that's what Mayor Menino would tell you. Facts are the old Townies and the new Tooines are always butting heads over such minute things as parking, MBTA bus schedules and so forth.

I long for the day I'd walk out my front door and have a neighbor say good morning. I have many Toonies on my street, always in a hurry or have a look of stressfulness frozen upon their face. Seems like the Toonies couldn't be bothered with a simple "hello". Thats what I miss alot. Just a wink of an eye or a simple nod. Between the snobs from suburbia and the rejects that have been planted in the "projects" theirs not much promise or hope for the few and I mean few Townie kids growing up around here. Let me step back a step to the rejects that lay their head in the Boston Housing Development.

The City of Boston has had this agenda of diversing Charlestown and making it an equal opportunity community. Tough break on the locals. The "Town" has been infested with every low-life from across the city and shipped their law breaking attitude to this fine community. If you walk on Bunker Hill street south of Polk street, you better be very aware of your surroundings and be on the opposite side of the street from BHA, otherwise you'll get robbed by those fine "people" who hang their hats in the projects or you'll be arrested by Boston Police or Boston Housing police for being on BHA property. Only residents of BHA are allowed on "their" side of Bunker. Imagine growing up in this fine TOWN and you can't even walk on the side of the streets the projects are on or else. Now that I think of it I wish the BPD would enforce that law on the Townie side of Bunker. But the only laws that are enforced are the ones to arrest innocent Townie kids. Believe these kids don't need any extra help getting arrested they do a fine job of their own.

Its best for these kids to stay away from BHA anyways, it seems the Orchard Park mentality has been brought to Walford way and other surrounding drug havens. Seems the low-life brought an exuberence of Heroin and filtered it into this fine community. Heroin, Crack Cocaine, Oxycontin are just a few of the problems that surround this younger generation of Townies. Heroin and crack cocaine is so bad I've seen young Townie girls hooking up with a couple of those bloodsuckers that creepy crawl out of the progect courtyard at all hours of the nite, these poor girls get hooked and those cock roaches from BHA prey upon them like vultures in the desert picking away at whats left of their self esteem. Not just the girls who lose their souls to the devil its the Boys too. I've walked the neighborhood many a night only to see some of my friends kids with this zombie faraway look in their eyes. Just a lost soul look. I think about the parents and the heart ache they're going through. Most parents have that Townie pride stiff upper lip as they say, always smiling always courteous. Like everything is ok. Maybe everything is, I mean what can we do as parents. We can preach, scold, discipline till were blue in the face but once our bundle of joy leaves the house, their fair game for every other pusher out there. I try and tell anyone who listens "its much harder and takes a lot more nerve to say no than it is to join the game and hook-up with the ex-players of Blue Hill Ave”.

We as a community must reach out find a way to intervene somehow get to these kids, even if it’s only one kid at a time. One is better than none. If we don’t the low life’s from BHA will swoop down and take another lost soul, break another heart, disrupt another Townie family. We as Townies must act. We only have one another, we don’t have any government and by no means we surely don’t have help from the BPD. The BPD goes around harassing any Townie kid it can (granted some kids are problems BUT SOME AREN’T). The kids have no rights, no equal rights at all. The BPD goes as far as it can to bust one of our own while turning a blind eye to any and all minorities whether it be a minor incident or major one, ESPECIALLY if the incident concerns a Townie getting bothered by a minority. BPD wants to arrest the Charlestown kids for incidents they clearly know were committed by the squatters in the projects. There’s been many incidents involving young Charlestown girls, attempted muggings, assaults, the police were called took down much of the information and then when the victim described her attackers which were minorities BPD wanted the victim to claim it was fellow Townies as in Caucasian or Irish descent. BPD put pressure on victim to fabricate her story which she refused to do, “No officer it was 5 or 6 spanish gentlemen not white kids officer.” “Are you sure”, responded Boston’s finest. “YES I’m SURE” replied the young Townie girl.

I was raised like so many other kids in the neighborhood NEVER TRUST THE POLICE, and that was back when the cops would at least say hello, or the officers would try and be friendly. Not this day and age, if you’re a Townie kid you must be a hood, punk, junkie, bank robber the police have separate folders for us. To bad they don’t have one for themselves. Let’s see first amendment violator, civil rights violator, make a false arrest violator and worry about correcting paper work in six months or so violator. Who cares if the kid was in another town, so what about his permanent record, DON’T LET THE FACTS OR TRUTH STAND IN THE WAY OF A GOOD COLLAR, officer. I could go on an on but anyone who doesn’t get what the cops are up to must have been in a coma for the last 30 years or so. Just read the papers, local or national.

Like I’ve stated the younger Townies don’t have much of a future with the Toonies snubbing their noses at the locals or the rejects from the projects running wild up and down our streets. The Toonies and the cock roaches from the projects, who knows what the worse of the two groups are. Their both strictly out for themselves. That’s pretty funny when you think of it, these bleeding heart liberals are all for treating the “so-called minorities like first class citizens”, but the minute their purse gets snatched they sing a different tune. These yuppies can act like their going to save our world when in reality they haven’t got the faintest of a clue. The bloodsuckers from BHA would just as well rape and rob them as they would break bread with the so called frauds of upper class.

The Toonies have their little kennel clubs or coffee clubs where they hang out, bring out their pooch stand around and try and impress each other on their wealth or education. Most of these frauds are trust fund babies, they have to be considering the money they put down for a slice of heaven in this one square mile. They’re a funny breed the Toonies, they have no help if there’s an uprising in BHA (like there is every summer) so when their accosted they bitch and moan about it by saying “can you believe this or that happened I’m appalled”. These are the same frauds who want to extend kindness to those bloodsuckers on Walford way. Only to learn that the smart way is to not give these leeches the time of day. The Toonies are all alone, except for each other, and they deserve everything they get. The Old Townies like myself are stuck with the snobs and the cock roaches from BHA, but at least if any of the old Townies have problems with either group, they can lean on each other and most certainly will be helped by another Townie whatever the case maybe.

Every day you read about Toonies taking over vacant lots, lots that life long Townies tried to purchase many, many moons ago only to be shunned by the City Hall hacks. Somehow these Toonies make all these hush, hush back room deals. It’s amazing at what money can buy, as in fill the envelope to your favorite politician then all of a sudden deals that were rejected are now being approved. I long for the days when a big mouth from suburbia came here acting all big and mouthy only to be sent home with a fat lip and soiled undies. Ah those were the days my friends I thought they’d never end. Those were the days!.........