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Minister calls for locking down Halloween

WBZ reports Bruce Wall wants to ban on-street trick or treating this Halloween, saying Boston streets have become too dangerous for kids.

He cites the recent shooting of three kids playing at the Academy Homes project in Roxbury last week (allegedly by a thug from the Bromley-Heath project).

Instead, Wall would have the streets lined with volunteers to guard the kids as they go to indoor events.

Wall is also demanding that elected officials join this patrol:

We will no longer allow elected officials to come see us on Sunday morning in our churches to ask for our vote but then are not there when the families of our city needs them. It is time for our politicians to put their bodies where their campaign promises said that they will be.


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Comments

I know some communities have official trick or treating days, either the Saturday before of after Halloween so kids arent running around on a Thursday night. I think that could make life a little less hectic for parents, and it could be safer as many people could start and end the process earlier.

I dont think Trick or Treating should be banned as some neighberhoods, even in bad areas, can be safe. It would be unfair to tell someone they cant go out trick or treating if their parents feel the area is safe. Instead maybe the city should offer those services the minister mentions so people who dont feel safe have a place to go. Maybe they could base it off of the National Night Out events and have activities for younger kids AND almost more importantly activities for teenagers. Halloween basketball or something at the local YMCA, keep em busy so they arent running around town causing minor problems that distract the police from the bigger issues of people with guns ect.

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Bruce Wall is just so totally misguided on this subject.

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taking children from house to house to (albeit, briefly) meet neighbors actually helps foster a sense of community and should be encouraged.

Turning the abstract concept of "neighbor" into real breathing people for youth of any community is a very valuable thing and seems very much worth the cost of candy and maybe a few extra police patrols.

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the safer the area would/will be. There's no reason to deprive kids of something that's a traditional Hallowe'en activity and is highly enjoyed. There should be more law enforcement on the streets, and the adults, too, should show themselves more on such nights, if one gets the drift.

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The sidwalks in my neighborhood are safe for kids. But then, I don't live in the projects. Bruce Wall shouldn't assume that a problem affecting the projects affects the whole city. Boston has plenty of safe neighborhoods. Don't punish kids from other neighborhoods because of the failures in the ghetto.

And the kids who do live in the projects... is that where they're going to go trick-or-treating? I remember when I was a kid, we'd head away from the poor neighborhoods towards the rich neighborhoods. We'd meet on the street corners and compare notes. I'd bet the projects are pretty low yield areas for trick or treating. Are the gang-bangers going to follow the ghetto kids all the way across the tracks and up the hill to the bougie neighborhoods just so they can shoot them? How will they tell them apart anymore if they're not in front of their project houses?

Bromley-Heath is like a block away from the Academy Homes. These punks are too lazy to chase anybody terribly far, or they wouldn't be punks. They're not even ambitious enough to have a feud with punks from the other side of town.

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I agree we need to get the kids outside. Sticking everyone inside seems to be the solution for everything. I understand the dangers in some areas, but lets face it the kids are in just as much danger walking to school everyday as they would be trick or treating, and as others have said maybe they are in less danger while trick or treating because of the increased street activity by non violent types.

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