In today’s paper there were three articles with a related theme: Long Island Bridge, Housing for Migrants, Mass & Cass danger.  The bridge will still take years to go through bureaucratic hearings and possibly more court suits from Quincy before its rebuilding even commences.  The chaos and filth at Mass & Cass has been going on long enough and will continue to do so without drastic action.  Government money will be slow to trickle down and then you have the bidding process and construction time frame, think years.

Can someone explain to me WHY we are not grabbing onto the one sane, immediate solution available — Reopen Long Island?  Ferries bring commuters every day from Hingham, Salem, Lynn, and other ports right into downtown Boston.  They make multiple trips almost around the clock in good weather and bad.

If the addiction, medical, and mental health needs of some of the homeless of Mass & Cass require that they remain close to a hospital – then hospitalize them!  Others may only be there to take advantage of the illicit opportunities presented.  Migrants are supposedly vetted by the Border Patrol, so they are not in that urgent need category.  They are unemployed, as they do not have work permits, so there is no reason they must reside in the surrounding city area.  Feeding and housing them on Long Island will be cost effect versus private hotel rates.

The Long Island facility is allegedly in disrepair, but so are many shelters and temporary housing locations. An old, but well-maintained building on Long Island is certainly better than the tent cities being erected in NYC.

Pamela Morris

Brookline

Now that Governor Healey has declared a state of emergency due to the influx of non-US citizens, it is time to apply some common sense and equitable governance.

First off, the laws have already been enacted that allow for non-citizens to apply for drivers’ licenses.  Opponents’ concerns during the ballot initiative was that these licenses could be tied to automatic voter registration and could create the risk for voter fraud.  It isn’t too late to apply some common sense that would go a long way to satisfying both sides of the issue.  The RMV could redesign and differentiate non-citizen drivers’ licenses into a vertical format and alternative color scheme.  This would provide them with identification and allow them to properly insure and drive vehicles to and from work.  To support this chance, there need to be technical upgrades at the RMV to ensure that non-citizen licenses cannot be linked to voter registration.

With the influx of over 5,000 non-citizen families flooding our state, we are seeing a handful of communities bearing the brunt of this surge.  Common sense would suggest that the most prudent and equitable housing solution would be to allocate these non-citizens across all 14 counties in the state.  This will allow the proponents of sanctuary status in the Commonwealth to support and befriend these new arrivals in an up close and personal manner.

Dick Farren

Lowell