#municipal-response

#municipal-response

After the blaze destroyed his uninsured home in the Palisades Bowl mobile home park - which the owners, to this day, still have not cleared of fire debris - the boat docked in Marina del Rey became his home. "You either rise from the ashes or you get consumed by them," he said between tokes from a joint as he watched the sunset with his chihuahua tucked into his tan Patagonia jacket.

Packed in a nearby church's sanctuary, residents and business owners of Somerville's Davis Square gathered for a neighborhood public safety meeting Monday night, anxious to hear how the city is planning to address a seemingly growing homelessness crisis. However, some residents felt unheard. "Could you please do something for us," one woman said, "and stop them from shooting up outside the day care?" Over the past two years, Davis Square's Statue Park and Seven Hills Park have seen a surge in their homeless populations.