John Hodges

My kid just came home from high school and was almost hit while crossing Mass Ave at Harvey/Cameron. Two cars refused to stop. My kid was in the crosswalk and had the light. One sped by her, honking, and one dodged around her instead of stopping, causing her to have to jump out of the way. I also called the police non-emergency line and left a message with Traffic asking for enforcement.

Just because it’s dcr / state police jurisdiction and not Cambridge police jurisdiction, doesn’t completely and totally release the city from any responsibility over this little wooded area, which is in Cambridge after all. The folks living in this encampment are benefiting from it being an ignored area. There’s somewhat of a permanent structure there again. Folks are defecating on the paths, building fires, using drugs, doing crimes associated with the drugs such as prostitution, etc. Last year, a woman perished when her camp caught on fire —- I had been trying to get Dcr and the troopers to pay attention to her before that happened but they just shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes. I keep trying to explain to MEMA and the troopers the exact location but they don’t get it. I will keep posting about it here so that you can’t act like you’re not aware of it. I will keep calling all the numbers to complain about it until someone takes responsibility, acting like it’s not your problem is only going to make me call more. If they aren’t able to keep themselves warm without building an illegal fire, then they’re at risk. If they build a fire, everyone else is at risk. There’s no authority, that has the authority, to just allow it.

Drive by shooting last night around 6:15-6:30 pm. There was a drive by shooting near the kids park and tennis, basketball courts, a white car fired on a black car and then drove off at a great deal of speed.
So I was wondering what is being done to keep little kids playing in that park by the grammar school, the people gardening in the community garden, the folks playing tennis and basketball, and just people out for a walk SAFE ????????
One young person was shot and killed there not that long ago.
What are the Cambridge Police doing about this activity. Is it drug related or gang related???
Will it take another person death to get some action???

Pedestrian reports missing crosswalk sign here. Today Water Dept worked at this location. Residents put a temporary "sandwich board" indicating crosswalk for students to identify crosswalk, but that disappeared today. Resident is not sure why the temporary sandwich board sign had to be removed. Please reinstall the crosswalk sign or provide some temporary indicator for students to safely cross Rindge Ave. This is a high traffic area and should not be unmarked.

Needles, tourniquets, orange needle caps, other trash like food wrappers and stuff, also textiles left behind (they take them out of the blue bin and use them for sleeping in the cold) as well as human feces, and burned up wood from a campfire. I, for one, personally think that the MBTA should play more of a role in detecting and deterring this kind of behavior because it is literally right outside of their station. Perhaps they would say that it’s not their jurisdiction but really, who else has employees standing right there within eyesight of the folks doing that stuff, who else has multiple surveillance cameras there? Why does the train entrance even have cameras on that back-side of it, if not for that very reason? Anyway it’s in Cambridge too…This is basically just a continuous issue that is never resolved, and it’s disheartening to notice that it’s actually the same small group of local individuals, year over year, and not new, unknown persons.

There is a dangerous encampment in this location with at least half a dozen people who have constructed a large facility for stolen items and drugs. Looks like an extremely hazardous situation possibly with hazmat running into the nearby water system and Alewife reservation.

Sixth day illegal parking. No Permit or Visitor Pass. If I were to do this in Gloucester, my car would be towed.

Please ticket the scofflaw. If nothing is done tomorrow, I will call the non-emergency police line every day this person is parked in this spot.

Sidewalk near to wheeler street and TD bank always floods when it rains, hazard for cyclists and pedestrians, especially for people with stroller and young kids who can't easily go around

Technically there should be a painted bike lane here, but it hasn't been painted ever since the roadway was resurfaced (a month ago?). I called this in to CPD's non-emergency line, but posting here to make sure it's recorded.

While this issue is important for CPD to know about, it probably should be re-routed to whoever is supposed to be repainting the lines, and then after that to whoever can determine if bollards can be placed here (or the whole bike lane moved to a sidewalk level cycletrack...but that seems unlikely with the roadway just having been resurfaced...).

Whenever there's a hard rain or melting snow, there's a significant water puddle from Wheeler St to closer to TD Bank. The water doesn't drain well in this area. There is more puddling on the sidewalk behind Mattress Firm and Chipotle, too. Makes the walk to and from Alewife difficult.

this path is always flooded when it rains people have to walk in the mud. It has to be hard for people with strollers. It's nasty. Been living in this area for 11 years and no one is fixing the problems.