WORCESTER, Mass. — Michael Urban lives at a Sycamore Street apartment in the Main Street South corridor because it’s what he can afford and is close to downtown.
The problem, he has seen drug problems spill onto the property he rents, day-after-day.
“I’m seeing used needles, I’m seeing drug baggies, I’m seeing drug paraphernalia,” said Urban.
He shared images he said he took earlier in the week of discarded needles but tells us this has been a problem off and on for the three years he has lived at the address.
We asked why he hasn’t decided to move, one of the reasons is his income and the proximity to his job.
Urban said he ran into problems with the law years ago and once had his own struggles with drug addiction.
“I don’t think anyone that uses drugs is a bad person, they are just in a bad place in their life,” Urban said.
We saw police twice patrolling the area during our time there, the city’s neighborhood response team handles many of the drug related
In addition to patrols, Lt. Sean Murtha said the neighborhood response team focuses on areas that are hot spots for quality of life issues like these.
Murtha also said the call volume has dropped significantly compared to two years ago due to the attention paid to the intersection of Sycamore Street and Main Street.
There have been just 12 incidents at Main Street and Sycamore Street reported to police so far in 2020, according to department records, there were 19 for all of 2019, and 34 in 2018.
“Certainly there are still problems on the Main-Sycamore area but more of our resource have been focused on a little further up main street, the Main-King area,” Murtha added.
He once battled addiction and ran into problems with the law, but says he’s been sober for five years.
“Of the millions (of dollars) they’re pouring into the new Worcester, Paw Sox, or, Woo Sox stadium, you’d think they’d be pouring more into the surrounding neighborhood,” Urban said.
The city manager was unavailable for comment.
Cox Media Group
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