Saugus leaders, residents call out Boston’s acting mayor over proposed relocation of Methadone Mile

SAUGUS, Mass. — Not in our backyard!

That was the message during an emergency board of selectmen meeting in Saugus Thursday morning.

Local leaders and the community are directing their ire at Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey.

“This is the lame duck mayor sitting in Boston trying to make a name for herself 6 weeks before an election, saying I’m going to get rid of this problem we have and I’m going to shuffle it up 10 miles north and let them deal with it. I just think it’s unconscionable,” said Saugus Board of Selectman Jeffrey Cicolini.

“How can someone not in the election come November make this decision? Who gave her authority? Where did that come from?” said Corrine Riley, a member of the Saugus Board of Selectmen.

During a news conference at City Hall, Acting Mayor Janey defended her proposal to convert a hotel adjacent to Route 1, which sits next to a liquor store on the Saugus/Revere line, into a transitional homeless center for individuals from the drug-plagued Methadone Mile section of Boston.

“What I will not do is engage in a finger-pointing campaign, one that is about pointing blame and not finding solutions,” Janey said.

Janey claims that 60 percent of the homeless along Methadone Mile come from outside of Boston, so other communities need to step up as well.

“This crisis continues to be left on the shoulders of Boston when other municipalities and towns are not doing all they can,” she said.

Leaders in Saugus claim they were blindsided by Janey’s proposal and only found out about it through the media earlier this week.

They fear it’ll be a major drain on their resources, particularly first responders.

“These people aren’t seeking help. All we are doing is taking them and making a logistic change, plopping them here in a facility that cannot handle it,” said Saugus Fire Chief Michael Newbury.

The City of Boston says there is no timeline on the move.

Up next for Saugus, the Board of Selectmen said it’s firing off a letter to Mayor Janey opposing her plan.

Editor’s Note: This story previously misattributed a quote from Saugus Selectman Corrine Riley to State Rep. Jessica Ann Giannino, this copy has been updated with the correct identification.

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