Harbor point teens allege harassment

Yawu Miller

There’s no youth programming or youth center in Harbor Point and not much for teenagers to do. Although the tennis court is in good repair, the basketball courts have been closed for the last few years.

So on summer days teenagers in the development often hang out on the corners in front of the homes where their families live. That’s where Longwood Security comes in.

“They either ride up on you or they call Boston Police,” said teenager Jamal Williams. “They tell us we have to leave, or we’ll be arrested for trespassing.”

Tenant activists in the housing development say teenagers say they have been regularly harassed by Harbor Point security since the development was converted from a public housing development into a mixed-income gated community in the late ’80s.

Despite meetings with tenants, Boston Police officials and tenants rights activists, the tenants say the situation has not improved.

Things may have hit somewhat of a nadir the week before last when Longwood Security officers handcuffed two residents following an altercation in front of a store located in the development. The kids involved, ages 10 and 11, were handcuffed and detained at the Harbor Point management office.

“I didn’t know what to think,” said resident Cedric Quarles, who witnessed the incident while sitting on a bench near the store. “The kids were standing there, angry at each other. One kid hit another. It was a little tap.”

Longwood Security did not respond to a Banner request for an interview.

The pizza shop, which is located in a commercial strip in the development’s main plaza, is the prime contested territory in what appears to be a war between the predominantly black group of residents who live in the subsidized units at Harbor Point and the predominantly white group of renters there.

The teens say police regularly order them to leave the front of the pizza shop. Although the teens no longer congregate there, they often stand in front of the store after placing an order.

David Cole said he and his mother showed officers receipts for food they had ordered from the pizza shop on a recent evening, but were still ordered to leave. He says he and his mother were doused with pepper spray before he fled the scene.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “Everybody stands in front of the store after they order.”

Cole, who is not a resident, had good reason to flee. Non-residents of the development are often charged with trespassing and forbidden by management from returning to the development. Many of those banned are relatives or children of current residents.

“I have five aunts and grandparents who live here,” Cole said. “My whole family lives here.”

The no-trespass orders, which number in the hundreds, have been a bone of contention for the black Harbor Point residents, many of whom have friends and relatives on the list.

Those not on the list often return to the development to visit relatives in the former housing project. In the summertime, that often means family cookouts. The black tenants say they no longer hold the cookouts in their back yards, for fear the security guards will shut them down.

“They always tell you they got a complaint from a neighbor,” said Stephanie Williams.

Williams said she recently collected more than $100 from relatives in the development to buy meat wholesale for a cookout. She and her relatives retreated to a gazebo on the waterfront park, outside the boundaries of the development, to avoid Longwood Security.

But as group began consuming the food and drink, Longwood Security officers showed up with Boston Police officers, who demanded to see a permit for the barbeque, which was held in a public park. Although Williams admits she ran afoul of the seldom-enforced ordinance, she says the shutdown of the cookout was harassment.

“I said we weren’t aware we needed a permit,” she said. “We’re trying to follow the rules, but they always come up with something else.”