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January 13, 2005

Teens organize against violence on Orange Line

By Yawu Miller

Youth coordinators with the Hyde Square Task Force have long complained about the conditions in the Jackson Square MBTA stop. The lights were dim, windows were dirty and call boxes for MBTA police were inoperative.
Teens with the Task Force were robbed and girls passing through the station were routinely harassed.

After a 14-year-old girl was stabbed in front of the station in March last year, the teens had a meeting with MBTA officials, Boston police and State police.

Many of their recommendations — including improved lighting, cleaning of windows and increased police presence — were implemented over the following months. And the results have been palpable.

“Now there’s more police presence,” commented Lillian Casillas, a teen community organizer with the Task Force.
Last Wednesday, Casillas and five other teens dressed in royal robes to honor the tradition of the day of the three kings, a traditional post-Christmas holiday that marks the visit of three wise men to the manger where Jesus was born.

The teens handed out buttons calling for peace on the MBTA as well as candy and books in a gesture aimed at fostering goodwill in the station.

“Basically, this is to make our community more welcoming,” said Gian Gonzalez, another youth organizer with the Task Force. “We want to unify the community and make the station a little more friendly and safer.”

In May, the Task Force coordinated a clean up of the area around the station, using volunteers from City Year and local corporations. In July, the teens worked with an artist Roberto Chao to paint flowers on the columns in front of the station.

Another change the teens suggested that has had a positive effect on the station was the removal of a bank of telephones near the turnstiles that attracted a groups of teenagers. Since the phones were removed, the group has not been congregating there.

MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera said the changes in the station demonstrate the effectiveness of the agency’s collaboration with the community.

“Jackson Square has gone through a complete transformation for the better since the MBTA has been working with Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and the community,” she commented.

MBTA police initiated a program call Operation Stop Watch in September of 2003 after an MBTA poll found that 35 percent of teenagers who use the system said they were afraid to ride the T. While the Task Force teens say the station has gotten better, in November a teenage girl was reportedly abducted from the station by a group of five youths and gang raped in the basement of an apartment building in the Bromley Heath housing development next to the station.

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