Dear Billy T and Somerville/Medford News Weekly Speakup Line,

To the Editor:

With deep regret I wish to complain against the misuse of the Seven Hills Park, behind Davis Square.
The Park used to be a pride of all the residents of the park was the a desired recreation site for walkers, children and senior citizens.
Things have drastically changed within the last few months.

Many homeless have made it their sleeping ground. Made it camp site with tarps and hammocks and a boxing bag hanging in the tree to as potted plants as a “yard” . It is troubling to see our beautiful Park being tranferred into a dirty habitat. It is also disturbing to see so many homeless people without a shelter.
I would urge you to clear and restore our Park to us and at the same time rehabilitate the homeless in some proper place.
I am writing to express my concern of the issue of homelessness in our community. In my lifetime, the homeless population has grown exponentially. It would be rare to go to any major commercial area or road without encountering a homeless person. I believe seeing this is unfortunate. It is human nature to feel compassion and a desire to comfort and ease the hardships that so many of these homeless people experience. It is clearly evident that the community takes great strides to help the homeless. There are countless nonprofits that feed, clothe, provide shelter, and give ministry and counseling to this group. What we clearly do not have in our community are strong and well enforced laws to deter a homeless population. In the long run, I feel having laws in place to prevent homeless people from loitering will be better for our community. It may be unpopular and even damaging to discuss solutions to remedy this problem amongst our local political leaders, but it is a major issue. Non-elected leaders in our community are doing their part through benevolent charities, but we need laws and law enforcement. Vagrancy, trespassing, seliciding, loitering, and even littering are crimes that have little punishment but serious consequences on the quality of life and image of our community. Furthermore, due to the reality of the high prevalence of mental illness and substance abuse there are safety concerns as well. I believe that more citizens should be brave enough to speak out. We are a community that has so much potential, but our epidemic homeless population is a symptom of growing pains. I urge our community and law enforcement  to take action to deter the size of the homeless population in our hometown.

Eagerly awaiting your action.
Somerville Resident