'Don't wait till we're dead'

Correction: Because of an editing error, a story in yesterday's City & Region section about Boston youth testifying at a City Council hearing incorrectly identified the councilors conducting the hearing. Councilors Felix Arroyo, Michael Ross, and Chuck Turner held the hearing. They were joined by Councilors Michael Flaherty, Sam Yoon, Charles Yancey, and Jerry McDermott.

The rustle of puffy coats and the thump of heavy, fur-lined boots filled the City Council chamber yesterday as more than 100 young adults and teenagers settled into seats, stairs, and even occupied parts of the floor to wait their turn at a microphone, where they gave Boston leaders a rarely heard earful on how some youth view and live with the city's recent rise in violence.

Armed with written speeches and a defiant attitude, some 40 young men and women told a handful of councilors that they need help interacting with the police, improving the foster care and CORI criminal background check systems, creating more jobs, and reinstating funding for key afterschool programs that focused on teenagers.

Do all that, they said, and crime would probably drop because young people would have something productive to do.

Waving signs that read: ''More programs, less lockup!" the youth also wanted the city to know that the young people responsible for last year's rash of homicides are a minority of a minority.

Attendees suggested that instead of spending more city dollars on the youths doing wrong, the city should work more with young people who are doing right.

''Don't wait till we're dead," said Beatriz Rivera, 16, a student at Boston Arts Academy. ''They only really recognize us in the papers when we're dead. It takes 75 murders for us to even get invited to City Hall."

The public hearing, which went on for about four hours, was the first of its kind conducted by a City Council special committee on youth violent crime prevention. Councilors Felix Arroyo, Michael Flaherty, and Chuck Turner conducted the hearing, and were later joined by Councilors Sam Yoon and Charles Yancey.

The committee heard from several officials from city agencies who said they successfully employed thousands of youth last year, but failed to keep records on the number of those who were denied jobs because of an arrest record.

Still, the agencies acknowledged that there aren't enough jobs to go around.

Shortly after that, youth after youth stepped forward with tales of run-ins with police, fears that youth programs will be shut down, complaints about a lack of respect from adult leaders, and lamentations about the difficulty of finding summer jobs.

Mishon Browne of Mattapan explained how he tried to get a summer job at a local nonprofit, but was told his mother made too much money for him to qualify for the program.

Browne instead volunteered for a community group that recently pulled together some money to pay him for his troubles. It's worse for young men with CORIs, he said, referring to people with a criminal record that is detected during background checks.

''They've got to do something about it," said Browne, a senior at Cathedral High School.

''We need more funding for summer jobs," he said. ''With my job now, I know for a fact that I can't get into trouble. I don't do anything bad. Everything I do at work is positive and for my neighborhood."

Angelo Pino, 15, of Dorchester, suggested that if police would use a little more sensitivity when questioning youth on the street, they might get more cooperation.

''They put all this pressure on us because we're at the wrong place at the wrong time," said Pino, who said he was stopped and questioned by police last week after attempting to retrieve his basketball from a Dorchester park.

''They told me to take my clothes off and lay on the ground," he said. ''. . . Then they told my mom I was out looking for drugs.

''I am not a criminal," said Pino, a cherubic faced young man. ''I am a good person."

Others commended the Boston Police Department for its battle against crime, but wondered what can be done to reduce the historical tension between young men of color and the authorities.

Boston Police won't directly respond to the accusations, said Sergeant Thomas Sexton, a spokesman. But, he said, the department has a good track record of working with teens.

''We have plenty of outreach and intervention programs across the city, whether it be basketball leagues, soccer leaguers," he said. '' We're out there. That's basically the best response we can give you."

The committee took copies of the some of the speeches and hopes to use some of the recommendations to find some solutions to the city's crime.

''It's a great opportunity for us to have somewhat of a dialogue," said Yoon. ''To the youths in this room, congratulations. We spend a lot of time talking about you but not a lot of time talking to you. I hear you."

Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at asamuels@globe.com