As city census starts, homeless man dies

Mayor Thomas M. Menino spoke with Laurie, a homeless woman, on a street near Government Center last night during the annual city homeless census. (ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

Hours before Boston officials launched the latest census of the city's homeless population, police began investigating the death of a homeless man found yesterday on conservation land adjacent to the Globe's offices in Dorchester.

A passerby found the man's body on a blanket in the snow-covered park and contacted the newspaper, Boston police Sergeant Michael Locke said. He said he did not know the identity of the man nor how long he had been there. But he said the man appeared to have died from exposure to the cold.

"There's no obvious signs of trauma," Locke said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he learned of the homeless man's death yesterday, just hours before he gathered at City Hall with more than 300 volunteers to begin the city's annual homeless population count. Menino expressed frustration over such deaths.

"We offer services," he said. "Some folks, no matter what we do, don't want to come inside."

That was the case last night, as Menino approached homeless people living in doorways and subway entrances in Downtown Crossing, hoping to persuade them to spend the night in a city shelter. Volunteers in 35 other neighborhoods participated.

Some of those approached agreed to take shelter. Others did not.

Dodging ice as he walked, Menino recalled a homeless census six years ago when he met a pregnant woman sleeping in a doorway. He said it took him 45 minutes to persuade the woman, Laurie, to go to a hospital. She delivered a healthy baby, Menino said, adding that he learned years later that a prominent developer had adopted the child.

Last night, Laurie was on the streets again. Menino found her smoking and panhandling outside a 7-Eleven convenience store near the old Filene's Basement. She sat on a crate, her legs covered with a blanket, and smiled at the mayor. But when he offered her a van ride to a shelter, she grew belligerent.

"I'm not going," she said loudly, repeating herself. "I [practically] froze to death last night. I was stuck in a cubby hole over there. My tears froze."

She asked Menino and Jim Greene, director of the city's Emergency Shelter Commission, if they would want to go to one.

Menino continued to speak to her in hushed tones and agreed to arrange for a counselor to meet with her on the corner.

As Menino and the two dozen people with him moved on, Laurie shook the change in her panhandling cup and shouted, "I didn't even get a dollar from you guys!"

City officials will compile raw data from the census and issue a preliminary report by the end of the week. Last year, the census identified 6,636 homeless men, women, and children in the city, a 4 percent increase over the previous year. The number of families who were homeless increased by 13 percent from 2005 to 2006.

No one knows what to expect this year, but on Monday night, all 450 beds at the Pine Street Inn were taken, and 65 people slept on the floor of the shelter. Boston has endured ice-covered venues in the last week, when more than 15 inches of snow fell on the city.

Greene said anyone who sees an encampment of homeless people in the city should call the Emergency Shelter Commission or the Boston Police Department to report it. Both agencies keep lists of places where the homeless congregate and check on them when the temperature drops.

Prior to yesterday, Greene said, the last homeless person to die in winter in the city was found last year in Chinatown.

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.