Concern over safety soaring in Hub area
Study finds link between health, fear of violence
Nearly half of Suffolk County adults are concerned about violence in their neighborhoods, more than double the percentage statewide, according to a new survey. No other region in the state came close.
Violence has invaded even the most basic elements of neighborhood life in Suffolk County, with a quarter of county residents saying they no longer feel safe in their local parks and playgrounds, according to the survey sponsored by the Globe and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.
Perhaps most striking in the survey is the link between health and the perception of neighborhood safety. Across the state, the survey found that people who described themselves as being in fair or poor health were twice as likely to report concerns about neighborhood violence as residents who said they are in excellent health.
The least healthy people were more likely to say they lacked access to basic staples of healthy living in their neighborhoods, such as a grocery offering fresh produce, a doctor's office, a pharmacy, an affordable place to exercise, and a safe park.
But violence stands out as a pressing concern, with the greatest worry expressed by young adults.
"There are parks around here, but I wouldn't bring my kids to them," said Danielle Brooks, a 25-year-old mother of two who lives near Dorchester's Grove Hall neighborhood. "The violence around here is bad. It's really bad. You don't know what's going to happen."
Brooks is one of 1,018 adults surveyed in the telephone poll conducted Oct. 12 to 17 by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. The sampling error was 3.1 percent.
"A lot of my neighbors have kids," said Brooks, who is still shaken about a stabbing a few weeks ago near her 5-year-old son's school bus stop. "We used to take our kids outside, but everybody in this area is concerned, because you never know what's going to happen."
Boston makes up most of Suffolk County, which also includes Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. Beyond Suffolk County, most adults rank their neighborhoods as healthy places where they can find at least one safe park or playground, an affordable gym, a store with fresh fruits and vegetables, and a pharmacy.
Some of the highest marks for healthy and safe neighborhoods come from Middlesex and Norfolk counties. Eighty five percent of Middlesex residents and 94 percent from Norfolk County said there is a neighborhood park or playground they felt safe to use, while just 75 percent of Suffolk County residents felt that way.
Suffolk residents are also the least likely to say there is an affordable place to exercise locally. Just 59 percent said they had access to such a facility, compared to 72 percent statewide.
Community health leaders and sociologists say violence can create a culture of fear, prompting parents to keep their children inside, and that can increase risks for obesity and other diseases. Last year, Boston's Public Health Commission launched a campaign to tackle obesity after finding that half of Boston's adults reported being overweight or obese.
"We are finding a lot of people don't walk or exercise because they don't have a safe place to do it," said Bill Walczak, executive director of the Codman Square Health Center in Boston. Two weeks ago, the center opened a low-cost fitness facility aimed at women and children.
"Our goal is to allow people to have a safe place to exercise, considering the fear of using the limited number of open places that are out there," Walczak said.
Health and neighborhood violence concerns are hardly unique to Boston or Suffolk County. Across the state, the survey found that people in poorer communities were three times more likely to say they are worried about neighborhood violence, compared to those in more affluent towns.
In Worcester, William Burrell, a 24-year-old musician and father of two sons, ages 1 and 2 months, said he moved away from a dangerous section of the city a couple of years ago to provide a safer neighborhood for his children.
"It had a lot of drugs, violence, and no safe parks," said Burrell, who also took part in the telephone survey.
Burrell moved into his parents' house in a Worcester neighborhood that, he said, has a safe park, an affordable place to exercise, and a nearby pharmacy.
Statewide, young adults like Burrell are the most likely to say violence is a concern. Forty-five percent of young adults between 18 and 25 cited neighborhood violence as an issue, compared to just 22 percent of all adults statewide, according to the survey.
Across urban, suburban, and rural areas, youth is a common denominator when it comes to violence, said Jack Levin, Northeastern University professor of sociology and criminology and codirector of the Brudnick Center on Violence.
Levin said that his research and studies by others have shown that young adults are the most likely to be the victims and the perpetrators of criminal acts. Yet the perception, he said, is that seniors are the most anxious about violence.
"The surprise in this [survey] is that the perception is really close to the reality," Levin said. "Older Americans have the lowest victimization rate."
Violence aside, the survey found several bright spots concerning the state's young adults. It found they are the most likely to participate in ethnic clubs or associations and are tied with baby boomers for the highest participation percentages in public interest or political groups, with 18.5 percent indicating they were politically active.
Walczak, the Codman Square community health center director, attributed it to "the Obama effect."
Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com. 