Back Bay shantytowns dismantled

State Police and Department of Conservation and Recreation crews, accompanied by officials from homeless shelters, swept through the Back Bay yesterday to dismantle shantytowns homeless people had built under bridges.

State officials launched the joint operation after several assaults in the last few weeks and repeated complaints from area residents and businesses about safety, noise, and public drinking. During their four hours under the Massachusetts Avenue bridge, underneath the Bowker overpass and at Charlesgate East, crews removed four garbage trucks full of debris that included scrap metal, mattresses, blankets, boxes, and assorted personal belongings.

''It's state property," said Lieutenant Sharon Costine, a State Police spokeswoman. ''It's gotten a little out of hand down there."

But after Hurricane Katrina displaced hundreds of thousands along the Gulf Coast, yesterday's sweep also brought new attention to the plight of Boston's homeless, estimated to number about 6,000 people.

A shelter official estimates that about half that number spend at least some time under bridges to escape the elements, while the rest spend most of their time in shelters. The number of homeless living in encampments is believed to be far smaller.

Of the three dozen or more homeless people whose encampments were torn down yesterday, only a handful were present when work crews arrived. All those evicted were offered space in shelters, but only one accepted, said Shepley Metcalf, spokeswoman for the Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter in the South End.

She said workers from the shelter planned to return last night to explain to people what happened. ''Their things won't be there," Metcalf said. ''That will be difficult for them."

State Police officers who patrol the area were ordered to make sure the displaced don't return and try to reconstruct the shantytown. ''The goal is to displace the homeless from DCR properties," said a Boston police e-mail about the operation.

State Police said they plan a similar effort next week at several other encampments on state property. They would not identify the areas and declined to be more specific about their plans.

Complaints from Back Bay residents and businesses about the shantytowns go back at least two years, but have grown louder recently.

City Councilor Michael Ross said he encouraged state agencies to do the sweep after his office was flooded with calls expressing concern over what he called ''extremely dangerous" conditions. Ross said someone was sexually assaulted in one of the shantytowns last weekend.

''We could no longer turn a blind eye to the drug and alcohol use going on there," Ross said. ''Students at [Boston University], residents, and businesses in the surrounding neighborhood were calling to say they were afraid to cross under the Bowker [overpass]. . . . I was concerned there would be more sexual assaults."

Costine said police are aware of the sexual assault and added that there have also been armed assaults in the shantytowns in the last several weeks.

Noel Diaz, a 58-year-old homeless man who lives under the Massachusetts Avenue bridge, said he lost everything in yesterday's operation.

''All my stuff -- coats, beds," said Diaz, who returned to his makeshift living quarters after the sweep. ''I'll bring in new ones."

But police say people bringing in new material will be forcibly removed. And, in some cases, rebuilding won't be easy. Many homeless people lost more than a few possessions.

Metcalf said many lost ''highly constructed [shanties] with living areas and many layers for shelter from the rain. . . . It's not like it's just a tarp and a blanket."

Ross said he is troubled by the suffering of the homeless, but said he also has a duty to protect his constituents. He blamed funding cuts for the squalor under the bridges of Boston, just out of the public eye.

''It's tragic that there aren't, primarily, state and federal resources to do what needs to be done. You're talking about the shutting down of methadone clinics and shelters," Ross said. ''This is a problem that comes right down to health and human services . . . especially for substance-abuse treatment."

Residents near the Massachusetts Avenue bridge and Charlesgate East encampments also expressed sympathy for the homeless.

Cathal Hickey, a bartender at the Crossroads Irish Pub on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street, said that many of the area's homeless drink at the bar on occasion.

''They were gentlemen," Hickey said.

Chelsea Camp, a BU freshman living near the encampments, said she isn't bothered by the homeless living near student housing.

''They haven't been out in the street," she said. ''They stay with their stuff."

Rebecca Marston, who works at Capitol Realty Group Inc. on Charles Street in Beacon Hill, said that recently the homeless problem has intensified to the point that she installed a security system to feel safe in the office during the day. Still, she said, she doesn't believe that the police should force people to leave the only home they know.

''Just to go and rattle them out of their homes is really cruel," Marston said. ''I'd like to know what they're doing for them."

But State Police said their effort was well-intentioned and agreed with Ross that the situation had become hazardous. They also said they work with advocates for the homeless and medical advisers to ensure the population is given options.

''This is a proactive approach," Costine said. ''This wasn't just kicking people out. . . . We had a place for them to go."

Suzanne Smalley can be reached at ssmalley@globe.com.