broken windows

boston

Graffiti Busters erase scrawl to discourage wider disorder

BOSTON – If something strange pops up in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? In the Hub, thanks to an initiative from the late former Mayor Thomas M. Menino, you can call the "Graffiti Busters," a group of city workers and volunteers who scrub graffiti from brick, concrete or

boston

Broken Windows policing: The key to urban renewal

If Boston is serious about urban renewal, it may want to bring back one of the now defunct policies of the late Mayor Thomas M. Menino: Broken Windows policing. Broken Windows theory holds that enforcing public order laws — such as laws against graffiti, trespassing, and illegal street vending — reduces both