| Newton MA News and Politics Blog

Cognizant of Mayor Fuller’s request for people to be careful about Covid social distancing violations, I just called the dispatcher at the Newton Police to report a gathering of some 40 college-age men practicing football with no masks on Weeks Field. (The photo is a portion of the group.) I pointed out, too, that the group almost certainly does not have a field permit.  The dispatcher, always polite, said, “I don’t know if we respond to those issues. I’ll ask my sergeant, and if we do, we’ll send someone over.”

I said, “And if you don’t respond, who will?” She said, “You can call the Health Department in the morning.”

Sorry, but that doesn’t cut it as an appropriate municipal response. Those of us involved in youth and high school sports are obeying and enforcing very strict requirements for all the games and practices. The last thing we need is for non-permitted, non-compliant players making use of T-accessible Newton park and athletic facilities, risking the public health and potentially leading to a closure of such facilities.

It’s time for the Mayor and her departments to work out an appropriate real-time protocol for handling complaints of this nature.