A Point Kid Remembers the Past and Considers the Present

I do not subscribe to the much discussed theory that the Point, when it was a French-Canadian enclave, was a clean and perfect world.

My earliest memories of my life are of Perkins Street. It runs east of and parallel to Congress Street, beginning at the side gate of and ending at the front gate of the .

My father, and many of his brothers and sisters, were born in a small double decker there, located behind the old North Shore Market. We lived in a large, four-story tenement just up the street from that very house where my Memere still lived. Coast Guard aircraft taking off and landing to or from were a daily presence.

We later moved to Ward Street where we lived in two separate houses over a period of four or five years. It was while living there that the presence of new Dominican neighbors was being noticed. It was culture shock, to be sure. One group of immigrants was giving way to another.

I remember fondly my friends on Ward Street. Times were different and neighborhoods were still small and intimate. Ronny, Chunky, Hacky, and Dooba were my boys. We ran together and experienced life as adolescents in Salem playing half-ball, street hockey and pushing the behavioral envelope. 

I don't remember so fondly the neighborhood itself. To my memory, it was dirty, full of local waterholes and their clientele like the Ward Eight Cafe, The Lincoln Cafe, The Klondike Club, Les Canadiens, and the Palmer Cove Cafe. Dogs ran loose and did their business wherever they chose. One guy used to bring his German shepherd up the street to relieve himself in front of our house. That stopped one day when my father scooped the dogs business up in a shovel, walked it down the street and left it on that guys 3rd floor door step. 

It was a working class neighborhood and it showed. Some folks did their part to keep it clean, while others did not.  Some of the old French-Canadian woman swept their sidewalks, some did not. The bottom of Ward Street was home for two years to a motorcycle club called the Devil's Disciple's. They used to gallivant naked in the street during summer rains.

The Point has never been perfect. It has always been the rougher part of Salem. As my Grandmother Hussey once said, it was "the wrong side of the tracks." When we moved to the Derby Street area in 1971, it was a great relief to her and to my grandfather.

Today, it has changed and not for the better. Is it dirtier? Yes. Is it louder? Yes. 

Whose fault is it? It's easy to blame the residents and the fact is some of them are responsible and they should be held accountable. 

I would suggest we look elsewhere to cast some of the blame.

Who owns the properties throughout the Point area? Some are owner occupied but many are not.

The fact is that many of the houses and tenements are owned by local citizens as investment and income properties. What are their motivations to maintain and upgrade their properties? Are they trying to improve the neighborhood by investment in their properties or are they trying to squeeze every nickel of profit that they can? I suspect that in many cases it is the latter.

In order for change to happen, the residents and property owners in the Point need to stop allowing themselves to be pushed around. It is time to take ownership of their streets from the malingering miscreants who make them all look bad. Leaders must emerge and residents must become strong in unity of effort.

Those that own rental properties must also take responsibility for what they own. If they won't, then the city should take steps to force their hand. Meeting the standards of section 8 is not enough. 

A neighborhood is the sum of its parts. Whether you are a landlord, an owner/occupier, or a renter you must choose to be a part of the problem or a part of the solution.

Those on the sidelines, not siding with the solution, are a part of the problem.