Photo: Shari Small/WBZ NewsRadio
LOWELL, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The homelessness issue in Downtown Lowell is causing problems for some small business owners in the community.
Many of them have voiced complaints to the City of Lowell for years, as vagrants in particular will sleep on doorsteps and publicly relieve themselves outside of businesses, actions which have driven customers away.
Read More: Lowell Business Owners Seek Answers To Homeless Problem
According to Alaina Brackett, owner of the Purple Carrot Bread Company on Merrimack Street, the problems amongst vagrants don’t end there.
“[They will] verbally accost people, walk up to people trying to get out of their car and not let them get out of their car until they get the money that they want,” Brackett said.
Brackett says that it is equivalent to unarmed robbery.
“It’s verbal accosting and harassment,” she added.
WBZ NewsRadio asked Brackett what the city was doing to respond to the problem.
“There’s only so much they can do because there’s no law language to deal with the problem.”
Brackett also says there is a big difference between the homeless problem and the vagrant problem in the city.
There is a group that has services [for vagrants], but they don’t utilize them, and they don’t want them, [so], they turn to selling drugs,” Brackett added.
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