SUCCESS ON SAFER NEIGHBORHOODS

Drug houses are the supply bases of urban badlands, feeding lawlessness
until entire neighborhoods are misshapen by dangerous and abandoned
buildings. A decade ago, federal, state, and local officials in Boston
decided to lay siege to scores of such houses. It was one of the best joint
decisions ever made in this city.

Today, public safety officials are scheduled to celebrate the 10th
anniversary of the formation of this ''Ten Most Wanted'' task force.
Members from seven public agencies created what would become an
international model by preparing a rolling list of the city's worst drug
dens, boarding up all openings and finally renovating many of them for
occupancy by legitimate residents. To date, the task force has ''arrested''
257 drug houses through federal forfeitures, tax foreclosure, condemnation,
and evictions.

Much of the anniversary's focus rests, as it should, on the new occupants
and their salutary effects on the neighborhoods. But the public should also
recognize the methodical and often dangerous work required to close the
drug dens. Along Strathcoma Street in Dorchester, police literally
unearthed drug caches stored in the pipes. On tiny Woodville Park in
Roxbury, where four of nine houses were suspected of drug trade in the
early 1990s, city crews erected jersey barriers to slow down fleeing
dealers. Even with police protection, workers had to cope with
surreptitiously tossed M-80 devices that explode with the power of
quarter-sticks of dynamite.

In a city with an acute shortage of inexpensive housing, any addition of
rental apartments, elderly housing, and restored homes is a plus. But the
removal of squatters who traded in heroin and crack cocaine was nothing
short of transformative. This year, city workers who conduct the annual
abandoned property census report record lows. Although abandoned lots are
still a major problem in parts of Dorchester and Roxbury and officials
still slog through the lengthy process from tax title to foreclosure, there
are few properties that pose the hazards so common a decade ago.

Fingerwork as well as brawn were needed to make these cases. Boston's
Department of Neighborhood Development researched ownership and mortgage
information while Inspectional Services workers documented code violations.
The Boston Police, US Attorney, US Marshal, Drug Enforcement
Administration, and Suffolk County district attorney offices prepared the
ground for drug asset forfeitures and major prosecutions on drugs and
weapons charges. As soon as one property came off the list, Neighborhood
Services worked with area residents to identify another.

It was not uncommon to find abandoned buildings with $70,000 arrearages for
back taxes, water, and utility bills. In many cases, subsidies amounting to
twice that are needed to bring the property back to the market. But the
investment is returned many times over in livable Boston neighborhoods once
thought hopelessly despoiled.