Boston officials are considering a permanent memorial to victims of the deadly Boston Marathon bombing attacks as they simultaneously plan to reopen Boylston Street, one of the city’s busiest shopping districts, after federal authorities have finished their investigation.
It’s still too early to know where that memorial will go or when business owners and residents will be able to get into their living spaces and work places, according to a spokesperson for Mayor Thomas Menino.
Businesses along Boylston Street between Clarendon and Hereford have been closed since the April 15 bombing of the internationally renowned marathon that took three lives and injured more than 180. Items that are now part of a memorial to victims at the intersection of Boylston and Berkeley streets have been temporarily relocated to Copley Square Park. The city will place large message boards in the area for people to record their reflections on the event.
As the horrific explosions started a week ago today, glass windows and other dangerous objects exploded from the force of the unprecedented marathon attack, maiming hundreds. When the smoke cleared, the area was shut down for intense evidence gathering, leaving stores open to the elements and food still on restaurant tables.
Storefronts and residences located farthest from the blast zone, like between Hereford and Fairfield streets, would likely be the first to reopen since they have the least evidence, according to a city official with knowledge of the situation who asked for anonymity in an interview this morning. Those blocks could open as early as today, but that decision is in the hands of federal investigators.
The areas of the Back Bay most devastated by the bombings, allegedly carried out by brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, will take longer to open. Once investigators are finished and the street is turned over to City Hall, then cleanup crews will be deployed to clear the streets of debris, glass and other potentially dangerous objects.
Once that’s finished, the city’s Inspectional Services Department can start to determine if any structural damage was done to buildings in the blast zone. Only after those assessments will business owners and residents be allowed to enter their homes and shops. Several places, like Forum restaurant and Marathon Sports, will need to board up their windows to prevent further damage from weather.
"There may be businesses that frankly may not be ready to be opened yet," said the city official. "We expect a staggered return to normalcy on that street. The first thing is getting [storefronts] boarded up, getting the windows covered. Once everything is secure, then they will begin the process of repairing façades and windows. We’re going to do it as quickly as is safe."
Even after stores are boarded up, grandstands hastily vacated by innocent audience members watching the race will still need to be dismantled and hauled away, and banners hanging over the finish line, now awash in tragedy, still need to be removed.
"As soon as [federal investigators] release the area to the city, we will begin the deliberate process of returning that neighborhood to its people," said John Guilfoil, a spokesperson for the mayor. "We’re working to make sure they can get back in there as soon as possible."
But when that will actually happen is anyone’s guess. While the city fathers are likely feeling pressure from all stakeholders to get the Boylston Street thoroughfare reopened, the FBI is not going to rush through its crime-scene investigation, which is likely not complete yet, said Jeffrey Horblit, CEO of Boston-based Northeast Intelligence Group, a corporate investigations and risk consulting firm. Horblit is a former FBI crime-scene response team leader who worked on the investigation of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City.
He said there are many variables that could delay evidence collecting along Boylston Street or in nearby buildings.
"If all of a sudden resources are dedicated to one location or an item found, that could distract the crime scene," Horblit said. "If a particular building seems to have many items projected against it, it gives you a clue as to where the bomb was, that it was closer to that building than others. The evidence could be very small particles and items. You have to be very careful how you … photograph the crime scene. A balance has to be struck. You don’t want to rush along this kind of investigation to open up the ice cream store, but at the same time, you don’t want them to go out of business."
The bombing speaks to the need for commercial properties to "certainly re-evaluate their security," especially if someone is able to simply walk into an office building without a security checkpoint, or drive into a parking garage without impediment, Horblit added.
"We’re never going to arrive at a solution that renders all public facilities 100 percent guaranteed secure," he said. "The best we can do is make it as difficult as possible [for criminals to access buildings] and to try to deter that activity. There comes a point where we have to decide whether we permit the fear of terrorism to alter the way we shop or live, or if we don’t."
