By Riley Robinson
Aisha Harris, 44, was in a good mood waiting for the shuttle outside New England Baptist Hospital, where she works in surgical scheduling. It was a Thursday afternoon, and she didn’t have to work on Friday. She had a few minutes before her 45-minute train commute home to Hyde Park.
She laughed a little recalling her most vivid memory of her past six years working at the hospital. A few years ago, she watched a fire truck slide backwards into an apartment building on Parker Hill Avenue.
“It couldn’t stop, and it went right into the apartment building,” she said. “It broke the gate and hit the wall. So yeah, the hills are very slippery and dangerous to drive up and down.”
But other safety concerns take a more serious tone. Harris said she worries about early morning robberies on her way to work. She knows some nurses who have been mugged.
“That’s why they have the shuttle, so we can get on and off the Hill safely at all hours,” she said. “It takes us to Jackson Square. They don’t want us walking up and down the Hill for medical [and safety] reasons.”
But Harris said she thinks Mission Hill is slowly becoming safer.
“I walk around here at lunch time, and I know a couple people who live around here. It’s coming up, it’s getting better,” she said. She attributed improvements to building renovations and the college student population.
“They bring some noise,” she admitted. “A good kind.”
About this project
The Scope’s student journalists spoke with community members in Mission Hill. #MissionHill100 is a collection of their stories.
