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1982 Boston arson spree
Between 1982 and 1983, a group of eight police officers, firefighters and regular civilians set between 163 and 260 fires in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and nine surrounding towns and cities to protest Proposition 2½, hoping to revert the budget cuts that led to hundreds of police officers and firefighters being laid off. Proposition 2½ also caused many public services such as schools, libraries and centers to suffer.
Using the information provided by Robert Groblewski, one of the arsonists, the Department of Justice was able to indict the seven other arsonists, leading to a range of prison sentences from five to 40 years imprisonment.
The wave of fires that the group caused led national media to refer to Boston as the "arson capital of the world".
In 1980, Proposition 2½ was approved, coming into effect in July, 1981. The proposition required that "property tax revenues not exceed 2.5 percent of a community's assessed value and that a community's property tax revenue not grow by more than 2.5 percent a year."
In 1982, more than half of the communities in Massachusetts had to reduce property taxes, resulting in a loss of approximately $490 million in local tax revenue. Approximately half of that loss was replaced by state revenue sharing. In September 1982, approximately 7,800 positions had been eliminated in schools and approximately 230 schools closed in the prior year. Multiple libraries, senior centers, and recreation centers were either closed or had to greatly reduce their hours, with communities having to reduce public school programs.
Due to the budget cuts, by 1982 the Boston Fire Department (BFD) reduced its firefighters from 2,000 to 1,400 and its companies from 77 to 55.
In December, 1981, 40 fires were set in dumpsters in lanes and alleyways in South Boston and other neighborhoods. These fires failed to attract much attention, so the conspirators decided to start setting fire to residential and commercial buildings.
A wave of fires began on June 11, 1982, with firefighters responding to 30 alarms that Friday. Over the following weekend, 101 alarms were sounded over a period of 12 hours. Subsequent fires began on either late Thursday or early Friday in the weeks of June 25, July 2 and July 16 that year. The fires mostly struck vacant or abandoned buildings and the BFD had to rely on the assistance provided by 11 of the surrounding communities to cover their stations while they combatted the fires in the week of July 16. The fires that week began in a half-mile radius including Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury.
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1982 Boston arson spree
Between 1982 and 1983, a group of eight police officers, firefighters and regular civilians set between 163 and 260 fires in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and nine surrounding towns and cities to protest Proposition 2½, hoping to revert the budget cuts that led to hundreds of police officers and firefighters being laid off. Proposition 2½ also caused many public services such as schools, libraries and centers to suffer.
Using the information provided by Robert Groblewski, one of the arsonists, the Department of Justice was able to indict the seven other arsonists, leading to a range of prison sentences from five to 40 years imprisonment.
The wave of fires that the group caused led national media to refer to Boston as the "arson capital of the world".
In 1980, Proposition 2½ was approved, coming into effect in July, 1981. The proposition required that "property tax revenues not exceed 2.5 percent of a community's assessed value and that a community's property tax revenue not grow by more than 2.5 percent a year."
In 1982, more than half of the communities in Massachusetts had to reduce property taxes, resulting in a loss of approximately $490 million in local tax revenue. Approximately half of that loss was replaced by state revenue sharing. In September 1982, approximately 7,800 positions had been eliminated in schools and approximately 230 schools closed in the prior year. Multiple libraries, senior centers, and recreation centers were either closed or had to greatly reduce their hours, with communities having to reduce public school programs.
Due to the budget cuts, by 1982 the Boston Fire Department (BFD) reduced its firefighters from 2,000 to 1,400 and its companies from 77 to 55.
In December, 1981, 40 fires were set in dumpsters in lanes and alleyways in South Boston and other neighborhoods. These fires failed to attract much attention, so the conspirators decided to start setting fire to residential and commercial buildings.
A wave of fires began on June 11, 1982, with firefighters responding to 30 alarms that Friday. Over the following weekend, 101 alarms were sounded over a period of 12 hours. Subsequent fires began on either late Thursday or early Friday in the weeks of June 25, July 2 and July 16 that year. The fires mostly struck vacant or abandoned buildings and the BFD had to rely on the assistance provided by 11 of the surrounding communities to cover their stations while they combatted the fires in the week of July 16. The fires that week began in a half-mile radius including Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury.