[Boston Herald] Thanks to this week’s green light from The Boston Planning & Development Agency, Plan: Dudley Square is moving ahead on its development track.And of the four sites set for building projects: 75-81 Dudley St., 2147 Washington St., 135 Dudley St. and 40-50 Washington St., at least one 75-81 Dudley, lists retail establishments among the components of its mixed use development.
Plan: Dudley is hardly the only planning/construction venture fueling our city’s growth spurt ‐ The Hub on Causeway, 1000 Boylston, Back Bay Station/Tower and The Fenway Center will join the other gleaming towers in Boston’s skyline. These enterprises are also designed with "mixed use" in mind ‐ retail operations eager for customers and a chance to grow their Hub market.
One question: How do you attract ‐ and keep ‐ retailers when the county’s district attorney has declared shoplifting off-limits for prosecution?
It’s a point that’s top of mind with the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, which recently lambasted Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ hands-off policy on prosecuting shoplifters, and in a story reported by the Herald’s Lisa Kashinsky, said Rollins’ move made it "open season on our retail stores."
The notion that because shoplifting is a non-violent crime, it’s low-level and therefore unimportant clearly has little empathy for the store owner with razor-thin profit margins, trying to make a living while his or her inventory walks out the door.
How bad can it be? Massachusetts businesses lose an estimated $1 billion annually in stolen merchandise, Retailers Association General Counsel Ryan Kearney told Kashinsky. And those five-finger discounts leave the state roughly $62.5 million short in sales tax revenue.