Esteemed Councilors,
I’m a resident of District C, and I’m writing to you today to urge you to register your opposition to the filming of Patriots Day in the Laurel/Dexter Street neighborhood. At the time of the shootout — in which over 200 rounds were fired, one person was killed in a particularly gruesome way and a police officer was injured, I lived in that neighborhood. The garage of the home where I lived was about 75 feet from the shootout.
My children still live there half the week, as my former husband and I share custody of them.
I want to tell you that it’s not just about recreating a traumatic event with pyrotechnics late at night in the same neighborhood that witnessed these horrible events.
It’s about the fact that my sons, who are 12 and 14, also have online lives, just like all kids their age. Eventually, clips from this movie will be all over the Internet. Kids in their schools will pass around links — “oh cool here’s that movie in Watertown!” The Internet is written in Sharpie. If this movie is filmed there, their neighborhood will always be associated with violence and death. Not just on that night, and not just while the movie is in theaters, but online, for download, forever.
Don’t allow this movie to be shot in this neighborhood. It’s a terrible disservice to every resident of this community, their property values, and their right to move on from this terrible event.
I thank you for your time and for your service.
Yours truly,
Lisa Williams
Hi Lisa,
How about looking at it like…
This is the neighborhood where they stopped the evil that caused so much hurt and pain to so many people. This is where OUR town put a stop to any further heinous acts and prevented the evil from spreading. How about looking at it as the heroic scene it is. Yes it was traumatic. I lived through it as you did. I still live there. Sgt. MacLellan and Officer Reynolds stood in my yard. I think if they are going to tell the story of what happened it should be as authentic as possible. We are now all aware of what’s going to take place so we can be better prepared.
Just my opinion.
TMD: I’m sorry, I don’t share your opinion, and I am not likely to. If you still live there, I urge you to consider the impact on your own property values of having this grisly scene replayed endlessly online with your neighborhood in the background. And consider your neighbors, and your neighbors’ children, who don’t want it. Whose side do you want to be on: a Hollywood producer’s profits, or your neighbors and their kids? Who’s more likely to help you when times are down?