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Voters take to the polls on Tuesday after another violent week in Manchester.

Three people were stabbed Saturday by a man wielding a box cutter at the Capital Auto Auction on Londonderry Turnpike. Byron Bloomfield, 25, is charged with three counts of first-degree assault for the attack.

But, there is a good chance Bloomfield will be back on the streets in time to vote. The Queen City keeps seeing people charged with serious crimes get easy bail.

On Tuesday, Manchester Police arrested Anastase Kabura, 24, on a charge of being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon while investigating a disturbance on Precourt Street. Kabura had been arrested days before on a disorderly conduct charge and was quickly released.

The revolving door at the courthouse is leaving Manchester’s streets unsafe, said Jay Ruais, the GOP candidate for mayor.

“Time and time again, we see violent criminals released on bail and rearrested. We must fix the broken bail system to keep our streets and neighborhoods safe … The safety and well-being of Manchester residents and visitors is at risk every time a violent criminal is released back out onto our streets,” Ruais said. 

In recent months, two men charged in an Elm Street shooting got released on relatively low cash bail. In another incident, 10 people were arrested for being part of a street fight in the area of Auburn and Cedar Streets, where two men were stabbed. Most of the suspects were quickly released on bail.

Ruais is running as a change agent against current Mayor Joyce Craig’s hand-picked successor, Democrat Kevin Cavanaugh. Ruais wants to see the bail system plaguing New Hampshire fixed, he wants to concretely deal with the city’s growing homeless problem, and he wants to get a handle on the opioid crisis.

Critics of the city’s current leadership argue Cavanaugh is essentially running as Craig 2.0, offering more of the same policies the incumbent mayor has already tried. “I want to build on the progress we’ve made in the past few years,” Cavanaugh said in an ad.

Many Manchester residents don’t see the past few years as a time of progress.

Manchester’s homeless population continues to grow, seeing a major increase over the past several years. According to the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness, the Manchester region was home to more than 1,700 homeless people in 2021, the most recent data available.

The homeless population is tied to the city’s opioid addiction crisis, with half the opioid overdoses taking place among that group. 

“We have a city filled with promise, but the drug problem and homeless crisis are contributing to the serious public safety concerns we have and are keeping us from reaching our full potential,” Ruais said.

Manchester is on track for more than 720 opioid overdoses this year, according to American Medical Response data, the biggest number of overdoses since 2016.

Crime statistics show Manchester is the top spot for violent crime in New Hampshire, far outpacing other cities and towns. Data from the Manchester Police Department show the city is experiencing a drop in property crime this year, though violent crime reports are holding steady compared to prior years.

“The status quo that we are seeing here in the city cannot continue,” Ruais told WMUR. “We cannot tolerate the disorder and dysfunction we’re seeing on our streets, and we also can’t tolerate the human suffering we’re seeing.”

Manchester’s next mayor needs to deal with the city’s homeless crisis and rampant crime, and members of the Manchester Business Alliance (MBA) who attended Wednesday night think Republican Jay Ruais is the man for the job.

Ruais trounced his three Democratic competitors, Kevin Cavanaugh, Will Stewart, and June Trisciani, in the MBA straw pool Wednesday evening. Ruais got 84 percent of the vote following the group’s town hall forum with the candidates, where he focused his message on making Manchester safe.

“Manchester is looking for solutions and action, not talk,” Ruais said.

Ruais is the sole Republican in the race and the only candidate who is not a member of the Board of Aldermen. He has made public safety — in particular, crime and the city’s homelessness crisis — his top issue. Last month, he laid out a comprehensive plan to deal with homelessness, and he is the only candidate who has pledged to promote a bail reform plan to keep more offenders off Manchester streets.

A homeless encampment at Pine and Manchester Streets near the Families in Transition emergency shelter in Manchester.

“This truth was evident in (Wednesday) night’s straw poll. As the issues portion of the poll indicated, homelessness and crime are the two biggest issues in our city, and I am the only candidate in this race to have introduced a comprehensive plan to end the homeless crisis and make our neighborhoods and streets safer,” Ruais said.

The city’s homeless crisis continues to grow as the number of people living on the streets in dangerous and unclean camps in parks and on sidewalks steadily increases. This week, Cavanaugh, Stewart, and Trisciani all voted against a proposed fix for the city’s ordinance against camping on public property.

Republican Alderman Joseph Kelly Levasseur, who proposed the change, told WFEA’s Drew Cline Thursday that the Democratic-controlled Board of Aldermen is allowing the problem to worsen.

“Manchester has branded itself as the place to come if you are a homeless person,” Levasseur said.

Homeless people are living all over the city, mostly in the downtown areas. Parks and sidewalks have become encampments and no-go zones for some residents.

The sidewalks around the Families in Transition adult emergency shelter at the corner of Manchester and Pine streets host one homeless camp in the heart of the city. Men and women were seen in makeshift shelters there last weekend, sprawled out on the sidewalk. People in the camps were aggressive and violent when encountered by NHJournal.

No one on the Board of Aldermen seems serious about dealing with the immediate problem and its negative impact on the quality of life in the city, Levasseur told Cline. 

Levasseur believes Manchester’s handling of homelessness is in conflict with state law, and he wants city police to have more tools to use to stop camping on public property. The proposed change would have resulted in civil violations and possible fines for homeless people who camp on public property. 

Moving people out of homeless camps on public property is a hot-button issue in the Queen City, with opponents claiming it violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

“I don’t understand why getting a citation is the same as ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’” Levasseur told Cline. “If you want to talk about ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’ try being an alderman under Joyce Craig.”

The city opened a new shelter this year after Mayor Joyce Craig ordered one homeless camp cleared. But the problem only seems to get worse, Levasseur said. He argued Manchester taxpayers have shelled out $29 million over the last six years funding shelters, new staff, and other initiatives to deal with the crisis to little effect. 

“Every single thing we can do we have done, but there doesn’t seem to be an end to it,” Levasseur said. 

The issues of homelessness, crime, and opioid addiction dominated the conversation at the first mayoral forum in Manchester on Wednesday night. They also revealed a divide between the approach the candidates would take to address them, with Republican Jay Ruais urging more policing, while the three Democrats raised concerns about equity and discrimination.

“Structural racism does play a role in this city; we are not immune from that,” warned Alderman Will Stewart (D-Ward 2) in front of a crowd of several hundred people at the Rex Theatre. Ruais and Stewart were joined on stage by Ward 1 Alderman Kevin Cavanaugh and At-Large Alderman June Trisciani.

Jay Ruais

As mayor, Ruais said he would increase public safety by giving police the tools they need to protect the Queen City. “We have got to get violent criminals off our streets,” Ruais said. He also supported closing a loophole and allowing police to prevent more people from camping in public spaces.

One striking difference was in the responses to a question about Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg’s plans to use data to focus police activity in neighborhoods considered crime hotspots.  

Stewart and Trisciani worried that policing focused on tacking criminal hotspots would lead to racial profiling.

“Over-policed neighborhoods based on hotspot data, those are marginalized communities,” Stweart said.

Rather than targeted policing in high-crime areas, Stewart proposed efforts to get people to know one another in their neighborhoods, like block parties and other social events.

Triciani favors a community policing approach incorporating hotspot data while striving for equality. “We still need to treat everyone equally,” Trisciani said.

Manchester At-Large Alderman June Trisciani

Cavanaugh suggested there could be some creative ways for people in non-hotspot neighborhoods to still feel safe while police were tackling crime.

For Ruais, the solution is filling the 22 empty positions in the Manchester Police Department and letting those officers do their jobs. “We have to create a better environment for our police,” Ruais said.

Ruais viewed to help get rid of the state’s bail system, which he said is keeping violent criminals on the streets. “We need to fix our broken PR bail system,” Ruais said.

When asked about issues of diversity in the city, Ruais was the only candidate to answer part of the question in Spanish.

Taxes and spending were also part of the conversation. Cavanaugh and Stewart both said they supported letting voters decide whether to give the Manchester School Board the power to create their own budget, independent from city government. Ruais opposed it, saying Manchester taxpayers were already under too much stress.

Manchester Ward 1 Alderman Kevin Cavanaugh

On the proposed $800 million commuter rail project, all three Democrats supported the idea, and Trisciani wants it to extend to include Concord. Ruais said none of the proposals for a rail line connecting Manchester to Boston made fiscal sense. “I understand the why; I have yet to see the how,” Ruais said.

A financial analysis of the rail proposal anticipates the construction and operation of a Manchester station at an estimated $51 million, all from city coffers.

Manchester can’t afford a rail line given the school district’s aging buildings, unaffordable housing, and a city budget Ruais called a ticking time bomb that uses one-time federal grants to pay for ongoing expenses.

“When do the taxpayers get a break?” he asked.

During 2016’s First in the Nation primary, the issue of opioid addiction surged to the national stage, partly due to the Granite State crisis. President Donald Trump later credited his New Hampshire victory in part to frustration over the flow of opioids over the U.S. southern border.

“I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den,” Trump said in 2017.

Now comes a new report that opioid overdoses in Manchester and Nashua are at five-year highs, and political candidates are again focusing on the issue.

American Medical Response crews were called out to 99 overdoses in July in Manchester and Nashua, the highest number of overdoses in a single month since 2018, according to Chris Stawasz, the AMR’s Regional Director of Government Affairs — Northeast.

“The high death rate per capita is attributed to synthetic fentanyl, which is now commonly found in all types of illicit substances in New Hampshire,” Stawasz said. “People who are using illicit substances have no idea that what they are using contains synthetic fentanyl – or how potent the synthetic fentanyl in the product is. Synthetic fentanyl can be lethal the first time you use it, knowingly or unknowingly.”

Eight people died in July from opioid-related overdoses, four in each city, according to Stawasz. 

AMR’s statistics show that through the end of July, medics responded to 415 suspected opioid overdoses in Nashua and Manchester, with 68 of those calls suspected opioid deaths. Manchester accounted for 40 of the deaths and Nashua for 28.

In Nashua, suspected opioid overdoses are 10 percent lower than last year. But at the same time, fatal opioid overdoses were up 10 percent. In fact. Stawasz said more than 20 percent of the suspected opioid overdoses that AMR medics responded to in Nashua have been fatal.

In Manchester, suspected opioid overdoses are 2 percent higher than last year, though total suspected fatal opioid overdoses in Manchester are 13 percent lower.

Candidates at the federal and local levels are speaking out.

“Sadly, drug overdoses are increasing in New Hampshire faster than anywhere else in the country, and Communist China is to blame,” former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told NHJournal. “President Biden should confront Xi Jinping’s drug war and put an end to it today. Stop all normal trade relations with Beijing until they stop killing Americans.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the issue during an event in Rye, N.H., last week, pledging to “lean in against the drug cartels.”

“If they’re trying to bring fentanyl into our communities, that’s going to be the last thing they do. Because at the border, they’re going to be shot stone-cold dead,” DeSantis said.

And Democratic presidential contender Robert F Kennedy, Jr. just released a documentary, “Midnight at the Border,” that addresses the cross-border drug trade and the need for action.

“These numbers represent both a state and national tragedy. Our national government has failed the American people,” Kennedy said in a statement to NHJournal. “The open border has enabled an acceleration of illegal drugs including opioids and fentanyl to move across America creating a social, economic, and spiritual disaster for our country.

“The lack of enforcement at the border has far-reaching consequences for health policy and law enforcement. As President, I will close the border and make available treatment centers for those who are struggling with addiction. I intend to restore America’s sovereignty and restore the health of our people.”

In Manchester, the overdose epidemic runs in tandem with the city’s homelessness crisis. Mayor Joyce Craig has said at least 50 percent of the city’s overdoses happen among the homeless population.

The city’s Board of Aldermen will consider changing an ordinance next month that could give police more legal authority to prevent homeless people from camping on public property.

None of the Democrats running for mayor, Ward 1 Alderman Kevin Cavanaugh, Ward 2 Alderman Will Stewart, or Alderman At Large June Trisciani, responded to NHJournal’s calls and emails last week.

Republican candidate Jay Ruis wants to see police given more power as part of a larger strategy to address homelessness and addiction.

“We must deal with this issue in a comprehensive way, one that includes enforcement of our ordinances, addressing the underlying causes of this crisis like addiction and mental health, while increasing the availability of affordable housing. What we cannot do is govern in fear of lawsuits, and I support this proposed ordinance change,” Ruais said.

Republican candidate for governor Kelly Ayotte has pointed the finger at Massachusetts as one source of the problem. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen drugs, the fentanyl being trafficked off our southern border from Lowell and Lawrence, Mass. into our cities, and it’s killing our citizens,” Ayotte said.

Massachusetts officials complained, and some in the media suggested her comments were “racially tinged.” But the problem continues.

On Friday, Lawrence, Mass. man Santo Evangelista Soto, 36, was sentenced to five years in prison for being part of a trafficking ring that brought drugs into New Hampshire. Soto, a twice-convicted trafficker, reportedly sold counterfeit prescriptions made with deadly ingredients.

In one of the drug deals Soto allegedly pulled off during the investigation, he sold 1,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained heroin and methamphetamine.

Soto is not the only trafficker operating in the state. Joseph Goffinet, Jr., 53, of Manchester, was arrested and charged last week on charges of distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in connection with the sale of fentanyl. His alleged co-conspirator, Walter Velez, 41, was arrested in late July.

Both Goffinet and Velez allegedly sold vast quantities of fentanyl in Manchester.

Manchester’s police are hamstrung when dealing with the twin crises of homelessness and addiction, thanks in part to a city ordinance that allows homeless people to camp on public property, according to mayoral candidate Jay Ruais.

The lone Republican in the race to replace Democrat Joyce Craig, Ruais is backing an effort to change the city ordinance prohibiting camping on public property. Under ordinance 130.13, police cannot currently stop someone from setting up a tent on city property. That needs to change, Ruais said.

“We have a significant homelessness crisis in our city, and it is impacting the community at large. In order to make sure our businesses are thriving, and the quality of life for residents and visitors to Manchester is not threatened, we must give our police and first responders the proper tools to address this issue,” Ruais said.

Alderman At Large Joseph Kelly Levasseur is pushing a change to the ordinance to make it easier for police to keep people from sleeping on the streets. The ordinance currently prohibits the camps, but with a loophole: It allows homeless people to stay on the street if no shelter space is available.

Levasseur wants the Board of Aldermen to remove that exception, allowing police to enforce the camping prohibition. Camping on public property without a permit carries a possible $250 fine. Ruais said enforcing ordinances against camping is an important step toward addressing the city’s homeless problem.

“We must deal with this issue in a comprehensive way, one that includes enforcement of our ordinances, addressing the underlying causes of this crisis like addiction and mental health while increasing the availability of affordable housing. What we cannot do is govern in fear of lawsuits, and I support this proposed ordinance change,” Ruais said.

None of the Democrats running for mayor — Ward 1 Alderman Kevin Cavanaugh, Ward 2 Alderman Will Stewart, or Alderman At Large June Trisciani — responded to questions from NHJournal about whether they support closing the street camping loophole. 

Manchester has struggled for years with its homeless crisis. In 2021, the city had about 360 unsheltered people, according to the NH Coalition to End Homelessness annual report. According to city officials, that number has jumped to about 540 people this year.

Much of the homeless population lives in tents and shelters scattered throughout the city, leaving many residents feeling unsafe in their neighborhoods. Craig, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, acknowledged this year that half of the city’s opioid overdose cases happen in homeless camps.

Last year, homeless man Richard Moore, 40, was arrested for fatally stabbing 75-year-old Daniel Whitmore, who was walking near his home, according to police reports. Whitmore lived close to a public rail trial where he reportedly enjoyed walking and which was close to another homeless camp.

After two people died in homeless camps last winter, and a woman was arrested for giving birth in a camp, Craig demanded the state step in to provide National Guard support to deal with the crisis, among other measures. The homeless mother charged with endangering her baby is Alexandra Eckersley, 27, daughter of Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley.

Craig ordered some of the camps cleared this year in reaction to those events, moving about 40 people off the streets. Craig has been pushing a $1.4 million homeless center that will include 40 beds. 

The issue is expected to be front and center in the governor’s race next year if Craig defeats Executive Councilor Warmington for the Democratic nomination.

Asked recently about Craig’s candidacy, Gov. Chris Sununu replied, “Seriously, does anyone want the state of New Hampshire run like Manchester?”

Craig has attempted to blame Sununu and the state government for Manchester’s homeless problem.

“Manchester and communities across the state have been working to address the growing homelessness crisis for years, and mayors have repeatedly asked for the state to collaborate with us to find solutions,” Craig said in a May 2023 statement. “Our communities need a partner in Concord who understands that we can only solve this homelessness crisis if we all work together.”

Manchester’s homeless crisis isn’t being helped by police departments from surrounding communities dropping off their own homeless people in the Queen City. 

“Manchester has become ground zero for the homeless problem,” Police Chief Allen Aldenberg told WFEA radio host Drew Cline on Wednesday.

Aldenberg said he has been confronting other New Hampshire police chiefs over the practice of bringing homeless people to Manchester for months. Rather than addressing their local homeless issues, they are relying on Manchester to provide care and services. Last month, Aldenberg witnessed officers from Londonderry bringing a homeless man to the city and leaving him outside a shelter.

“It’s bad enough when other states do it to me,” Aldenberg said, “but when a neighboring community is doing it to me it’s even worse.”

Manchester Police spokeswoman Heather Hamel said the Londonderry officer did not secure a space for the man inside the shelter and simply left him in the city.

“The shelter had not been contacted prior to the officer’s arrival, and the officer did not go inside,” Hamel said.

Londonderry Police Chief Kim Bernard did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, nor did Londonderry Town Manager Michael Malaguti,

Hamel said Aldenberg has since spoken to Bernard, and the two chiefs now have a good working relationship.

“The two chiefs spoke. All is good,” Hamel said.

But Aldernberg is putting other communities and their law enforcement agencies on alert. Continue to dump your problem on Manchester, and you will get ‘named and shamed.’

Aldenberg told Cline other communities are regularly transporting their homeless population to Manchester where they get essentially left to fend for themselves. At one point, the large homeless encampment on Manchester Street was largely made up of non-Manchester residents.

“When that camp over at 199 Manchester Street was going, 60 percent of those people were not from the city of Manchester,” Aldenberg said.

It’s not just New Hampshire communities who are using Manchester as a destination for homeless people. Sanford, Maine police drove a homeless woman 60 miles to Manchester in December and dropped her off outside a shelter. The shelter had no space for the woman, and she was found to be suffering from frostbite, according to a report in Manchester InkLink. Hamel said that kind of move happens frequently.

Sanford Police Chief Craig Andersen did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, though he has reportedly since apologized.

The woman found herself stranded when she learned the shelter had no space for her. She made her way to Mayor Joyce Craig’s office in City Hall seeking help. The woman was treated and later brought to a shelter in Portland, Maine, where space had been secured for her by Manchester officials.

While there may be little that officials can do to stop other communities from using Manchester to take care of their homeless population, Aldenberg has let other police chiefs know he will start shaming chiefs of departments who leave their homeless in Manchester.

“No chief wants to be publicly embarrassed,” Aldenberg said. “I let them know if you do this to me again, I’ll make an example out of you.”

Aldenberg’s officers recently oversaw the eviction of about 60 homeless people from the camps set up downtown. The tents are gone, for now, but the homeless people are still in the city he said. He’s trying to work with homeless people and city and state agencies to address the crisis.

“Obviousl, they’ve gone to other parts of the city which we need to address. We’re not going to arrest our way out of this problem,” he said.

Backed into a corner by a steady stream of negative press over the city’s homeless crisis, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig got the legal go-ahead to clear a downtown homeless encampment.

Craig announced the evictions earlier this month in response to public outcry over the encampments downtown, with the original plan to clear the streets by Tuesday. However, the New Hampshire ACLU filed for a temporary restraining order to block the city from removing the homeless people, halting Craig’s plans.

On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge John Kissinger ruled the city can remove the approximately 50 homeless people from the sidewalk as the encampment represents a danger to the community at large.

Kissinger cited recent deaths, as well as close to 400 calls for police service at the camp, including assaults and drug overdoses.

“Considering the grave risks to public health and safety posed by the ongoing presence of the encampment on public sidewalks in downtown Manchester and the availability of safe alternatives for the people living in the encampment, a temporary restraining order is not justified,” Kissinger wrote.

Craig announced Tuesday the camps will be cleared Wednesday, with space being made available through a partnership with the YMCA to create a women’s shelter at the former Tirrell House. That space is the result of Gov. Chris Sununu’s intervention at the state level.

The city is also opening a temporary warming shelter with cots at the William B. Cashin Activity Center.

“City employees and non-profit partners have been working around the clock to ensure the health and safety of both the individuals experiencing homelessness in Manchester and the community at large,” Craig said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.

Craig’s staff did not respond to NHJournal when asked if there would be enough space for all the homeless people being evicted.

Stephen Tower, a staff attorney with New Hampshire Legal Assistance, expressed disappointment in Kissinger’s ruling and cast doubt on Craig’s ability to adequately shelter the people she is evicting.

“Without a plan to immediately relocate and provide a higher level of shelter and services, this eviction will only perpetuate the cycle of chasing these houseless individuals from place to place, alienating and endangering them further,” Tower said.

Gillies Bissonnette, legal director with the New Hampshire ACLU, did not respond to a request for comment.

Also on Tuesday, Sununu sent a pointed response to a recent letter from Craig and seven other Democratic mayors attempting to shift the blame for their communities’ homeless problems onto the state. Craig, Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess, Berlin Mayor Paul Grenier, Franklin Mayor Jo Brown, Dover, Mayor Bob Carrier, Somersworth Mayor Dana Hilliard, Claremont Mayor Dale Girard, and Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer blamed Sununu in their Jan. 3 letter for not doing enough.

“The state has always and will continue to be open to meaningful collaboration on this issue with your cities and other municipalities across the state,” Sununu wrote. “However, politically motivated letters merely muddy the water and make that mutual goal of collaboration more difficult to achieve.”

Sununu’s letter recounted the millions of dollars the state has already put into dealing with homelessness and housing.

• $100 million for InvestNH to make rapid investments in more affordable housing
• $20 million for families in crisis through this winter
• $4 million to build statewide healthcare access for individuals experiencing homelessness
• $4 million for emergency shelter bed capacity and expansion in addition to our typical$2.9 million annual general fund appropriation
• $2.25 million for the landlord incentive program
• $1 million for winter warming shelters

Meanwhile, Sununu has repeatedly noted Craig and the other mayors are sitting on a combined $73 million in unspent federal funding that could be used on homeless shelters and services.

Alderman Joseph Kelly Levasseur said if Manchester residents want someone to blame, they should look to the other communities around the state, many with Democratic mayors, who have the resources to shelter some of the state’s homeless but are content to see them shunted off to the Queen City.

“Manchester is the dumping ground for the rest of the state,” Lavasseur told NHJournal. “If every community took just two or four people into their towns, the relief they could provide — not only to the city of Manchester but also these homeless persons — would be incredibly powerful. This has to be a state-wide issue dealt with by all towns, counties, and cities in New Hampshire.

“Manchester cannot continue to do this on its own; and provide our property owners and taxpayers the level of comfort, safety, and quality of life they deserve.”