Category: Boston

Dangerous, overcrowded, invisible, informal, unenforced: Part 3, unenforced and invisible

8 May, 2013 (09:00) | Allston, Apartments, Boston, Building Codes, egress, Enforcement, fire, informality, Landlords, overcrowding, Regulation, Rental, Student housing, Zoning | No comments

By:David A. Smith   [Continued from yesterday's Part 2 and the preceding Part 1.]   Now we know that 87 Linden Street, where Binland Lee died in the April 28 fire, was way over-occupied, because that was in the unstated but manifest interest of both landlord and residents.    As I’ve observed elsewhere, in any [...]

Dangerous, overcrowded, invisible, informal, unenforced: Part 2, blocked and uninspected for ten years

7 May, 2013 (09:00) | Allston, Apartments, Boston, Building Codes, egress, Enforcement, fire, informality, Landlords, overcrowding, Regulation, Rental, Student housing, Zoning | No comments

By:David A. Smith   [Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]   Yesterday’s post on the tragic death of Binland Lee, in her attic room in an overcrowded student rental, dealt with the fire’s facts – and if that were all to the story, it would simply be a tragic incident.  But everything is connected to everything [...]

Dangerous, overcrowded, invisible, informal, unenforced: Part 1, dying in the attic

6 May, 2013 (14:42) | Allston, Apartments, Boston, Building Codes, egress, Enforcement, fire, informality, Landlords, negligence, overcrowding, Regulation, Rental, Student housing, Zoning | No comments

By:David A. Smith   Tragedy exposes an ecosystem’s weaknesses.  A rowdy college party, a lit cigarette, an overcrowded student house, a remote and small-scale landlord, informal subdivisions and excess occupancy, and a building inspection system that gives the illusion of enforcement.  Combine them and a young woman is dead.   Binland Lee, BU senior … [...]

Month in Review, February, 2013: Part 2, All finance is global

26 April, 2013 (09:00) | Apartments, Argentina, Bankruptcy, Boston, CalPERS, Chapter 40B, Eurozone, Housing, Inclusionary zoning, Innovations, Month in review, ratings agencies, Redevelopment, US News, Zoning | No comments

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.] ­­ [Previous Months in Review available here: Jan 13, Dec 12, Nov 12, Oct 12, Sep 12, Aug 12, Jul 12, Jun 12, May 12]   By:David A. Smith   You deserve a break today   Turning from the local to the national, I reported, with no little righteous, on the [...]

Month in Review, February, 2013: Part 1, All real estate is local

25 April, 2013 (09:00) | Apartments, Argentina, Bankruptcy, Boston, CalPERS, Chapter 40B, Eurozone, Housing, Inclusionary zoning, Innovations, Month in review, ratings agencies, Redevelopment, US News, Zoning | No comments

[Previous Months in Review available here: Jan 13, Dec 12, Nov 12, Oct 12, Sep 12, Aug 12, Jul 12, Jun 12, May 12]   By:David A. Smith   It all depends on what you think ‘local’ is   We think of home as a place of safety where we keep the dangerous world out, [...]