Category: Zoning

Effects have causes, don’t they?

10 May, 2013 (09:00) | Apartments, Development, Economics, Green, New York City, Rent control, Zoning | No comments

By:David A. Smith   Though the purpose of journalism is principally to report, now and then one wishes that reporters who observe effects would see them in the context of their causes, as in this story from the Financial Times (March 12, 2013):   Things are connected, you know   Housing crisis deepens for New [...]

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 [...]