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West End renter makes federal case out of apartment fee

A resident of the West End apartment complex has filed what she hopes will become a class-action lawsuit against her landlord over a $500 "amenity fee" that supposedly helps pay for a fitness center, concierge and freight elevator, but which she says violates a Massachusetts tenant-rights law.

In her lawsuit against Equity Residential Management, Cheryl Miller says the company's tenants are owed more than $5 million for such fees since 2008 on the 6,000 apartments it leases in Massachusetts. Miller filed the suit yesterday in US District Court in Boston over the one-time fee she had to pay in addition to the $2,065 monthly rent on her 18th-floor unit at 10 Emerson Place.

Miller charges the mandatory fee specifically violates a state security-deposit law that says landlords cannot force tenants signing a lease to pay anything other than first and last month's rent, a security deposit and the cost of a new lock and key. In her suit, Miller charges:

The Amenity Fee is not first month's rent or last month's rent. It is not refundable, it is not to be applied toward rent for the first or last month of the tenancy, it is, not used to offset rent for those periods, and it is not equivalent in amount to the monthly rent.


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He rides the 30 so you don't have to

Jason, who blogs about rides on the T, reviews the 30 bus, which runs between Mattapan Square and Forest Hills via Roslindale Square:

In contrast to the 28 and 31, the 30 route itself is quite tranquil serving a mainly residential slice of western Mattapan and northern Roslindale, the parts of Boston no typical tourist would think could exist within Boston city limits. It also may be the only MBTA bus route that gets to cut through a cemetery which when coupled with the High Speed Line creates a double play of cemetery-cutting. ... The 30 keeps quiet and does its job and tries to not let delays get in its way.


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World Class City Alert: We're number 11!

The Atlantic puts us in a tie for eleventh on a list of the world's most economically powerful cities.

H/t Chris W.


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What should fill empty Greenway space?

Karen Cord Taylor considers competing proposals for Parcel 9, next to Haymarket, which include a museum about Boston, a bunch of apartments and a hotel.


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Woman jumps off upper level of the Tobin at rush hour

She was, however, still breathing when State Police pulled her out of the Mystic by the Little Mystic on the Charlestown side shortly before 6 p.m.

UPDATE: State Police report the woman died about an hour later at Mass. General. They identified her only as a 36-year-old Rhode Island resident who got out of her car on the upper level.


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Giant flame, loud FWOOM over Everett tomorrow neither sign of disaster nor summons for forces of evil

Channel 5 reports that National Grid will be cleaning a natural-gas pipeline by the Mystic River tomorrow by burning off the gas, starting around 6 a.m.:

The flare resulting from the natural gas purge could last up to eight hours and be seen throughout Greater Boston, the company said.

Also will result in "a large blowing noise."


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Robbery outside a Dorchester bank

The hunt for the robber. Our own eeka watched the search out her office window.The hunt for the robber. Our own eeka watched the search out her office window.

A woman about to enter the Citizens Bank at 731 Morrissey Blvd. to make a business deposit was robbed shortly after 2 p.m. by a black male, about 5'7", who ran toward Victory Road, after grabbing her purse, but not the deposit bag with the far larger amount of money inside.

The bank itself was held up last Friday, possibly by an alleged serial bank robber.

Tue, 05/08/2012 - 14:10
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One obstacle removed on road to casino at Suffolk Downs

Channel 4 reports Robert Kraft and Steve Wynn are suspending their effort to get a casino built in Foxboro, now that Foxboro voters have given anti-casino forces a majority on the board of selectmen - giving the Suffolk Downs proposal even better odds at getting the one eastern-Mass. casino license. Voters in East Boston and Revere still get to vote on the idea, however.


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Deja vu: Back Bay loses power again as troublesome transformer shorts out

UPDATE, 12:45 p.m.: Power started coming back on.

The same substation where a transformer exploded in March shorted out today, darkening stores, offices and homes across the Back Bay again and causing traffic havoc as signals went dead.

The lights went out shortly before noon, in an area that extended from Columbus Avenue to Newbury Street, down toward Symphony and into Kenmore Square - including the Prudential tower and mall and half the Northeastern campus. Berklee students had finals interrupted by the sudden loss of power. The BPL main branch in Copley Square was evacuated and shut.

The Christian Science tower, however, still had power, as did the plucky little traffic lights at Mass. Ave. and Comm. Ave.

The lights came back on around 12:20 p.m, stayed on for about 30 seconds, then went out again.

Service on the T was unaffected, although the outage stopped the esclator at Prudential - but not the elevator. Boston fire crews responded to several buildings along Comm. and Huntington avenues and Newbury Street to get people out of stuck elevators.

Boston Police reassigned officers working details overseeing repair work from the last blackout to direct traffic at key intersections. The department eventually brought in extra officers from other parts of the city to help with traffic control.


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Sovereign branch in Charlestown held up

Boston Police are looking for a white guy in a gray van for a holdup this morning at the Sovereign Bank branch at 437 Rutherford Ave.

Tue, 05/08/2012 - 09:45
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