Home 'n' hearth

How Beacon Hill can cram as many people in as parts of Manhattan without skyscrapers

adamg — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:26:43 +0000

Mike the Mad Biologist riffs on Bostonography's population density maps and ponders how much of Beacon Hill, the Back Bay and the North End approach Manhattan levels of density without anything approaching Manhattan-style building heights:

Boston has two things going for it that most other cities don't have: narrow streets and sidewalks. Not a lot of space is wasted in residential areas. Sidewalks at most are about nine to ten feet wide, and skinnier in other places (e.g., Beacon Hill). The streets typically are very narrow–about ten Mad Biologist paces (my pace length is about average)–if you factor in parked cars, add about four paces. Not only does this making walking around easier, but the real estate is used to house people, not air or cars. That allows much higher densities (although it makes drivers crazy at times) without skyscrapers.

Ed question: Would that also apply in Somerville, still one of the most densely packed cities in America?

The mouse who loved mustard

adamg — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:54:54 +0000

Dan Miller reports stumbling onto the lair of the mouse in his house:

While cleaning the basement, we found a rolled-up carpet remnant with several little mustard packs inside, nibbled open and sucked dry.

Our little friend had to climb up on top of a condiment-supply table, carry the pack of mustard with his teeth and scurry to the other side of the basement.

Mega-landlord to smaller landlords: Don't be greedy pigs

adamg — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:30:29 +0000

The Boston Business Journal catches up with Harold Brown, who worries that if landlords take advantage of a tight rental market in Boston and jack rents up too much, they could see a serious effort to bring back rent control.

How early is too early for landlords to ask about lease renewal?

adamg — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:32:33 +0000

Nikki Frankel asks on Jan. 12:

Hey, Boston, is anyone else being pressured to renew their September lease already? Seems wicked early to me.

He keeps a bottle of vodka under his bathroom sink

adamg — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:06:14 +0000

John Ford lists uses for this wonder liquid, including:

11. To cure foot odour, wash your feet with vodka.

Different approaches to mouse control

adamg — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:55:34 +0000

At BU, students freak out and sleep in common areas.

A more mature Doug Haslam uses a different technique: a cat and a small piece of cheese:

We hear noises, and it sounds like a mouse, but I don't want it to be a mouse. I want it to be the fridge, even though that would be much more expensive. Actually, it sounds like a mouse that has gained the ability to use tiny tools, like a saw or nail gun.

People in Allston can never leave their apartments

adamg — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:19:44 +0000

Not even for one night.

They like their houses green in JP

adamg — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:03:18 +0000

Building Green Boston reports Jamaica Plain is fast becoming a strong niche for green building:

We have 4 active projects in the area and have bid over 10 in the past 6 months.

With photos and details on one house's energy-efficiency retrofit.

They take out the trash - and leave it on bank president's front steps

adamg — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:15:57 +0000

Malden Patch reports foreclosure protesters gathered up trash from a foreclosed Malden house they say Bank of America has let go to hell, then took it over to the Beacon Hill home of the president of the bank's Massachusetts division and dumped it there.

Court extends protection of law against stupid evictions to tenants getting evicted before law was passed

adamg — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:26:56 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that a 2010 law aimed at protecting tenants of foreclosed apartments against evictions "without just cause" also applies to tenants who were in the process of being evicted before the law went into effect, but who never left their units.

Does HGTV have a legal-affairs show?

adamg — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:16:09 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today that if the owners of a Charlestown condo want to remove two walls to create a fabulous pass-through view of the harbor and downtown, they're going to have to sign an agreement that the condo board could one day order them to restore the walls.

Good fences don't make good neighbors: Court rules Roxbury man has to demolish part of house built on neighbor's property

adamg — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:46:59 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today a Roxbury man has to tear down part of the two-unit condo building he put up on Magazine Street because he tore down a neighbor's fence and then built part of the structure where his neighbors used to plant vegetables and repair their cars.

The court said that while it couldn't figure out where the actual property line was, it didn't matter, because the neighbors had gained the disputed land through "adverse possession" - they had used it continuously for more than two decades without any complaints and presented evidence the people they bought their house from had erected the fence even earlier than that.

BPD: loud 2am parties ok; loud 2PM parties, not so much

jikamens — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:39:58 +0000

Dear Mayor Menino,

My wife and I have lived at [elided] in Brighton since 1997. At least a third of the residential units on our block are rental units, most of which are rented to a different set of Boston College students each year. Some years are good: the students are respectful of the neighborhood, keep the noise down, and keep things clean. Some years are bad: the students host loud, rowdy, outdoor parties until all hours of the night; get drunk; throw plastic cups, beer bottles and cans everywhere; throw up or urinate in the street; set off fireworks under cars; etc.

Although we never know what we're going to get in terms of students, we do have a pretty good idea of what we are going to get from the police department, which is that when we call the department at 2:00am on a Sunday morning because the students are playing Denis Leary's "Cause I'm an Asshole" at top volume out of an open window, drunkenly screaming along, and waking up the entire neighborhood, and we call 911 and ask for someone to come do something about it, the odds are that nobody is going to show up.

In case you were too busy doing something else yesterday to go on the South End garden tour

adamg — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:43:36 +0000

Don't worry, Molly Galler went, and she took plenty of pictures.

Perfect roommate situation for somebody who really, really loves the Swan Boats

adamg — Thu, 19 May 2011 02:28:13 +0000

Allston couple seeks third roommate; must be willing to sleep in a Swan Bed:

Also: Must not mind people lounging about in bustiers.

Via Allston Rat City.