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There'll be much mistletoe-ing and hearts will be glowing
By adamg on Mon, 08/19/2013 - 7:31pm
Turlach MacDonagh spotted these rental trucks parked on Brighton Avenue in Allston, just down the street from the Budget lot, busy in preparation for Allston Christmas.
Copyright Turlach MacDonagh. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
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Comments
And this is legal how? City
And this is legal how? City parking spaces aren't private parking lots for commercial businesses.
God, I'm sick and tired of the forced September turnover.
The city refuses to raise
The city refuses to raise fines to market pricing and employ enough personnel to ticket offenders. If it weren't for a mostly suburban mentality at city hall when it comes to parking this could be a goldmine and a massive quality of life improvement for most residents.
The September 1st cycle is a
The September 1st cycle is a nightmare for everyone involved, except landlords, who get peak asking price. Everyone else has to deal with a shortage of trucks, returning students, usually a Red Sox home game. They make sure the Sox are home every Patriot's Day, how hard would it be to ensure they're out of town every September 1st?
Here's an idea I'd pitch if I were running for Mayor: no more than 60% of a building's rental units can share a lease start date.
Here's an even more radical idea for a mayoral candidate
No more renting allowed.
All property must be owner occupied but with provisions for qualifying applicants to get no money down mortgages.
Ugggggghhh
Here's a better idea: raze ALL apartment buildings and construct 3-bed, two-bath homes with white picket fences and a golden retriever in the yard.
Oh, wait... this isn't the suburbs.
And for the less snarky side of it, under this new administration, would businesses (retail, food service) be able to rent property? Would they all have to rent? This would be especially complex for places like the Prudential Center, food courts, etc. And of course, we can't give businesses more rights than individuals.
Not to mention... didn't a similar home-ownership strategy cause the housing bubble (which then popped and sent us into a years-long recession)?
Welcome to
Welcome to Detroit-on-the-Charles!
Quit Your Whining
What a bunch of whiners. There are 200,000+ students who go to school in Boston and there have been for decades. There always will be. Moving day is two weekends a year. Complaining about this as if something can be "done" about it is like complaining that something should be done about winter coming. Welcome to Boston. If you don't like students you may have chosen the wrong place to live.
Hear, Hear!
It's only a few days is right. A lot of us was one of same people driving UHauls with few options to handle well and realizing moving that box up the stairs is surprisingly heavy. None of the students with all the lifting likes it anymore than the other side dealing with the trucks.
I would say many posters of
I would say many posters of this blog complaining about the college students seem to forget they were once newcomers to the city and were once one of those students, probably lost not knowing where they were going.
It's part of the city, ain't nothing new.
I hear the river roads are a
I hear the river roads are a great way to get into town in your truck.
It's usually the newcomers to
It's usually the newcomers to Boston who bitch the most about the annual migration of students. Those of us who've been here for more than a few years are used to it. My recommendation to the whiners would be to arrange to not be in the city for move-in weekend, if possible then problem solved.
I think it's kind of amusing seeing dozens of late teen/20-somethings wearing their pajamas in Boston at 2 in the afternoon. Students bring a good energy to the city. Study hard kids, you're going to need an amazing job after college to pay off that $100,000+ loan!
Students
Student and student visitors spend approximately $2 billion annually in Boston.
Root cause is college schedules all in sync
The real problem is that all our colleges start at the same time. Maybe the next Mayor should require that no more than 20% of colleges can start classes in the same month.
Not just college schedules
Landlord demands - it can be lucrative for landlords to hold apartments that emptied August 1 over for September occupancy. I know several people who have, over the years, had very little luck trying to move in August unless they happened to find a landlord who hates the September rush as much as most people. Why rent a place in August when you can get an extra $3-400 bucks a month for it the rest of the year?
The September 1st cycle is
The September 1st cycle is another big part of the affordability problem for rentals. Landlords and realtors have total control, renters have no leverage - regarding price as well as schedule. It's an outrage and it will price out everyone except for the students who have to be here for a few years, then leave to live somewhere cheaper. Requiring area schools to house a significantly larger proportion of the student population would be a BIG step in the right direction without any limitations on schedule.
By the way, is it really easier for landlords to turn over everything at once? It seems like it would be a big hassle for them too instead of renovating and doing paperwork over the course of a full year. Constant leases starting Sept 1st means no units can be renovated unless they are vacated early, for the most part...
Not the right answer
And when the universities all start building expensive new dorms and putting price tags for board in them that are higher than the cost of moving off campus... by a lot? Some universities are just as bad as the landlords in pricing things out of control, and pushing them to house more students just encourages it.
Allston Advent
Based on the occasional truck and random piece of furniture as people prepare for the great day, I have decided that Allston Advent is in full swing!
Allston Advent
Yes, I've been noticing that move-out has been going on sporadically for much of August. On the other hand, with 9/1 falling on the Labor Day weekend it's probably going to be extra insane.
Yikes
The Allston Mall sure looks different. Some of you probably don't remember the "Allston Mall." It had a record store, a "Garage Video," an unlicensed radio station twice (ahem), an art gallery, a constable who stayed overnights there on a cot...not all at the same time, necessarily...
Novel idea
Here's a novel idea, how bout you head to the cape for labor day weekend. Oh wait there is traffic getting to and from, I hear Nebraska is nice this time of year.
Nebraska is so flat
but I don't care.
I wasn't complaining.
My comment just waxes nostalgic about what used to be in the building in the photo.
I live on the North Shore, now.
There's no reason so many
There's no reason so many apartments in the Greater Boston area have to have the same lease start date. The leases are for a full year, not a school year (Sept - May), and students are still on the hook for summer rent if they're out of town. I've moved at all different times of year - winter is probably my favorite actually, because you can get a great deal on a place you couldn't afford on 9/1, and no worry of heat stroke while lugging all those boxes. Sure, if it snows and you can't drive or park a truck, you're in trouble, but moving in the winter time is a picnic compared to 9/1. I dislike the September cycle so much that I'd sublet a room temporarily or couch surf just to avoid it.
One reason
What college freshman is going to come to Boston in March of his high school senior year to rent a place from March to March? Or be homeless until February of their first year?
Dude, we all benefit from Allstonmas!
Allston Christmas can be a pain in the butt for us permanent residents, but we ultimately all benefit from the process. The college kids move in, bringing lots of money in addition to their bongs, cases of Keystone light, and red Solo cups. Us permanent residents benefit by relieving these students (and their families) of that cash by, hypothetically, offering to allow a U-Haul to park in our private spot for a by-the-hour fee, or renting out their pallet jack, or taking away any unwanted furniture or items that you might need and be in better shape than what you currently have in your living room.
Just saying, it's a tradition that despite the annoyances we all benefit from.
(Besides, I'm looking to replace my broken futon with another slightly less-broken one from the Comm ave sidewalk)