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Somebody on Bynner Street is missing a giant storage box, and the neighbors couldn't be happier
By adamg on Sun, 09/06/2015 - 10:49am
Oh, is this yours? The DPW would like to have a word with you.
For more than three days, one of those giant move-across-the-country storage boxes has sat partly in a driveway on Bynner Street in Jamaica Plain, the rest on the sidewalk and jutting into the street - forcing pedestrians to walk blindly around it, hoping there's not a speeding Masshole on his cell phone coming the other way.
Not anymore. Shamus Moynihan, who has been chronicling the large box looming over the street, took video this morning of a Boston DPW crew loading the thing onto a flatbed to be hauled away somewhere, if not to be simply crushed:
That can't be cheap. @universalhub @02130News pic.twitter.com/iNUoWJ6PKe
— Shamus Moynihan (@ShamusJP) September 6, 2015
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Comments
1-800-see ya
later.
I've used those pods when moving
they're awesome. Pack everything at your leisure, then have it delivered to your new location or into storage. Far better than hiring movers, renting trucks, etc.
What the morons did with placing this pod was plain stupid. Sounds like maybe they didn't want to pay to have it picked up and removed.
at your leisure, but you are screwing over your neighbors
Personally, I hate those pods. People leave them up for a week or so and many typically take up at least two spaces. Talk about L A Z Y and E N T I T L E D. When we move, we get a permit from city hall, put up signs days in advance, and we're moved in within a few hours then we take the signs down and the moving van is gone. We don't do it at a leisurely pace because it so pleases us. It's called being a good neighbor.
Hold on , Sunshine
you were responding to my post:
1) I never left them in the street, or sidewalk; I always had a parking lot connected with my building, with plenty of room, and of course inform the landlord.
2) I clearly stated (a disclaimer, if you will), that what they did, dropping it off in a horizontal manner so it hanged out into the street, was a moronic thing to do. They, of course, should have found an appropriate spot with landlord approval, and if it inconvenienced neighbors, removed quickly, like the same day. A pod can be easily emptied the same day it's dropped off, and the company told to remove it. At most they would do so within 24 hrs.
------------------
If you live in very densely packed neighborhood, you have to expect shit like this to occasionally inconvenience you. It goes with the territory. Can't deal with it? Live somewhere where it's not a problem. I grew up in the city, we expected shit like this to happen, especially in Sept. There are an awful lot more (entitled) whiners today.
And as others have stated: Commonsense...TALK to a neighbor, at least attempt it. 99% will not attack you with a machete, and will be reasonable. If not, and it's a rental property, contact the management/landlord, including yours if you're renting or in a condo.
We seem to have today an epidemic of people who lack socialization, and are not capable of basic discourse and inter-action with neighbors, strangers on the street, bus, subway, etc. What's causing this?
You are an angry elf
A whole week you say? What a terrible inconvience for you. Perhaps we should ask the mayor to put a panel together to address this issue. You sound like the absolute last person I would want as a neighbor. Seems like if my house was burning down you'd be calling the police to file a noise complaint.
They didn't want to pay for the permits
You can get permits for these things in most communities, the same way you can get parking blocked out for moving trucks. Of course that would mean paying a fee, visiting city hall, and then having non-level loading in one of those parking spots. I believe they might even have the right to block their own driveway with it, lenghthwise, as a parked vehicle, if parking is allowed on that side of the street.
Their rationalization was probably that "its on private property". Their failure was that it wasn't only on private property, and that is a very dangerous street for pedestrians forced into traffic.
Permitpuller.com
It's so easy. Can't remember what it costs, but not more than pizzas.
A few weeks ago the city
A few weeks ago the city finally started processing moving permits online - you don't have to go to city hall anymore. How it took them 20 years get to that point, I have no clue.
you do realize Menino didn't
you do realize Menino didn't have a computer at his desk, right? City has a long way to catch up in digitizing things now.
sometimes people leave them on the street
taking up a couple of parking spaces. I've always wondered whether that's even legal, especially in towns like mine (Belmont) that don't permit on-street parking overnight, or in places that have time-limited parking.
and yet
apparently nobody had a problem with a building permit with a zero lot line.
Referring to, what?
Can you be more specific? Duplexes and townhomes, which have existed in Belmont for more than a century, have zero lot lines, too.
Ring the doorbell
No one bothered to knock on the door and ask the kids to move it? Seems odd that it had to be taken away by the city.
Explain
How do they "just move it"? As shown, it takes heavy equipment.
I have to wonder why the pod company ever put the damn thing there in the first place, though. One would think that they would not want to put their property in jeopardy.
1. Pick up the phone
1. Pick up the phone
2. Call the pod company
3. Direct them where to move the pod using the equipment they used to drop it off
Doesn't seem too difficult. Just seems odd to post about it on the internet rather than walking over there, but I'm old-fashioned that way.
You are making some huge assumptions here
You are assuming that this wasn't done - or, at least, attempted.
You are also assuming that the pod company gave a shit, or had any interest in responding to the problem, or planned to do anything in any reasonable time frame.
You are also assuming that the pod company was able to get ahold of the customer, as they won't just move something because some random phone person said so.
You are also assuming that the person using this pod gave a shit, when they clearly do not.
Now I'll make some wild assumptions: The neighbor tried to get ahold of the people with the pod and couldn't or was blown off. The pod company was called, and blew it off. The city was contacted. The city called the pod company and they blew it off. The pod was removed.
No assumptions needed
Troll hard.
Disclaimer - I live next door. It's not that hard to walk over and meet your neighbors - they're outside a good amount and fairly sociable. They're not hard to talk to and I've seen them around this weekend. It's a better solution than posting something on the internet and being a big person behind a keyboard.
I know you are
But what am I?
When you grow up, that little fantasy land of yours is going to come crashing down hard.
Again, you are assuming that this wasn't done, or at least attempted. Just because you can talk to your neighbors doesn't mean that anything will happen if you do. Or that they will do anything other than say "yeah, we called them".
Assuming that the person who contacted the city can even climb those stairs.
See comment, below, about how the companies can be pretty dumbass even when the customer complains.
I'm afraid we'll have to
I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
It doesn't work like that
I used moving pods for my last long-haul move. On the Boston end, the company (and the neighborhood) were wonderful: we got the permits and posted the flyers, the company showed up on time, plopped them in the street in a considerate way that took up as few parking spaces as possible, the neighborhood left them alone even on the last Friday night before the dorms closed for the year, and the company came to pick them up on time to get them out. Very useful and efficient.
On our relocating end (dense suburb of San Francisco) we went to City Hall to get the requisite permits to post on the crates. The company showed up, put them a little too far apart, and within 10 minutes the neighbors had called the police on us, demanding the company remove them and our stuff be thrown away. The company then nearly refused to take them away for two weeks after we emptied them, and my husband had to tell them that once they were empty and unlocked, they were not our problem and they'd have to get them from the city tow yard if they didn't show up on day 3 as promised.
It was a wonderful welcome to the neighborhood, Californians are actually giant assholes moment.
But yeah, calling the company doesn't always guarantee the company cares enough to do anything about it.
Also assuming City would issue a permit
within a reasonable time frame if at all to park the thing on the street.
They are pretty good about that
The only problem might be the time limits for deployment and pickup. I've had friends use them in Boston, Somerville, and Medford, and they do come with a time limit to get them off of the street. If the company is late on delivery or pickup, it can be a problem. If you can't get it loaded before the time limit, it can be a problem (such as storing things while redoing a room). Otherwise, it is really similar to getting a permit to block time and space for a moving van - just visit City Hall, walk out with papers to stick on it.
I'm planning to use one when my youngest heads to college (and we can take his space for a time) so that I can clear out and renovate our lower level master suite. I won't need a permit, though - our property includes a wide parking strip along the street.
Would they just use their
Would they just use their spare front end loader to move it to a better spot? The company came, they couldn't pick it up because the gate to Angell across the street was locked. They originally pulled into Angell's lot to be able to back up and drop it there. It's insane to me that the commercial driver would just drop it there in the first place. I don't blame the tenants. It was there for 4 days. The guys taking it away said the company, not the tenants would be paying for it.
I was actually at Angell on
I was actually at Angell on Saturday when the guy who was trying to take it away came in and asked if they would be able to open the gate so he could maneuver his truck to take it. He waited there for the better part of an hour while various employees tried to find out who could open the gate for him. He was still there when I left, so I assume, from this post that he never managed to the get the gate open. They kept telling him that whomever could open the gate wasn't there on the weekends. Perhaps not the smartest placement by the company, but they also might have assumed that the gate would not require such complex machinations to open.
And if you did ring the doorbell...
... what would you say?
Which of these things is it that you think the people responsible for the moving box don't already know, and that it would therefore be worth ringing their doorbell and telling them?
moving shenanigans
I used to know someone that moved frequently. they would rent a truck and when done they parked the truck on a main road and called u haul to tell them their truck had broken down on comm ave. he never worried about mileage or getting a ride back from uhaul place. totally a scumbag move. this guy knew lots of tricks like this.
dumb question
Wouldn't it be storage company's issue? Meaning.. isn't it their fault that the pod was left in that manner and not really in a legal way? (meaning they should know better than to do that)
then again.. we see local movers use Storrow drive soooo I guess sometimes these companies just don't care.