Before a storefront business can open in Boston, it has to get a permit for its fire-alarm system. No, make that two permits: One from Inspectional Services and one from the Fire Department.

In a report submitted to the city council and the mayor today, at-large Councilor Michelle Wu says this sort of thing makes it hard for Boston to truly be the sort of entrepreneurial city it claims it wants to be.

The Globe starts a series on the perils of off-campus housing in Boston with a detailed examination of how the BU student died in your basic Allston rat-trap of a student house last April.

Mayor Walsh said today he wants to waive a city registration fee for apartments in small owner-occupied buildings - and to refund the fees paid by their landlords last year.

On Monday, Walsh will file a request with the City Council to amend a law that now requires all owners of rental units to pay a fee to the city - which pays for inspections of those units.

MuckRock has put together an interesting chart and map based on data about tickets issued by city inspectors for failing to shovel sidewalks after the February blizzard.

Via Matt Carroll.

The Crimson reports ISD has given Sami's a month to either install plumbing or shut down, because inspectors have determined the stand at Longwood and Avenue Louis Pasteur is not mobile and therefore falls under the city building code, which requires permanent plumbing. Sami's landlord, Harvard, says it has no plans to help Sami's out by running pipes out to the stand, the Crimson reports.

From the report: Barred emergency exit; also note ladder on left instead of stairs. 4/29/10.

The state Inspector General's office found major problems in city oversight of a Temple Place apartment conversion in which the developer let people move into buildings with inadequate - and in some cases locked - emergency exits and without occupancy permits and for which he may have tried to hide renovations from inspectors to save on permit fees.

In a letter to city officials Inspector General Gregory Sullivan said his office's probe into the renovation of 21-27 Temple Pl. had been hampered by an unidentified Inspectional Services supervisor who refused to talk to investigators or turn over one key document, despite a state law that requires municipal employees to talk to his investigators unless they are claiming their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. The letter, quietly posted on the IG Web site last month, adds that the US Attorney's office and the FBI are also looking into the renovation project, which first came to public attention in 2009, when then mayoral candidate Kevin McCrea blogged about it.

The South End News reports Las Ventas on Harrison Avenue has had to remove its tables because ISD says its paperwork isn't in order - but won't tell the owners what they have to do to fix that.