Between Charles River Plaza and the Otis House: 12 stories including 2 stories of library space.
A non-profit housing group and its investment partner have won preliminary city approval to replace the current West End BPL branch at 151 Cambridge St. with 119 affordable apartments atop a new two-story library branch. Read more.
First hoop asks: Wanna piece of me?
A determined citizen spent part of Sunday night cruising West Roxbury looking for wheeled basketball hoops just sitting on sidewalks like they owned the joint, and reported not one but two hoops on Willowdean Avenue and another 1.5 miles down the parkway at Temple Street and Temple Terrace. Read more.
WBUR reports the state's family shelter program reached its maximum capacity of 7,500 families yesterday, meaning new applicants will be put on a wait list instead of immediately finding them a place to stay - the first time that's happened since the program began 40 years ago. State officials say it's partly due to the overall unaffordability of Massachusetts housing, partly due to the busloads of immigrant families southern border states are now sending here.
Outages at 11:30 a.m., via Eversource outage map.
Update, 3:15 p.m. Eversource reports 139 homes and businesses still without power in Boston, but no outages in Dedham, Brookline and Newton.
Eversource is blaming "equipment damage" for widespread outages that started around 10:45 a.m. in an area that extends from Brookline and Newton streets in the north to most of West Roxbury and Dedham in the south. Parts of Roslindale as far east as Roslindale Square are also affected. Read more.
GBH reports on the end of a crisis for resident who are disabled or elderly and who couldn't get down the stairs from their apartments without help.
GBH reports on an elevator that has now been out of service for nine days at the Ruth Lillian Barkley Apartments on Washington Street.
B’nai B’rith Housing, joined by city and state officials, today officially opened its 1208 Parkway complex of 60 income-restricted apartments off Baker Street in West Roxbury - with its entrance on VFW Parkway. Read more.
Complaints to 311 about mattresses on Boston Move-In Day. Allston/Brighton and Mission Hill, of course, but a fair number of complaints from South Boston, too. Also see: Allston Christmas Bingo - North End edition.
A Dorchester woman admitted Friday she stole more than $100,000 in a year from people applying to rent apartments in Hyde Park, Dorchester and Roxbury by charging them twice as much for security deposits as her employer normally would, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Read more.
Gov. Healey today declared a state of emergency because the state is running out of room to house all the migrants coming here - we're currently at 20,000 individuals in state shelters. Read more.
Hillary Ross has set up a GoFundMe page to help people displaced by the May 31 fire at the Parklake building, 1980 Comm. Ave.
People are scrambling for places to live and for ways to cover so many unforeseen expenses. Many who live at Parklake have called the building home for years, and this emergency is particularly disorienting for the elderly in our community.
The owner of a South End condo and roof patio yesterday sued the Zoning Board of Appeal to block construction of a pair of decks - one with a grill and fire pit - atop the building next door. Read more.
The state Attorney General's office says the owner and manager of a complex on Lucy Street in Dorchester will no longer make tenants with Section 8 and state rental vouchers pay a $500 upfront fee out of their own pocket just to get an apartment there. Read more.
Ari Ofsevit asks:
Good recommendation for a heat pump specialist that serves Cambridge? Looking to replace a gas furnace w/ a heat pump (we have ductwork). We have our Mass Save audit already so they'd have to be Mass Save certified.
National Grid reports 3,655 homes and businesses in Quincy lost power at 10:48 p.m.; company estimates 12:45 a.m. for restoration.
States of desperation[Yahoo Finance]
In Massachusetts, Florida and New York, Americans spend 32.9%, 32.6% and 31.2% of their income respectively on rent, according to the Moody's report.
The article says people are told that rent should not be more than 30% of income. 50 years ago, we were told it should be no more than 25%.
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