A garage near Boston Logan has been condemned due to unsafe conditions but according to the owner it totally wasn’t a 20-person “crash pad.”
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Garage Condemned, Safety Concerns
A garage was converted into a 20-person, two-bedroom crash pad near Boston Logan Airport. For the tidy sum of $300 a month (plus $2 every two weeks for shared items left in the kitchen), crews can call a bunkbed in this industrial space their landing zone for the night.
The city of Boston wasn’t having it. Upon inspection, the building was condemned by the city and crews can access their belongings for one week from 9:30 AM on Monday, April 11th, 2022.
Tweets from the city display some of the findings. In addition to safety concerns, the facility was not properly zoned.
Yesterday our Investigative & Enforcement Team condemned a garage turned into an illegal 2 bedroom unit slated to house 20ppl in E. Boston. This unit was constructed illegally, stored hazardous material, missing smoke detectors and no 2nd means of egress. pic.twitter.com/Mn3A2q2Un7
— Boston Inspectional Services (@ISDBoston) April 6, 2022
2/3 Before buildout property owners must ensure they obtain the proper permits. Converting a garage to residential units without going through proper procedures is a violation & more importantly unsafe for the occupants. Hazardous & flammable material must be stored properly. pic.twitter.com/D9ukV7soPG
— Boston Inspectional Services (@ISDBoston) April 6, 2022
Cozy.
“Not a Crash Pad”
The Boston crash pad in question was disputed as being a crash pad by the owner. The 20-person bunk beds, rental income, and crew members coming and going were all there for the garage which appeared to be operating solely as storage according to the reports.
The owner and realtor told an investigating news team that it was “not a crash pad.” But that outlet found a prominently displayed welcome letter for its tenants entitled “37 Geneva [Street] Crashpad Rules” which outlined instructions for how to treat other tenants, personal and shared spaces, and entry/exit etiquette.
The East Boston warehouse owner and realtor told @GBHNews the illegal apartment was not a “crash pad.” But on the fridge of the 37 Geneva Street space is a laminated poster, entitled “37 Geneva- Crashpad Rules.” Read more: https://t.co/3xChKU7iBy pic.twitter.com/JgYw6xLvUD
— Sarah Betancourt (@sweetadelinevt) April 7, 2022
I kind of admire the temerity of the owner. It reads like a satire piece that should be on TheTakeoffNap.com but with a section that says,
Our reporter asked the owner, “if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck” to which the owner replied, “it’s not a crash pad.”
The only thing missing is a video of the owner posting the sign as flight crews come in and out of the facility.
Flight Crews Are Here For Our Safety, How About Their Own?
Every flight we hear it, “Flight attendants are here primarily for your safety.” Ok, fair. But isn’t their own safety important? They practice evacuating fully loaded planes out of fewer than all available exits in less than 90 seconds as part of their training and aircraft manufacturer safety demonstrations, but they are willing to live in a place with one way in and out?
I am not blind to the plight of the modern airline crew member (pilot or flight attendant.) Commutes are already difficult, crews aren’t paid enough to necessarily relocate to the cities where their base may be. Sometimes, crews just need a bed to sleep in without spending a night in a hotel and that’s not covered by the airline. Boston is an especially expensive city and most crew members can’t afford much more than $300 (and $4) per month.
Still, gas cans and explosive materials in an enclosed space? A single door? Up to 20 people split between two “bedrooms”? That seems like more than an oversight and something that safety professionals should have had a difficult time getting past.
According to the city inspector, no permits had been pulled for the conversion which maintained the surface area as a garage, with rooms above. The fire department couldn’t have been happy with a lack of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors – someone, or several people could have been killed in that “not crashpad.”
Conclusion
I really do understand the difficulty of crews to find affordable, reasonable solutions when they commute to their bases. I have a neighbor that is based in Miami (was Philadelphia) and battles this all the time. However, not only should the owner have made the space safe, and at a minimum, admitted that the facility was being used as it was, but the crews staying there probably should have found something safer.
What do you think? Is this a crashpad? Did the flight crew tenants do enough for their own safety and that of the others in the facility?
When I was on reserve I spent my entire income as a regional airline pilot on hotels do avoid crash pads. They are dispicable places. I wish hotels gave airline crews real discounts. Most don’t in the big cities. IAH, DEN… no problem but NY and BOS forget about it.
Govern me harder daddy…..
About the only laws that liberal cities and states will really enforce with a vengeance are anything to do with taxes. About any other thing you can get away with breaking the law, at least for a while, and especially if you have a sob story to attach with the illegal activity.
Liberals are no different than mafia. Don’t shortchange them of money and you can get away with almost anything.
This just highlights the need for the airlines to provide proper accomodations for their crew not just on layovers but also before and after flights. The crew must be well rested and in a proper frame of mind and heaven knows that the airlines make enough money to spend a few hundred extra dollars to improve safety.
Disney and Universal are doing it in Orlando.
Or perhaps they could mandate that crews live within two hours drive of any base? Do you see Starbucks Barista’s flying in from distant cities to work? It’s not as if it’s like being a flight attendant is so hard a position to fill. It’s not like housekeeping at a Disney resort (referring to Kyle’s comparison).
Or, ya know, they could actually LIVE IN THE CITY they were given as a base. And if that is not conducive, find another job. #cakeandeatitto
Maybe each person had their own bed? Would there really be maybe 40 renters? I think probably not.
This reminds me of the squalor that some factory workers in China live in when they leave the provinces to work the sweat shops.
I’m genuinely curious though how illegal this would be in a place like California which has fully legalized ADUs to address the housing shortage. Add a few smoke detectors and another exit, and this might be perfectly legal.