07-13-2012, 02:25 PM
now THIS is a blast from the past!
boston herald
An alleged firetrap shuttered by city inspectors Wednesday was condemned 50 years to the day after it was the scene of one of the infamous Boston Strangler killings.
The house at 139 Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury is where cops found slain widow Margaret Davis, 60, the fourth Boston Strangler victim, on July 11, 1962.
Officials evacuated the residents — including two people on dialysis machines and another wheelchair-bound tenant — and deemed the house “unfit for human habitation” and a “fire hazard” because there were no fire exits on the second and third floors.
The single-family house was not permitted as a rooming house but had several tenants renting rooms for $500 a month, officials said.
“It was truly a disaster waiting to happen. It was a public safety hazard, period,” said Deputy Inspectional Services Commissioner Darryl Smith.
“If there was a fire in the front of the house, nobody could get out,” he said.
Smith said the city’s problem property task force has been monitoring the house for weeks after fielding complaints. Inspectors were let in by a tenant Wednesday and slapped the owner with violations for running an illegal rooming house. The owner could not be reached for comment.
The shutdown came a few days after ISD inspectors shuttered another unlicensed rooming house on Stanwood Street, where authorities also found an illegal auto repair shop.
The closures are part of an ongoing anti-blight campaign by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who set up a task force last year to crack down on problem properties and pressure landlords to evict criminal tenants, including posting flashing neon signs in front of some trouble spots.
“We’re out there on the ground, trying to find these issues and others, so we can work with the neighbors and make better neighborhoods,” Smith said.
![[Image: photo.aspx?mls=71321923&n=0]](http://media.mlspin.com/photo.aspx?mls=71321923&n=0)
INFAMOUS: The house at 139 Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury, where cops found the Boston Strangler’s fourth victim, Margaret Davis, 60, 50 years ago, was condemned Wednesday by the city.
DeSalvo
![[Image: albertdesalvo.jpg]](http://skcentral.com/images/articles/albertdesalvo.jpg)
boston herald
An alleged firetrap shuttered by city inspectors Wednesday was condemned 50 years to the day after it was the scene of one of the infamous Boston Strangler killings.
The house at 139 Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury is where cops found slain widow Margaret Davis, 60, the fourth Boston Strangler victim, on July 11, 1962.
Officials evacuated the residents — including two people on dialysis machines and another wheelchair-bound tenant — and deemed the house “unfit for human habitation” and a “fire hazard” because there were no fire exits on the second and third floors.
The single-family house was not permitted as a rooming house but had several tenants renting rooms for $500 a month, officials said.
“It was truly a disaster waiting to happen. It was a public safety hazard, period,” said Deputy Inspectional Services Commissioner Darryl Smith.
“If there was a fire in the front of the house, nobody could get out,” he said.
Smith said the city’s problem property task force has been monitoring the house for weeks after fielding complaints. Inspectors were let in by a tenant Wednesday and slapped the owner with violations for running an illegal rooming house. The owner could not be reached for comment.
The shutdown came a few days after ISD inspectors shuttered another unlicensed rooming house on Stanwood Street, where authorities also found an illegal auto repair shop.
The closures are part of an ongoing anti-blight campaign by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who set up a task force last year to crack down on problem properties and pressure landlords to evict criminal tenants, including posting flashing neon signs in front of some trouble spots.
“We’re out there on the ground, trying to find these issues and others, so we can work with the neighbors and make better neighborhoods,” Smith said.
INFAMOUS: The house at 139 Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury, where cops found the Boston Strangler’s fourth victim, Margaret Davis, 60, 50 years ago, was condemned Wednesday by the city.
DeSalvo