By Christie Young, News Correspondent
As Boston’s 250,000 college students descend on the city after their summer breaks, things can get a little hectic.
City officials have been working hard to simplify the early-September influx in popular student areas such as Gardner, Ashford and Pratt streets, the Fenway and Mission Hill. Officers of the Inspectional Services Department travelled door-to-door last weekend to offer preliminary inspections of students’ new apartments. The most common problems included faulty smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, pests, rodents, broken railings and mold, officials said.
Bryan Glascock, commissioner of Inspectional Services, also noted there were more than 1,500 citations for improper storage of trash and another 765 citations for overflowing trash barrels.
“Trash may seem like an aesthetic issue but it really is the cause of rodent problems,” Glascock said. “If people used trash cans with lids, it would really help the problem with rats.”
However, Glascock said this year ran more smoothly than previous years. He complimented Northeastern University’s help in the matter, saying the university “provided dumpsters, did outreach to students and made cleanup a lot quicker and better.”
Northeastern’s Vice President of City and Community Affairs John Tobin had a big part to play in organizing move-in weekend, which he said he starts to prepare for six to eight months in advance.
“It’s not something you can plan for,” he said, mentioning that nice weather helps.
The moving process takes coordination between the Northeastern University Division of Public Safety, the Boston Police Department, student affairs, spiritual life and other organizations.
“So many different groups come together to make a stressful time go seamlessly,” Tobin said.
A key part of the process includes creating traffic detours, making streets one-way, and opening parking lots both on and off campus, all while making sure the streets stay open for emergency vehicles.
There were also student ambassadors around popular student housing areas to answer questions, and recommend restaurants and local activities to make their new neighbors feel at home, Tobin said. The ambassadors also stressed the notion that students living off-campus must be respectful of their non-student neighbors, such as seniors and families, who are sharing the area with them.
“When it comes from students, it’s better received,” Tobin said.
Tim LePage, a middler business major, was one of the student ambassadors who helped on move-in day in the Fenway area. His job was to pass out parking tickets to allow students and parents to park for one hour on streets where it would otherwise be illegal. He noted some problems where previous tenants had not yet moved out — thus creating an even more confusing situation.
“We pretty much did what was needed,” he said of the volunteers. That included helping one tenant move to another room on the other side of an apartment building while simultaneously helping the new tenant move in.
Despite that, LePage agreed with Glascock and Tobin that the day was “pretty well-coordinated.”
