A month after Mayor Thomas Menino stood in the backyard of Kevin Watters’ Allston home and decried it a “pig sty,” the piles of trash are gone, the walls are freshly painted and there are no more water stains in the bathroom.
The hard feelings, however, seem to have lingered. “Generally, I think the efforts were misplaced and misdirected,” said Watters, who owns and lives in the building that was cited by city inspectors during their annual Move-In Day problem campaign. “If they really wanted to be doing a good job, they should be doing this throughout the year.”
The citations meant the tenants could not move in and Watters had to terminate the lease and refund money. He said it’s been difficult losing rent money each month as he deals with the repairs and paperwork to get his property ready for occupation.
Shane Martz is working to repair the home.
“I would have really liked to see other places with the same problems get cited … to really fix up some of these other places in Allston and make it a better neighborhood,” he said.
An unfair example
Watters said the people that have responded to his calls to the mayor’s office and city have been helpful, but he still feels like his Pratt Street home and apartments were made an example of on Sept. 1 when city inspectors, the mayor and the media swarmed his property.
“It seemed strange they would come out on one day in September and find somebody to pick on and not have done anything about that for the past 13 years,” Watters said.
