just a girl among the bulrushes

About Me
the-lesbian-artemis:
“ twerkcircus:
“Can someone add a reference? Cause like I have no idea what this is referring to and I’d like to know but I don’t even know what to google
”
This isn’t about this specific sign, but I did find a boston globe...

the-lesbian-artemis:

twerkcircus:

Can someone add a reference? Cause like I have no idea what this is referring to and I’d like to know but I don’t even know what to google

This isn’t about this specific sign, but I did find a boston globe article on it, basically a lot of apartments are having original tenants being priced out and then the apartments are used for airbnbs instead.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/10/05/housing-advocates-say-airbnb-rentals-are-replacing-chinatown-apartments/Z9KwIgppY89rHbbflvKC6H/story.html

It wasn’t long after the Chinatown row house where Mei Qun Huang lived was sold for more than $1 million that she started noticing a steady stream of travelers using the first-floor unit. The family who previously lived there had moved out after the new owner raised their rent.

Earlier this year, Huang also moved out of the Johnny Court unit she had shared with her husband and three children for nearly five years — after her rent went up by 40 percent. Soon afterward, Huang heard the apartment was being used as a short-term rental.

Similar scenarios are playing out with increasing frequency in Chinatown and other Boston neighborhoods, according to housing advocates. They contend that the popularity of short-term rentals, such as those listed on the website Airbnb, has encouraged investors to buy apartment buildings and shun monthly leases in favor of more profitable weekly rentals.

Armed with a new study, Chinatown housing advocates are stepping up pressure on the city to regulate the rapidly growing industry, which they argue is contributing to the city’s housing crisis by removing long-term rental apartments from the market.

Advocacy groups, including the nonprofit Chinese Progressive Association and the Chinatown Community Land Trust, organized a march from Chinatown to the State House Thursday afternoon to bring attention to the issue.

“The issues of displacement and affordability and gentrification, we’re pointing to an industry that’s exacerbating that problem,” said Darlene Lombos, executive director of Community Labor United, an advocacy group that released a study Thursday outlining the rise in Boston of what it calls commercial short-term rental operations. “If we don’t get a handle on this now, it’s going to get away from us.”

According to the study by CLU, which is part of a national coalition with Partnership for Working Families, commercial Airbnb rentals are rapidly increasing in Boston. Sarah Jimenez, the study’s author, said she analyzed Airbnb Boston listings from December 2015 through November 2016 and found that hosts with multiple units made up 12 percent of all operators in the city but controlled more than 28 percent of the listings.

Some of the listings came through corporate entities that control anywhere from a handful of units to more than 100, according to the study.

“There’s a lot of evidence that speaks to the financial incentive to convert rentals to short-term rental units,” Jimenez said. “Boston is one of those cities where short-term rental revenue is greater than the [annual lease] rental cost.”

A spokeswoman said Airbnb welcomes regulation of the short-term rental industry but disputes the claim that the platform is hurting Boston’s long-term rental market.

Last year, 42 percent of all of Airbnb’s listings for entire homes in Boston were for homes that were rented out for a total of less than 30 days, and 68 percent were rented for less than 90 days total, according to a company report in March. About 6 percent of the listings were rented out for more than 270 nights during the year.

“As income inequality continues to be an issue for cities like Boston, we hope that rules around home sharing protect neighborhoods and allow residents to continue making supplemental income to make ends meet,” the company said in a statement.

Some cities, including New York and Portland, Ore., have instituted a “one host, one home” Airbnb policy, but such an arrangement has not been negotiated in Boston, according to the company. Cambridge officials in August adopted short-term rental regulations mandating that a host may rent only their own home and one other unit in the same building, provided that it has fewer than five units.

Lydia Lowe, director of the Chinatown Community Land Trust, argued that investors with multiple Airbnb listings in the neighborhood are essentially operating hotels in areas that are not zoned for that. She called on city officials to shut them down.

“We’re not trying to stop the [short-term rental] industry, but we should not be taking housing away from long-term residents when we’re in the middle of such a displacement crisis,” Lowe said.

Housing advocates have recently detected an increase in Airbnb listings on Johnny Court and Hudson Street, as well as in a strip of row houses on Oak Street, she said.

“They can rent them from $800 [a week], where before [units] like that would be rented for $800 a month,” Lowe said. “That’s what’s driving speculation — a dilapidated little building will sell for $3 million.”

The housing advocates who organized Thursday’s march said they want state legislators to pass a bill filed by Representative Aaron Michlewitz, a Democrat whose district includes Chinatown. Under the legislation, individuals who rent their homes would be taxed at a lower rate than commercial hosts, who would be assessed at a higher rate than hotels, Michlewitz said.

“We feel [commercial] hosts are directly impacting the housing market,” he said.

(via tyrannosaurusjess)

kosschei:

stripping to gregorian chants

(via tyrannosaurusjess)

a-fragile-sort-of-anarchy:

Ten Important Outfits Everybody Should Own:

• Feral Boy Scout

• Deep South Priest With a Terrible Secret

• Lumberjack Druid

• 80s Punk Librarian

• Tropical Detective

• Mushroom Wizard

• High Fashion Diesel Mechanic

• Eldritch Quarterback

• I’m Playing Marty McFly in a Porn Parody of Back to the Future Directed by David Lynch

• 70s NASA Gay

(via tyrannosaurusjess)

kaible:

aellagirl:

how to make smores

I was going through old home videos I made a few years ago when i was bored and alone. 

for anyone who has ever wondered what girls do in their spare time: this is what girls do in their spare time.

100% accurate

(via tyrannosaurusjess)

apocketuniverse:

me on monday: its going to be different this week!!! i wont get discouraged by small issues and i’ll stay on top of my work!!

me by 4 PM that afternoon:

image
image

100% this week

(via tyrannosaurusjess)

lord-kitschener:

It’s interesting how pretty much every “healthy workplace lunch” is thought up by and for only white-collar office workers. It’s not as big of a deal if your cute little Mason jar salad with some sort of protein isn’t quite enough to help you feel full if you’re allowed to keep some trail mix or an apple at your desk, but you’d need to eat something heartier or else you’re totally fucked if you’re stuck working in retail, a warehouse, at a call center, etc where you’re stuck at your station for the next several hours until you get your break (especially if you’re doing work that requires more physical labor)

(via tyrannosaurusjess)

If they destroy net-neutrality, teen suicides will skyrocket.

ask-trans-feliciano:

If this happens, people struggling with their mental health and/or abusive situations, especially teenagers, will have to pay for access to the many hotline/chat services for suicide/crisis prevention, mental health support, drug safety and intervention, and general information about life they don’t teach in school/sex ed. The many forums that exist for all types of disorders/illnesses, if they can afford to stay afloat, will likely come in a separate “Forum” bundle, too. And since we are talking primarily about teenagers here, they will more likely ask their parents to buy these things for them, which is a problem for very obvious reasons.

Have you ever talked someone down from suicide over the internet? Helped them when they were cutting? Gave them emotional support at a fragile time? Becuase without net neutrality, a lot of those people will be out of your reach. A lot of them rely on their internet friends, because they may live in a shitty ass place, full of ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism. This is their safe place, this is what keeps them alive.

How many people figured out that they are normal, valid, and ok, all because of the internet? I’m willing to bet a lot of you reading this. Perhaps, because of the internet, you found out what being transgender was, and you just knew. Maybe, you realized that being asexual didn’t mean you were broken. Possibly you’ve seen others go through your same struggle, with depression, anxiety, bipolar, phobias, etc, and suddenly you were not alone.

Now imagine the next generation of kids growing up without this.

(via chasertiff-deactivated20190402)

nebet-ren:

actualanimevillain:

sometimes you say or do bad things while you’re in an awful mental place. sometimes you say things that are rude or uncalled for or manipulative. and i’m not going to hold that against you. mental illness is hard, and no one is perfect. but once you’re through that episode, you need to take steps to make amends. you need to apologize.

“i couldn’t help it, i was having a bad episode” is a justification, not an apology.

“i’m so fucking sorry, i fucked up, i don’t deserve to live, i should stop talking to anyone ever, i should die” is a second breakdown and a guilt trip. it is not an apology.

when you apologize, the focus should be on the person you hurt. “i’m sorry. i did something that was hurtful to you. even if i was having a rough time, you didn’t deserve to hear that,” is a better apology. if it was a small thing, you can leave it at that.

if you caused significant distress to the other person, this is a good time to talk about how you can minimize damage in the future. and again, even if it is tempting to say you should self-isolate and/or die, that is not a helpful suggestion. it will result in the person you’re talking to trying to talk you out of doing that, which makes your guilt the focus of the conversation instead of their hurt.

you deserve friendship, and you deserve support. but a supportive friend is not an emotional punching bag, and mental illness does not absolve you of responsibility for your actions. what you say during a mental breakdown doesn’t define you. how you deal with the aftermath though, says a lot.

This is the most carefully-nuanced discussion of this I think I have ever seen. Thank you for writing this.

(via tyrannosaurusjess)

eggcup:
“me wondering why i just ordered a 9 dollar beer
”

eggcup:

me wondering why i just ordered a 9 dollar beer

(via pokopon)