Snidely Whiplash, Thou Art Avenged

[robotnik2004]

Leonard Samia (artist's conception)

One of my Adieu to Boston posts last summer mentioned that when I lived in Allston, I had the pleasure of being a peon/tenant in Leonard Samia's sprawling fiefdom of slummery. We knew he was a sweetheart when a balcony on one of his other Boston properties collapsed (killing a tenant, I believe). While stoutly denying responsibility for the accident, he pulled his guys off the repair job they were doing on our house, leaving us without siding or insulation for several months of winter, in order to "fix" the crappy unsafe balconies on all his other properties (for "fix the balconies," read "nail boards over any doors and windows that open onto them").

But his crapulence extends even farther than I knew. My old homey Joe just sent me this link to Sunday's Boston Globe: Landlord with Boston ties lashed for Katrina evictions. Apparently Samia also owns some of the most rundown parts of New Orleans. And even though his apartments survived Katrina intact, he's used the chaos from the hurricane as the perfect moment to evict his low-income tenants and do a little profiteering on skyrocketing post-Katrina rents. Wow. He's like the villain in some 19th century melodrama. Or The Simpsons.

''In a situation where horrible landlords are a dime a dozen, [Samia] stands head and shoulders above everybody else in the worst landlord category," said Quigley.

(The picture accompanying the article, my buddy Steve points out, looks a little like our Allston place.)

Comments

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

And yet he's gotten away with it for years. Hopefully he'll be in prison soon. I think I remember hearing about him when that balcony collapsed.

BS

[(Anonymous)]

Well i cant agree with any of that. No one did die from the accident, remember accidents do happen. I also do live in one of Mr. Samia's apartments and I haven't had any problems. Also, the people I live with have no problems. Nor do the people around me have problems( up the street). I have met Mr. Samia and he is a very nice man, very easily to get along with. I feel bad for him that he is being singled out like this.

In reference to Katrina. It was a disastrous hurricane. People did die and building did get completely ruinied. His complex still stands and is running as we speak. Reasons for eviction was because of the water that got into the building, the water created pesticides, and if the body recieves pesticides one can die. If one did die, or even got ill and he didn't evacuate, not evict. Then the only person getting more press than Mr. Samia himself, would be George W. Bush.