KeeWeeListings
What to do in the event of a Boston Blackout: Part 3
In light of the recent slew of Boston Blackouts (blown transformers anyone?), we at KeeWee Listings thought we would hand over some advice on what to do in case of a blackout.
Because you can never predict when a blackout is going to happen, it’s important to always be prepared. The best thing you can do is to have an emergency stash of key supplies on hand in case of a long power outage. The American Red Cross suggests having the following items on hand in your apartment, somewhere they’ll be easily accessible without light.
· Flashlight
· Batteries
· Portable radio
· At least one gallon of water
· A small supply of food
When a blackout hits, the first thing you should do is call your landlord or power company to report the outage. Yes, it may seem ridiculous if half of Boston is out of power, but it could also be a building issue that may go unnoticed by the proper people if it’s not reported.
In the case of a larger blackout or emergency situation, keep your portable radio tuned to a reliable news station to receive the latest updates and possible evacuation procedures.
Inside your apartment, there are key things you should do and not do.
DO turn off all the electrical appliances that were in use when the power went out. (i.e. TV, oven, radio).
DO unplug your computer, cell phone, iPod, and iPad from their power sources. When the power comes back on, it could create a surge and fry the batteries in these devices.
DON’T open the refrigerator or freezer. The more often you open the fridge, the quicker your food will go bad.
Check out this link from the N.Y. Red Cross and this link from the City of Boston to learn more.
Meet the Neighborhoods: Downtown
Nowhere in Boston will you feel more like you’re in the heart of the City than downtown. With shopping, the financial district and the Boston Common, downtown Boston epitomizes the city lifestyle.
It’s faster paced than life in the Fenway or over on Mission Hill, but when you live downtown, the entire city is at your fingertips. It has all the history of Boston, with the Freedom trail running through its heart and Faneuil Hall a historic masterpiece, but downtown has also gone through some recent 21st century remodels.
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway has woven green spaces and patches of trees into the city (very similar to what Northeastern has done with its campus), to create a warmer feel within the city. The City of Boston has also launched the Crossroads Initiative, which will introduce a set of 21st century street standards to enhance the city. The initiative will attempt to connect parts of the city that are somewhat isolated, like the beautiful Boston Harbor.
Living in downtown provides students with everything they could possibly enjoy at their fingertips, but the distance from Northeastern could be a deterrent. Campus certainly won’t be walk-able on most days, but with the T and bus routes, Northeastern isn’t very far away.
So you’ve posted your listing. Now what?
If you just let your listing sit there, someone will probably eventually find it and you’ll be able to fill your sublet. But if you actively promote and work to make your listing better, the likelihood of finding someone to fill your sublet becomes much greater.
KeeWee Listings is rolling out a few incentives to get students to build better listings. So what are these incentives you ask? Here’s a breakdown.
Five Friday Faves: Every Friday @KeeWeeListings will tweet links to the five best listings throughout the day to help promote the listings for students. Why is this beneficial? By having KeeWee Listings tweet your listing, the post will have a larger reach, protruding out to the extended KeeWee network.
Bi-Monthly Mondays: On the second and fourth Mondays of every month, KeeWee Listings will feature one of the best listings in a blog post. This will be an opportunity for the poster to provide more extensive information about the apartment/house, roommates and what makes it such a great place to live. Again, by being featured in the tumblr.keeweelistings.com blog, your potential reach will extend greatly.
So, how do you make your listing better? There are a couple ways to do this, the most basic being to make sure that all necessary information is provided. The more information someone has, the more likely they are to take an extended look at the listing. The next thing is to make your listing more appealing by posting pictures. A first impression is everything and that also counts for an online sublet listing. Having good and plentiful pictures of your space will draw immediate attention to your listing and then people will look at it longer and consider it more (and so will we).
Rankings also play a big part in the incentives. By having your listing completely filled out, including posted pictures, you are more likely to get a higher ranking. You can rank all listings on our site when searching for a sublet. The rankings allow users to see what others have thought of the sublet, which is another aspect of a first impression. The higher the listing is ranked, the more views and better placement it is likely to have.
Promote your own listing: When posting your listing, there are Twitter and Facebook connect apps available directly on the page. Click on the Twitter and Facebook logos to automatically tweet or post your listing to your greater networks. Promoting your own listing is basically an online word of mouth, a way to spread your available listing to as many people as possible.
Have any questions about KeeWee Incentives? E-mail info@keeweelistings.com. Have a KeeWee success story you’d like to share on our Tumblr blog? Let us know at hannah@keeweelistings.com.
Happy Listings!
Meet the Neighborhoods: Back Bay
If there’s a fun and exciting place to live around Northeastern’s campus, it’s in the Back Bay. When the lights of Fenway Park as your backdrop, the Back Bay has everything a college student can ask for. Shopping, restaurants, bars, gorgeous apartments and a plethora of college students as neighbors, the Back Bay is an ideal place to live.
The Back Bay stretches from The Fenway through Kenmore Square and down Commonwealth Avenue back through Massachusetts Avenue. While it may be a bit more of a walk from Northeastern’s campus, it’s a fair trade for the quality of the apartments.
The Back Bay can be a bit pricey as you meander through Kenmore Square and down Commonwealth Avenue and you’re likely to have a lot of Terries as neighbors, but the newest part of the city also has the most up to date apartments, while still housing historic buildings.
The Back Bay is built on a landfill, which explains why the blocks are set up like the New York City-like grid system of the streets, a far cry from the one-way streets and curving roads that carve out the rest of the city.
The Back Bay is home to the two tallest buildings in the city, the Prudential Center and the John Hancock Tower. It also houses incredible architecture in the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. Trinity Church sits on the corner of Clarendon and Boylston Streets, directly in front of the John Hancock Tower. The Image of the abutting structures is a pictorial homage to where history meets the modern world in Boston’s streets.
Median Rent: $1,795 (2009)
Median Age: Males – 33.1 Females – 32.4
Check out the news@northeastern story written about KeeWeeListings!
If you’re not from the area, or maybe even if you are, Roxbury can seem all big and scary. But don’t believe every meme you read. Yes, Roxbury is a low-income neighborhood of Boston, and yes the crime statistics are rather high. But that doesn’t mean Roxbury isn’t a fine place to live, as long as you’re safe.
Northeastern borders the western edge of Roxbury, which if you’re keeping score is the safer side of the neighborhood. International Village and Columbus Avenue are technically in Roxbury Crossing, so you could live on campus with a Roxbury address
But if you are looking to move off campus, Roxbury is a good choice that can still keep you close to campus. Douglas Park, Columbus Avenue and Cunard Street are all great options. For starters, Northeastern has on campus housing in Douglas Park and on Columbus and Coventry Street, which is basically the same as Cunard just further away. This mean the area is patrolled by NUPD and is know to house college students. The bonus, off-campus in this area is cheaper than alternative on campus options, especially if you’re moving from one of the Davenports to somewhere else on Columbus.
Roxbury has undergone a Renaissance in recent years, partly due to Northeastern’s increasing presence in the neighborhood. A plethora of businesses have recently opened up on Tremont Street and deeper into the Roxbury community. The City of Boston has developed housing initiatives in the area and the new Roxbury Neighborhood Police station (BPD headquarters on the other side of IV) has made the neighborhood much more modern.
Median Rent: The median rent paid by residents of Roxbury in 2009 was $739.
~ Don’t expect to get a nice apartment on Columbus Avenue for 739 dollars a month. This number is slightly skewed by the low-income housing projects in the area. You’ll pay for location on Columbus, but you can easily come in at $1,000 a month or less.
Median Age: Males: 27.5 Females: 32.1
Fun facts:
· Famous R&B singer and former husband of the late Whitney Houston was born in Roxbury.
· Roxbury used to be all farmland and was home to a large farming community. There is still one remaining country house, the Shirley Eustis House, which is the only remaining country house built by a British Colonial Governor in America.
If you’re a Northeastern student looking to live off-campus, but feel like you’re still on campus, the Symphony neighborhood is perfect for you. Including, Symphony, St. Steven’s, Gainsborough, Westland Ave, Hemenway and the Fenway, this neighborhood is full of college students.
Known to the non-student community for the famous Symphony Hall, the area bordering Northeastern’s campus on the Back Bay side is a great place for students to live. Most apartments are within a five minute walk from the heart of campus, close to the Prudential Center and a stone’s throw from Whole Foods Market, which, in case you didn’t know, takes dining dollars.
Symphony Market, Panera, BHOP, Cappy’s, Starbucks, Temptations, Symphony Sushi, Dunkin Donuts and Expresso Royale Café (soon to be Pavement) are all in the area. You’ll be a just a short walk from Boylston street and all the bars and college nightlife it provides. For those shoppers out there, Newbury Street and the Prudential Center are great options within a short walk.
The green line and orange line are close by along with multiple bus stops and the commuter rail.
The Walk Score for the Symphony neighborhood is a ‘Walker’s Paradise’ with a 97 out of 100. Only 12 percent of Boston residents have a higher Walk Score, according to walkscore.com.
Also popular in the Symphony area are community gardens, which spruce up the neighborhoods with beautiful flowers in the spring and summer time.
The Symphony neighborhood has apartments for everyone. Everywhere from single to four bedroom places along with studios and splits for a lower price. The only downside is that living in this area tends to me a little more expensive than other neighborhoods, but you are paying for location. A two-bedroom apartment split between two residents on the higher end of the price scale is still cheaper than living in a West Village or Davenport single.
If you’re looking to feel like you’re living on campus, without the hassle of living on campus, Symphony is the neighborhood for you.
Here’s a map of Boston’s neighborhoods for better understanding of what areas we’re talking about when you read our ‘Meet the neighborhoods’ blogs!
