Everett Representative Stephen Smith by all appearances has been given a pass by the Revere Building Department that has been dealing with Smith for longer than three months and with not much success. Even though Smith was in Chelsea District Court before a magistrate last week (he was ordered there by the Revere Fire Department) and ordered to do what Revere building codes and fire codes mandate that he do, he was given until October to complete changes he promised would be made three months ago.
His buildings here remain overpopulated with people and units and it seems the Building Department is willing to give the representative as much time as he wants to stutter and stammer his way through a hassle when most homeowners in the same position who are not elected public officials would already have been severely reprimanded, fined or their certificates of occupancy pulled and on and on.
The overpopulation of the buildings remains a problem as well as a hazard.
This matter isn’t about Smith having one or two fake units. It is about Smith having 12 new units without permits and having made the changes in twin six unit buildings without permits.
It is incomprehensible that Smith thought he could get away with this kind of sneak added unit thing in his buildings. It is also incomprehensible that he is allowed to give the Building Department the run around, which seems to be going on and on.
When, we wonder, does Smith get treated the way everyone else does in this city by the Building Department?
Mayor Dan Rizzo has said he is outraged by Smith’s seeming inability to make the changes required by the Building Department. And he has said if he finds out the Building Department is dragging its feet, he will be outraged.
In a world where perception is everything, the Building Department appears to have given Smith as much time as he wants to get his real estate life together in this city.
How and why, we wonder, is the Building Department looking the other way when it comes to Smith? Why is the Building Department obviously dragging its feet when in other instances owners would have been put on immediate notice and penalized in every possible way?
The Building Department should answer these questions.
The Building Department should also hold Representative Smith to the same standards it holds everyone else who has shown themselves to be irresponsible
