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‘Progressive’ City Council abuses vulnerable persons—and free speech
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Absentee landlord in trouble for loving humankind
By the middle of June, the Boca Raton police had already determined that the massage studio at 7300 North Federal Highway was engaged in industrial sex. They set up video cameras which taped the license plates and the comings and goings of forty-two men.
One of those men was James Batmasian, for many years a major real estate player in Cambridge, Somerville, and vicinity, and who recently began selling off the hundreds of apartments he still owns around here.
His wife Marta says that Jim went to a massage parlor because he likes massages. There is no reason to doubt her. But a judge or jury might, so James and Marta hired one of Florida’s top criminal defense attorneys.
They can afford it. The local newspaper says of J.B., “He is Boca's largest landlord with prime parcels worth more than $24 million.” The Batmasians didn’t retire after all when they went to Florida.
What really gets us interested in this story is the newspaper’s description of James Batmasian as a “philanthropist.”
Jose Lambiet of the Palm Beach Post writes of him as “moneybags philanthropist Jim Batmasian.” Marta is a “socialite…. She's on the board of 17 local charities and the chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.”
The dictionary says the word “philanthropist” comes from the Greek, meaning “loving humankind.“ But it is never applied to a low-income person. Philanthropist really means “having a great deal of money and giving some of it away.”
As James and Marta give away money to art museums and, no doubt, homeless shelters, do we hear the unmistakable sound of ass-kissing and boot-licking echoing from the lacquered walls of the chancery? Mmm....
A person who worked with Mr. Batmasian in his Cambridge real estate business was bold enough to suggest to us that, in acquiring the wherewithal to become a philanthropist, “his methods of operation were not legal or ethical.”
More than a few of his tenants have said the same thing.
I recall a family who rented a place on Cameron Ave from Mr. Batmasian in 1983. The father was a young Vietnam vet. They didn’t have the money for first month, last month, security deposit and finder’s fee, even at rent control prices. So our philanthropist did them a favor. They could work off the initial costs and fees by doing wiring, painting, carpentry and other work on the building. When it was done, though, the tenants received no credit for their work and Batmasian began eviction proceedings. He was evicting others in the building too.
One day all the tenants were at the Rent Board for a hearing, but Mr. Batmasian didn’t show up. When they returned home, one couple’s belongings had been thrown out on the sidewalk and their door was padlocked.
This sort of thing wasn't unusual for our philanthropist. A couple of years later, City Councilor David Sullivan was walking in front of 863 Mass Avenue and saw an eviction in progress. Because it was Batmasian’s building, Sullivan was curious, asked questions—and sure enough, our philanthropist was at it again—this time within shouting distance of City Hall!
Caught red-handed in an illegal self-help eviction, and convicted of it, Mr. Batmasian had a cruel punishment meted out to him—two hundred hours of "community service." Mercifully, he was able to perform “community service” in his North Cambridge real estate office, helping people to find apartments.
We have every right to expect that, in passing sentence, the authorities in Florida will also take into consideration James and Marta’s contributions to society.
In Florida, their charitable contributions to the Republican Party are well known and appreciated.
Nor have they forgotten the Democrats back here in Cambridge. Last year James and Marta Batmasian contributed $1000 (the legal max) to the campaign of City Councilor Anthony Galluccio.