One Story, Two Newspapers, So Absurd

It's easy to make fun of the Herald, as Bostonist has oft demonstrated, but sometimes you can't get the full story in this two-newspaper town unless you read both papers (or let Adam at Universal Hub do it for you). Case in point: If you read in the Globe about the collapse of an exterior metal staircase on a Brighton building, you learn that a man was killed when the staircase, which he was climbing, fell off the building. You also learn that the owner of the building was ordered to stop renovation work because he didn't have a permit, and was then denied a permit. If you read the Herald coverage, you get little detail on the whole permit history, but do find out that the guy who was killed was attempting to break into the house. Both papers give us the punchline: The building owner was cited by the City of Boston for maintaining an unsafe structure.

So let's recap: Homeowner attempts to fix dangerous staircase; neighbors complain about construction without permit, so city stops homeowner's work; homeowner applies for necessary permit and is denied, so dangerous staircase remains; burglar uses dangerous staircase in attempt to break into house and is killed; homeowner is cited for dangerous staircase.

Lessons learned: (1) It's always good to read both dailies; and (2) City government is crazy. Now who wants to guess how long before the dead man's family sues?

UPDATE: Well, maybe city government isn't so crazy after all: The Globe reports today that the homeowner actually installed the staircase as part of a larger project of renovation (for which he obtained no permit, natch), and was then ordered to stop all work for lack of permits. Also, the man killed in the accident may not have been a burglar but simply drunk and disoriented. Leave it to the stupid facts to ruin a near perfect parable of bureaucratic silliness.

Image: Detail from Edgar Degas's La bourse de coton, because we're classy like that.