Plus: 🥶 Heating bills are going up
It’s Monday, Boston.
💒 A HUGE congratulations are in order … To our very own Head of Content Emily Schario, who got married this weekend(!). And shoutout to her hubs, Caleb, for his promotion from OG B-Side boyfriend to B-Side husband. Everyone say: “Congratulations, Emily and Caleb!”
🥳 And happy belated birthday to B-Sider Sara Spaulding! This confirms it: The vibes this weekend were off the charts. We hope you had an amazing day!
👀What’s on tap today:
Brace for heating bill sticker shock
Swifties, grab your wallets
A suspicious seagull
Up first…
HOUSING
Sublet scammers are gonna HATE this
Image: liveohana.ai. Illustration: Gia Orsino.
Let’s be real: Finding a sublet can be sketchy. Just think back to the last time you spent hours sifting through Facebook Marketplace listings and Craigslist posts. You probably chatted with a couple of bots before finding a normal-looking place, right? Well, a group called Girls Who Sublet is trying to change that.
👀 This new community wants to make subletting safer. Berlin Smallwood created Girls Who Sublet after realizing how daunting it was to move to a new city as a young woman — and how scary it can be to let a stranger live in your place for a few months. “Subleasing is a very intimate thing,” Smallwood said. “And you want to trust the person who’s sleeping in your bed.” The group’s target demographic is renters ages 18 to 35, with a focus on college students and recent grads. (So, you know, just tens of thousands of Bostonians.)
😘 You can kiss Facebook scams goodbye. Instead of messaging about a suspiciously cheap room and hoping for the best, with Girls Who Sublet, the organizing happens on a platform called Ohana, where Smallwood works as Director of Growth. Anyone who joins has to upload their Instagram and LinkedIn profiles, allowing folks from Ohana to vet them. Ohana then sets up a FaceTime call between the subletter and potential subletees. “We always have someone from Girls Who Sublet join the call to create a safe space,” Smallwood said.
💸 Even better: No more Venmo’ing loads of $$$ to a literal stranger. After a video tour of the apartment, Ohana holds your security deposit and handles payments. Plus, your first payment won’t be sent to the host until you see the apartment in person and confirm it’s as advertised. While Ohana does include a 5% fee in its listing prices, Smallwood points out it’s significantly smaller than Airbnb’s fees, which can reach as high as 16%.
💅 So far, the girlies are loving it. “I’ve had people say, ‘You’re doing God’s work, thank you so much for all your help,’ and ‘You’re an absolute angel,’” Smallwood said. Ohana, which operates in other cities like New York and London, counted more than 1,000 Boston members in August.
🔑 Wanna join? It’s free! You can sign up by DMing @girlswhosublet.boston on Instagram, which is managed by Smallwood and a few of her friends. Either mention the dates you’re looking for or give a rundown of the apartment you want to sublet, and they’ll take it from there.
— Written by Madeline Bilis
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CITY
Quick & dirty headlines
Image: Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe
🥶 Brace for some serious heating bill sticker shock. ‘Cause Eversource just dropped a plan to raise gas prices by a whopping 13% (averaging about $41.26/month) to cover maintenance and infrastructure costs. Yes, that’d be on top of last year’s already massive increases. If approved by the Department of Public Utilities, the hikes would start Nov. 1. That said, Gov. Healey is NOT a fan, and has already called on the department to nix it. If only there were a massive energy affordability bill sitting in the state house right around now …
😬 Mayor Wu just got served … by a former staffer. Marwa Khudaynazar is suing Wu and the City of Boston for $496,000, claiming she was unfairly fired to protect senior cabinet chief Segun Idowu’s reputation. ICYMI: Back in May, Khudaynazar alleged that Idowu came onto her, which sparked a fight between her and her BF (also a Wu staffer), which led to both of their arrests, and soon after, firings. Yes, it was extremely messy. FWIW, following an investigation, the city found no wrongdoing by Idowu, and says Khudaynazar was fired for unrelated reasons.
🕯️ Boston’s vigil for Charlie Kirk was cut short. Thousands of people who gathered on the Common Thursday night to mourn far-right activist Charlie Kirk were sent home early after Boston Police recommended shutting the event down for safety. Though as of Sunday evening, no other info was available about the abrupt ending, we know that dozens of counterprotestors were present throughout the vigil, and two people were arrested. Attendees, who traveled from across New England, said the night was about celebrating Kirk’s life and putting an end to political violence.
🤩 Swifties, warm up your credit cards. Taylor Swift is going to be back on the big screen ahead of her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” From Oct. 3 to 5, local AMC Theatres (also, The Coolidge!) will be hosting the album’s “official release parties.” A.k.a. an 89-minute film consisting of a brand-new music video (plus BTS footage from the shoot), new lyric videos, and song-by-song reflections from Swift herself. Per AMC, singing and dancing are “encouraged.” Tickets are available NOW, and we’d grab them ASAP.
THINGS TO DO
Weekday checklist
☕ Witness a latte foam showdown. Lovestruck’s George Howell coffee bar is holding a latte art competition tonight. The first 16 people to sign up at 7 p.m. will compete, and spectators can watch the action with a bev from the wine bar.
🍹 Toast to the end of summer. With a glass of frosé, of course! Cisco Brewers’ Fenway location will be pouring it on Sept. 23 with proceeds to support the Fenway Community Center.
🎬 Celebrate Latino stories on screen. CineFest Latino Boston is BACK from Sept. 24 to 28, showing films across the city that spotlight Latino culture and community. Peruse all the offerings here.
👊 Learn how to stand strong. At this empowering night of self-defense training Sept. 25 from IMPACT Boston, you’ll learn assertive communication, bystander skills, and simple strategies for self-protection. All experience levels, genders, and backgrounds are welcome!
🕺Watch Channing Tatum get DOWN. “Magic Mike XXL” is back on the big screen at The Coolidge Sept. 25 for a night full of cheeky fun, scandalous dance moves, and iconic promo posters.
🌿 Commune on the Common. The park will turn into a free backyard bash on Sept. 25 with pickup volleyball, yard games, treats, and even a FREE Sofar Sounds concert at Parkman Bandstand at 6 p.m.
👠 Catch a local drag icon IRL. Boston queen Patty Bourrée is bringing her talents to Emerson’s UnCommon Corner (she’s an alum!) on Sept. 26 for a free night of drag fabulousness.
🎪 See something *spectacular* in the Seaport. Literally! At the Seaport Spectacular Sept. 26, there will be robot artists, carnival games, food, music, cotton candy, and WAY more.
ONE LAST THING
A suspicious seagull
Illustration: Gia Orsino
If your car gets vandalized in Mass., there’s like a 10% chance it was a bird.
We’re not kidding: In the past year or so, we’ve seen cars keyed by turkeys, and side mirrors destroyed by woodpeckers. And now, we have another to add to the list: A windshield-smashing seagull.
Last week, Heather Stevens Woodbury, whose family owns Nantucket’s Wicked Island Bakery, was unpleasantly surprised to find that her back windshield had been smashed in the bakery’s own parking lot.
But perhaps even more surprising? The culprit was … a bird. After finding a fresh quahog in the back seat, police determined that the smashed windshield was the work of a seagull attempting to break open the clam for some dinner.
Check out the full story from the Nantucket Current here.
— Written by Gia Orsino and Claire Nicholas
🐥 Thanks for reading! That’s a lot of harm … and a lot of fowl. Sorry!
💜Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Visit NH, for supporting local journalism and reminding us why fall is New England’s best season.
🥪 The results are in: 47% of B-Siders prefer a Fluffernutter to a PB&J. One reader said: “The REAL unlock is to make a Fluffernutter WITH a third piece of bread with jelly on it so it’s a PB&J&Fluff.” Genius.