1-16-2014

Page 1

The Daily Free Press

Year xliv. Volume lxxxvi. Issue II

REMIX Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announces plan to fix BRA, P.3.

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Thursday, January 16, 2014 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

MUSE CLUES

MUSE writers preview music, film and more in 2014, page 5.

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www.dailyfreepress.com

LEAGUE BATTLE Women’s hockey prepares to face Providence, page 8.

WEATHER

Today: PM showers/High 42 Tonight: Mostly cloudy/Low 33 Tomorrow: 45/34 Data Courtesy of weather.com

Pricey luxury apartments add to Allston gentrification BU settles patent infringement case with tech giants By Clinton Nguyen Daily Free Press Staff

A strip of luxury, eco-friendly apartments have replaced deteriorated apartments on Brainerd Road in Allston, completely funded by the real estate and development firm Mount Vernon Co. Dubbed the “Eco,” when completed, this apartment complex will mark the third set of renovated apartments to be added to the company’s group of environmentally conscious living, the “Green District.” The apartments will be completed this August and ready for move-in on Sept. 1. “Allston provides an opportunity for high-quality, mid-ranged priced housing that heretofore has not been available,” said Bruce Percelay, chairman and founder of Mount Vernon Co. “We want to improve the area. If we can expand our footprint and provide more quality housing in the area, we would love to do so.” The apartments will demand higher prices unfamiliar to most Allston residences, with single bedroom units costing up to $2,100 a month. Percelay justified the price of rent, citing proximity to transit and major parts of town. “Strategically, it’s a terrific location that just happens to be extremely under-utilized,” he said. “The apartments were fully pre-leased two months before construction was done.” Mount Vernon Co. also purchased fourapartment buildings and storefronts around

By Taryn Ottaunick Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO BY FALON MORAN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Construction sites have taken over the two-block span that runs along Commonwealth Avenue between Griggs Street and Redford Street in Allston in an effort to build new luxury apartment buildings.

the area. The Joshua Tree, a neighborhood bar and restaurant, is one of their recent purchases acquired in fall 2013 for approximately $2 million, and the sale will close at the end of the month, Percelay said. Percelay said many of the firm’s projects are to improve the atmosphere of the neighborhood, not just for economic reasons. “We were buying a business we did not want to own,” he said. “The purpose of buying it was to enhance the neighborhood and to eliminate what has been a source of

negative activity for a long time.” Business owners in Allston said they welcomed the neighborhood changes. “Rent has been going up around there for a while,” said Robert Morgan, bartender at the Avenue Bar in Allston. “There are a bunch of budget apartments out here — they’re falling apart and they’re probably not that much cheaper than these. At least these are nicer buildings. You get quality for the money you’re paying.”

Allston, see page 2

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick drops e-cigarette tax proposal By Emily Hartwell Daily Free Press Staff

A tax on e-cigarettes, previously proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick, dropped from the administration’s budget proposal Monday, which is set for release Jan. 22. Karmen Hanson, health program manager at the Conference of State Legislatures, said policymakers are still trying to determine how e-cigarettes should be regulated because they are relatively new on the market. “Because the federal government hasn’t acted, states aren’t quite sure what to do with them,” she said. “In the absence of any federal activity or federal policy, states are starting to act just so they know that they’re doing something.” The tax proposal would have made Massachusetts the second state to impose a tobacco tax on e-cigarettes. Minnesota was the first when they redefined their state law about taxable tobacco products in 2010.

According to the Conference of State Legislatures website, e-cigarettes “… do not produce a combustible ‘smoke’ like traditionally burned cigarettes, nor do they contain tar, a by-product of burning tobacco.” The Food and Drug Administration said it would begin regulation of e-cigarettes in 2011, but so far no regulations have been passed due to debate about the safety of the e-cigarette, the FDA website said. Only a few states have made strides toward regulating e-cigarettes, including defining it as a tobacco product and prohibiting sale to minors. A study done by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Protection called “Notes from the Field: Electronic Cigarette Use Among Middle and High School Students” showed a rise in e-cigarettes purchases, largely due to the lack of regulations. “E-cigarettes that are not marketed for therapeutic purposes are currently unregulated

by the Food and Drug Administration, and in most states there are no restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors,” the study said. “Use of e-cigarettes has increased among U.S. adult current and former smokers in recent years.” The study also showed that e-cigarette use doubled from 2011 to 2012 among U.S. middle and high school students, resulting in an estimated 1.78 million students who had used e-cigarettes as of 2012. Of these students, an estimated 160,000 students reported never using conventional cigarettes. “This is a serious concern because the overall impact of e-cigarette use on public health remains uncertain,” the study said. “In youths, concerns include the potential negative impact of nicotine on adolescent brain development, as well as the risk for nicotine addiction and initiation of the use of conventional cigarettes or other tobacco products.” cigarettes, see page 2

The patent infringement lawsuit Boston University trustees filed against a number of technology companies, including Apple, Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Sony Corp., has reached a settlement, officials said. “We reached an agreement in principle,” said BU spokesman Colin Riley. “The terms are confidential, but the next step is that we ask the court to dismiss cases against the companies ... They are now licensing the use of that patent and paying for it. We’re very happy and delighted to have resolved this through an agreement.” The complaints, which were filed throughout 2013, stipulated that 25 technology-based companies, including other big names such as LG Electronics, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Amazon.com, Inc. and Samsung Group, illegally used a patent for insulating films developed in 1997 by BU electrical and computer engineering professor Theodore Moustakas. BU trustees were represented by patent law attorneys at Shore Chan and DePumpo LLP, a law firm that specializes in litigation and intellectual property licensing, Riley said. “We had the firm essentially look to determine that there was an infringement,” Riley said. “Once we had the information that was filed with the complaint, the attorneys that specialize in patent law made the case that got the attention of all the companies named in the complaint.” The patent, officially named U.S. Patent No. 5,686,738, or “Highly Insulating Monocrystalline Gallium Nitride Thin Films,” is allegedly used as a part of products that include blue LEDs, such as Apple’s iPhone 5, iPad and MacBook Air, according to the complaints. “BU certainly thinks that these companies were infringing, and BU certainly had its evidence that a technology that was developed by Moustakas was being used by a lot of LED manufacturers,” said BU School of Law professor Michael Meurer, who specializes in patents. “BU apparently had a good argument.” Reaching a settlement before delving deep into a case is a common resolu-

Patent, see page 2

Gov. Patrick allocates $50 million toward climate change resistance efforts By Kelsey Newell Daily Free Press Staff

PHOTO BY TAYLOR NEALAND/GOVERNOR’S OFFICE

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick announced Tuesday he will commit $50 million to help communities prepare for the increasing number of storms to come that are blamed on climate change.

In hopes of making Massachusetts more resilient to climate change and weather disasters, Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick announced Tuesday the allocation of $50 million to programs focused on energy resources. Within this $50 million, $40 million will go to a program focused on energy efficiency and resiliency throughout the state through the Department of Energy Resources, for cities and towns to harden their energy resources. “[The goal is] if there’s a storm and it knocks out the power in a community for any length of time that necessary emergency services can continue,” said Mary-Leah Assad, spokesperson for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. “[Also] to make sure that those places operate using renewable energy during storms meaning they operate off the normal electricity grid.” The other $10 million will focus on coastal infrastructure projects, making them more irrepressible to flooding and improving inland

dams to mitigate flooding impact during storms. “We have a generational responsibility to address the multiple threats of climate change,” Patrick said in a Tuesday release. “Massachusetts needs to be ready, and our plan will make sure that we are.” All departments of the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs will be working together to cover all aspects of the state, assessing which vulnerabilities need to be improved upon. An extra $2 million will fund this research. “The Department of Transportation will look at our roads and bridges, see what kind of vulnerabilities there are there, and the Department of Public Health to work with our agency of environmental affairs to see how climate change is impacting public health whether it’s through conductor born diseases or Triple E virus,” Assad said. “It really is comprehensive and it’s across every department. We’re all working together.” Patrick has made significant strides with Massachusetts’ renewable energy, as the state

Resistance fund, see page 2


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1-16-2014 by The Daily Free Press - Issuu