Word: rothmans
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Jerry Lane, a 47-year old Central Square resident, has his own theory about the decline of the Square. Lane is the president of the Rothman's Tenant Unit, a tenants' rights organization organized solely for occupants of rent-controlled buildings owned by George Rothman, who Lane jokingly calls both "Mr. Central Square" and "a snake." According to Lane, Rothman "is a powerful man who can do almost anything" and has, Lane says, impeded the drive for tenants' rights in his buildings through his influence peddling...
Lane says that among his group's efforts now is an initiative to attract more fast food restaurants to the already-glutted Square ("What the hell!!") and to cover Central's Shawmut Bank branch--which he says Rothman's money controls--with human excrement...
Among the most gratifying occasions Lane can recall is the time when he "squeezed Rothman's jaw just after he had had a tooth pulled," shortly after, he says, Rothman attempted to "chop down the walls of an elderly tenant who was unable to pay her rent...
...George Rothman understands that a lot of Lane's criticisms are all in good fun. "Jerry is a rational guy; he takes everything in its own context," he says. Rothman, who has owned property in Central Square for 30 years, currently receives rent from "about 200 units in several buildings...
...Rothman says he screens tenants "very closely" for desirability before they move into his apartments, and unlike other landlords, he has made an attempt to renovate a large number of his rent-controlled units...