A Model from Quincy?

Although it has far fewer problems with disorderly houses that Bridgewater does, the city of Quincy has been proactive in passing an ordnance that allows for penalties against owners of houses that disrupt their communities. As described in the Globe article Quincy Gets Tough, the ordnance enables the city to place police details at homes that generate repeated police calls, even if arrests are not made. The penalty is in the form of billing for the cost of those police details.

The Quincy ordnance applies both to landlords and to owner-occupiers of problematic properties. In Bridgewater, perhaps some variation on this plan could be used to penalize those landlords who extract hefty rents -- mainly from students -- and leave the neighbors to pay the price in terms of noise, trash, health effects, and lower property values.