The Boston Globe - 06.08.2019

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2019 The Boston Globe Nation/Region A

$38 billion in annualrevenue,
according to SpareFoot, a com-
pany that tracks the self-stor-
age industry.
Nearly one out of 10 Ameri-
can householdsrents a storage
unit, and withbetween 45,00 0
and 52,000 self-storage facili-
ties in the United States, and
1.7 billionsquarefeet of rent-
able space,according to Spare-
Foot, is it any surprise there
are at least two podcasts devot-
ed to the self-storage trade?
(Sample episodefrom“Sounds
of Storage”: How to market to
millennials.)
The average priceMassa-
chusetts consumerspaidfor a
storage unit in 2017was $105,
according to SpareFoot. But
you can pay a lot more— as
muchas $956a monthfor a
15-by-18-footuniton North
BeaconStreet, accordingto a
current listing, althoughit is
heated and on the first floor.
People regularlyspend
thousandsof dollars a year to
store things they don’t want
but can’t bring themselves to
throw out, said a Boston pro-
fessional organizer, Cori Bam-
burg,founderof Ditchthe
Clutter.
“The storage unit becomes a
tombof things you don’t know
what else to do with,” she said.
Withtheir security cameras
and hallways of seemingly end-
less locked doors, storage facil-
ities throw off a prison vibe,
but behind some of those doors
lies hope,saidKathy Vines,
founderof Clever Girl Organiz-

uSELF-STORAGE
ContinuedfromPageA

ing on the North Shore.

She’s worked with clients

strugglingwithinfertility, and

for them, selling or donating

an inheritedcrib or toys may

mean letting go of a dream.

“Renting a unit lets them

live withouthaving to face the

reality that what they envi-

sionedfor theirfamilylife may

not happen,” she said.

Who rents space? The better

question is who doesn’t. Crimi-

nalsdo, per every TV crime

showever made and also per

real-worldnews headlines.So

do peoplebetween moves,or

renovating, or staginga home

for sale.And people withga-

rages alreadyburstingwith

junk,or no roomto keep holi-

day decorations or skis.Well,

those are the clients the stor-

age facilitiesplay up on their

websites, at least.

No onein the industry

openlyboasts aboutwhat

mightbe called “guilt renting,”

but with babyboomers down-

sizing, and kids not interested

in theirbrownfurniture,it’s

definitely a category.

Natalie Ahern,founder of

All the RightMoves, a senior

downsizing and relocation firm

in Hingham, recalled a client

who had movedher motherto

a memory care unit and

promptly became responsible

for storingher mother’s be-

longings, a job she didn’t want

but tookon becauseher sib-

lings were unwilling.

“Shewas the caregiver not

only for her mom,” Ahernsaid,

“but alsofor her mother’s

things.”

If we couldtruly buy our-

selves out of the guilt, self-stor-

age debt might be worth it. But

as RheaBecker, founder of the

Clutter Queen,noted, “The

thing aboutclutter is that it

weighson you even if you’re

not around it.”

Becker and otherpersonal

organizersare regularlyhired

by clients to accompany them

to their storage unitswhen

they wanthelp culling, a move

that typicallysignalsthe end is

near.

“Peopleget to a pointin

their lives where they are men-

tally donewiththeirstorage,”

Becker said.

Jacqueline Davis, a parale-

gal in Braintree, is there — so

there — right now.

Whenher mother-in-law

died, in 2013, none of the adult

children wantedher furniture,

but they figured the grandkids

mightuse it whenthey got old

enough for their ownapart-

ments.

Into storage it went. Today,

six years — and some$14,

later, made in automatic

monthly payments Davis bare-

ly noticed— the grandkids

have theirown places, but not

grandma’s stuff. “They wanted

new things,” said Davis.

“If I had it to do over again,”

she added, “I’d be like, ‘Dump

it.’ ”

In Rockport, Vivienne

Steinbock is also ready to move

on.

She has beenspending sev-

eral hundred dollars a month

to store her parents’ furniture,

china, decorations, and other

household items, since 2015,

when her widowedmother

moved out of the house in

Mansfield.

Unready to let go, Steinbock

foundpaying easier thangoing

to the industrialunitin Fox-

borough,withits roll down

metal doorand bare bulb, and

sifting through the physical re-

mains of her parents’ life to-

gether.

But her mother recently

died, and the monthly rent had

hit $450,and it was time to

summon the next generation to

the storage unit. “If some of my

mother’s grandchildren and

great grandchildren want

things,” she said,“that would

make me feel much better.”

And if they tookthembe-

cause they felt obligated and

stored them?she was asked.

“That would be OK,” she

said.“Oncethey have themI

can psychologicallycut them

loose.”

Andso the cycle begins

again.

Beth Teitell canbe reached at

[email protected]. Follow

her on Twitter @bethteitell.

Out of sight, out of cluttered mind: Our embrace of self-storage

ByEric Tucker
ASSOCIATEDPRESS
WASHINGTON— Diane Fo-
ley learned of her son’s fate not
from any government official
but froma sobbing journalist
whoasked if she’d been on
Twitter.
Foley had not, but the ghast-
ly images weren’t hardto find.
President Obamasooncon-
firmed the news to the world:
JamesFoley, a 40-year-old
Americanjournalist kidnapped
in Syria two years earlier, was
the American beheaded by Is-
lamic State militants in a video
circulating online.
For many in the United
States, the August 2014 video
broughthome the extent of the
IslamicState’s violence and
brutality. For Diane Foley, it
was a galvanizingmoment, em-
blematic of the helplessness
she felt duringher son’s captivi-
ty and the lack of urgency she
sensed fromAmericanofficials
tasked withhelpingher. The
New Hampshire woman chan-
neledher grief into action,be-
comingan unofficial ambassa-
dor for hostages and theirloved
ones and helping reshape the
USgovernmentresponsewhen
Americans are capturedby ter-
rorists and kidnappers across
the globe.
‘‘I wouldn’t be doingthis
work had everything remained
the way it was,’’ said Foley, who

retiredfromnursing after her

son’s capture.Thoughshe al-

ways thought of doingsome-

thingmoreglobal, ‘‘I didn’t ex-

pect or ever want to do it in this

way.’’

In the five years since her

son’s murder, Foley and the

foundation she formedin her

son’s namehave successfully

pushed the US governmentto

overhaul the hostage rescue

process, advocated legislation

to punishkidnappers, and

pressed for additional attention

for thousands of Americans de-

tained unlawfully. Throughre-

searchand publicstatements,

she’s also challenged the con-

ventional wisdomthat negoti-

ating withcaptors and making

concessions to them are inher-

entlycounterproductive.

‘‘There was no structure or

no accountability to bring

Americans homeat that point,’’

Foley saidin an interview,

‘‘and how I wished our govern-

ment had been honest with me

that they really didn’t know

how, if possible, they could

bring him home. I really wish

they had been morehonest.’’

The goal is to prevent other

families from experiencing the

fragmented,ineffective govern-

ment responseshe says she en-

dured, when multiple officials

and agencies worked the case

without anyone being singular-

ly responsible for getting him

homeand warned her and oth-

er hostage families of potential

prosecutionif they paidran-

som to kidnappers.

The most meaningful

change was a 2015Obamaad-

ministration directivethat

promptedan FBI-led fusion

cell to workfull timeon hos-

tage casesand a State Depart-

ment special envoy to handle

diplomatic negotiations.

A June survey sponsoredby

Foley’s foundation said hostage

familiesreport significantly

morehelpfulgovernment in-

teractionsthan beforethat

overhaul but still wantmore

communication.

The fusioncell structure re-

mainsintact underPresident

Trump, whom Foley praisesfor

his interest in hostage issues

despitean occasionalcollision

of values with his administra-

tion.

US officialshave secured the

release of several high-profile

American hostages and foreign

governmentdetainees,though

other cases remain unresolved,

includingjournalistAustin

Tice, whoofficials believe is

alive in Syriafollowing his

2012 capture.

JamesFoley grew up in

Wolfeboro,N.H., and earneda

master’s in fine arts fromthe

University of Massachusetts

Amherst before studyingjour-

nalism at Northwestern Uni-

versity. A reporter at Boston-

based GlobalPost, he was cap-

tured for six weeks in 2011 by

pro-Qaddafiforceswhilecover-

ing Libyan unrest. He returned

home restless, thenresumed

reporting in the Middle East in

time to chronicle ISIS’s rise.

The 2012Thanksgiving hol-

iday cameand wentwith no

wordfromFoley, which his

familyfounddisquieting since

he’d always beengood at check-

ing in. Foley’s motherlearned

from his colleaguesthe next

morning that he’d beenappre-

hended by a jihadist group.

The next two yearsbrought

promising leadsbut also bouts

of inactivity and frustrating

governmentinteractions.

The first FBI officialas-

signedto the case was inexperi-

enced, Foley said. Whenshe’d

contact the State Department,

it seemed she was speakingto a

differentpersoneachtime.

And she felt out of the loop on

developments, learning of an

unsuccessful Navy SEALs res-

cue attempt — Foley and other

hostages had already beenrelo-

cated — onlyafter her son’s

death.

The captors establishedcon-

tact in the fall of 2013,making

a seriesof demands,including

for $100millioneuros.Foley

raised $1 million in pledges de-

spite White House warnings

that ransom payments could vi-

olate a law against supporting

foreignterrorist organizations.

Foley was the first of several

Western hostages killedby ISIS

that year, murders that shook

the Obama administration into

action and humbled officials

who conceded shortcomings.

‘‘The government was let-

ting the families down, letting

the hostages down. We were

not well-coordinated,’’ said Jen

Easterly, former Obamaadmin-

istration seniorcounterterror-

ism director.

The June followingFoley’s

murder, Obama announcedthe

fusioncell’s creation, saying the

governmentwas ‘‘changing

how we do business.’’ He also

softened the rhetoricon ran-

som payments, sayingthe ad-

ministration wouldnot prose-

cute families whohad made

paymentson theirown.

Journalist’s death leadsto reshapingof US hostage policy

Mother of ISIS

victimpushes for

further change

MANUELBALCE CENETA/ASSOCIATEDPRESS

DianeFoley, motherof slainjournalist JamesFoley, is nowanadvocate forhostagefamilies.

ADOBE.COM

For some,self-storageoffersa way to keepitemsthey no

longerneedbutstill treasureandcan’t get ridof.

‘Thestorage unitbecomesa tombof thingsyoudon’tknowwhat elseto dowith.’

CORI BAMBURG,founderof DitchtheClutter

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