But Feaster’s ouster from the board has done little to stop La Rosa from building his projects or stop the ZBA from approving them.

Monday neighborhood activists from across the city gathered in front a poster board displaying plans for a pair of triple deckers La Rosa is currently building on St. James Street.

While the plans show an elegant three-story buildings with double hung windows, one foot-high foundations and tidy front steps, the actual buildings have inexpensive replacement windows, a three-foot exposed foundation and a massive retaining wall facing the sidewalk.

La Rosa’s attorney may have left the ZBA, but, according to neighborhood activists, the ZBA hasn’t left La Rosa.

“I’m very happy Joe Feaster is no longer on the ZBA,” said Dorchester resident Davida Andelman. “But can you believe that other members of the board said they had no knowledge of the relationship between Joe Feaster and Joe La Rosa? Do they think we’re stupid?”

The neighborhood activists at Monday’s press conference came from West Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and the Fenway to demand the city take action against La Rosa and the boards and commissions that have given him a free pass to build in their neighborhoods.

City councilors Chuck Turner and Maura Hennigan attended the press conference as did state Rep. Gloria Fox, who recounted how La Rosa’s Monroe Street project upset residents of that neighborhood.

“All of the neighborhoods have come together to say enough is enough,” she said.

As Fox and other neighborhood activists spoke, carpenters were nailing particle board to the frame of La Rosa’s two triple deckers. David Lopes, president of the Wellington Hill Neighborhood Association and a professional in the building trades, said the two houses are typical of La Rosa’s work.

“He puts the least amount of dollars in terms of quality materials and sells his houses for the highest possible prices,” Lopes commented.

Lopes said Wellington Hill residents fought La Rosa on a number of projects that they said respected neither the zoning codes in Mattapan nor the concerns of the abutters.

La Rosa is a private developer building on privately-owned lots. Because the lots he buys are often too small for building under current city building codes, he often has to obtain variances from the ZBA. While neighborhood residents often have the opportunity to weigh in on projects at ZBA hearings, the St. James Street residents said they were never mailed notices about the hearings for La Rosa’s project.

Even when neighborhood residents attend La Rosa’s ZBA hearings, their vocal opposition to his projects has done little to sway the board against him. Lopes said La Rosa’s projects are often built without adequate set-backs from the street, with no consistency with the heights or designs of other buildings in the neighborhoods and with concrete steps rather than front porches.

The result, according to Lopes, are poor-quality homes that go against the existing fabric of a neighborhood. And the reason, according to Roxbury Neighborhood Council Chairman Bob Terrell, is a culture of lawlessness on the city’s boards and commissions.

“How is it that Mr. La Rosa consistently gets building permits?” Terrell questioned.

Terrell called on Mayor Thomas Menino to meet with the neighborhood council about the skirting of various zoning code violations and to put a moratorium on new building permits for La Rosa.

“We need the mayor’s help on this,” Terrell said. “He is the one person in city government who can shut this crap down.”

Fenway resident Shirley Kressel, who heads the Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods, said that La Rosa is one of many developers who have been able to pass projects through the ZBA.

“Developers routinely walk into the BRA with proposals for towers that are twice height limit for the neighborhood,” she commented, citing the Kensington Place development proposal, which is calling for a 300-foot tower in Chinatown, where the neighborhood’s master plan calls for a limit of 150 feet. The project also calls for the demolition of the historic Gaiety Theatre, another violation of the city’s codes, according to Kressel.

“We’re afraid that the Inspectional Services Division will be forced by the mayor to issue the demolition permit,” she said. “We believe that this would not be possible were it not for a culture of lawlessness at City Hall. We need a system of laws, not a system of back-door negotiations.”

Calling the Monday morning press conference the “beginning of a campaign to drive La Rosa from the city,” City Councilor Chuck Turner said he would call for a council hearing on the lack of enforcement of zoning codes.

“We need to work together to make sure [La Rosa] does not continue to build in the city of Boston,” Turner commented.