Board to consider banning glass mugs at all Boston bars
UPDATE: City Council President Mike Ross says any such ban would be the wrong direction for Boston. But also see this story about how the UK is introducing shatterproof pint glasses to deal with an epidemic of "glassing" attacks.
The Boston Licensing Board next month will consider requiring bars to stop serving alcohol in glass mugs following the weekend death of a man at a Lansdowne Street bar in a freak incident involving a shard of glass from a shattered cup thrown at somebody else.
The board has already barred glass containers at two Roxbury bars with repeat violence problems - Packy Connors and the Breezeway. Licensing Board Chairman Michael Connolly said today it may make sense to have a citywide policy rather than continuing to consider the issue one bar at a time.
The Globe reported today the Lansdowne Pub agreed with a request from the city's consumer affairs and licensing board to give up glass cups at least until that board holds its own hearing next month on the death of Michael DiMaria early Saturday, whom police and prosecutors say died as a result of a fight he had nothing to do with. Hector Guardiola of South Boston is charged with manslaughter for DiMaria's death; prosecutors say he threw a glass at somebody else and when it missed and shattered, a shard hit DiMaria's neck and severed his jugular vein.
The consumer-affairs board oversees entertainment licenses in the city. Connolly said his board, which oversees liquor and food-serving licenses, will hold its own hearing. A date has yet to be set, but it will likely be Sept. 14 or Sept. 21, he said.
Comments
This would put a lot of
This would put a lot of dishwashers out of work, and make beer taste worse.
JMFC!
You gotta be kidding me. What is wrong with people. Another case of a ninny-minded nanny-state bureaucrat in MUST CONTROL USING SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE CONTROL WITHOUT VALIDATION OF WHETHER OR NOT IT WILL BE EFFECTIVE JUST TO LOOK IN CONTROL mode.
They haven't actually done it yet
So let's douse the torches and put down the pitchforks, at least until next month.
Context: After their hearings today, I went up and asked Connolly about the Lansdowne Pub and its agreeing to use only plastic containers at least until after that other city licensing board holds a hearing next month. It's not like he read a prepared statement or anything.
adam, i take it you were at
adam, i take it you were at the hearing today? any idea where (if) we can see notes or minutes from the hearing? (my google fu failed)
also it's confusing which board would actually decide the issue of banning glassware, do you have any insight?
thanks!
Couple of answers
Yes, I was there. The board tapes all their meetings, but I don't know what they do with those, and I don't know if somebody takes notes, since I've never had to ask to hear or see them (at the very least, somebody does note the outcome of hearings, since you can call later in the day to find out how the board voted on the day's hearings). For what it's worth, there were three people up front today - Connolly, fellow board member Suzanne Ianella and Jean Lorizio, the board's lawyer.
In any case, as I mentioned above, Connolly's comments did not come during a hearing, so they wouldn't be on tape: After they were done with their scheduled hearings, I went up and asked him about it (Ianella heard what I was asking, didn't seem interested and so left). I could post a copy of my scribblings, but I'm afraid they would be illegible.
I'm not a lawyer, and I find the fact the city has two licensing boards for the same kinds of places kind of bizarre, but if I had to guess, I'd guess it's the Licensing Board, as opposed to Consumer Affairs, that could ban glassware, because it has to do with the service of alcohol, which is their purview, and because they've actually already done it before, albeit with specific license holders (the Breezeway and Packy Connors), rather than citywide.
thanks for the context
given the fairly inflammatory comment, i was kind of hoping to find a record of it somewhere (other than here) and clicking through all the links came up empty. i guess it wasn't clear that he mentioned this after the hearing itself, but maybe i'm just dense this pm.
sorry to keep pestering you, but do the licensing boards publish agendas for upcoming hearings? if this is going to be an issue seriously considered, i'm sure plenty of people would like to show up and voice their concern...
Agendas
Their hearing notices show up in the city calendar, usually about a week before the hearings. This would probably come up on a Tuesday, when they hold hearings on violations (as opposed to Wednesdays, when they hold hearings on requests for new licenses). This specific incident will likely be on either Sept. 14 or 21 (tip for navigating the calendar: On the left, click Select None under Type of Event, then check just Meeting/Hearing).
sorry, one more Q
just to clarify: did Connolly mean "a city wide policy governing glass containers at bars with repeat violence problems" or "a city wide policy prohibiting glass containers in all bars"?
given how absurd the latter is, i'm just playing devil's advocate...
I got the impression ...
What I got was he was talking about considering a citywide ban on glassware, period. With an emphasis on the "consider" part. He wasn't Chicken Littling, pounding his fist on the table or anything like that, but saying that given what happened over the weekend (and he couldn't say much specific about that, since he'll be holding a hearing on it), coupled with the previous incidents at those other two bars, it would make sense to look at a citywide ban, rather than continuing to only handle the situation as it comes up.
Had I known then about the whole UK thing, I might have asked him some more questions (I had no idea the issue is so bad there they have a name for it: Glassing).
The most retarded thing I've
The most retarded thing I've ever heard, and I've stumbled around the block a few times.
Fortunately, it'll never happen. But the fact it's being talked about ... ugh.
By this logic we should
By this logic we should probably ban stainless steel knives, as well. You know, just to be safe.
Don't stop there
if he threw a chair, would we ban all seating in bars????
accidently hit him over the head with a cocktail waitress
ban cocktail waitresses
Customers consuming alcohol
Customers consuming alcohol are the cause of widespread violence at Boston bars and clubs. Ban customers or alcohol.
oh oh
I'm afraid of what's going to happen if someone gets stabbed with a metal fork or a knife in a restaurant.
Ban heat!
People get burned in kitchens all the time. I think the licensing board should ban heat in restaurant kitchens.
but,but,but!!!
If we can save ONE life people!! Think of the children!
Oh, for the love of fuck
Uh, why not ban beer in bars? I'm guessing most altercations in bars are beer-fueled.
Or why not start an education system and a criminal justice system and a healthcare system so that most people with impulse control problems will get help and then the city won't be swarming with people throwing shit and we won't have hundreds of people dying daily from getting shit thrown at them? Oh wait...
no ban people!
shards of glass don't kill people, people kill people
and while we're at it
we really should get rid of knives and forks at restaurants
when i think about it
not everyone knows the Heimlich maneuver so we might consider banning food in restaurants.
Nah, just do what NYC did
Require all restaurants to put up Heimlich posters.
that, or
require all wait staff to be certified in the Heimlich
The only reasonable conclusion...
I don't think we are able to cope with all the physical dangers restaurants and bars pose to the People of Boston. From now on, all food eating will be done in the home. No more restaurants and bars. These senseless tragedies end NOW!
not enough!
There needs to be a ban on bans!
OWW!!!
I just got a paper cut from this damned Heimlich poster!
require all patrons
to wear protective gloves
Mandatory Helmet Law
Require all bar patrons to wear helmets. It is the only sensible thing! They will be protected from single-drinker accidents and barstool falls, too!
no more half measures !!
solution
And don't forget, people
And don't forget, people cannot be killed if they are banned. So, a ban on people means no one will ever die! Hooray.
America! Fuck Yeah!
-If you [promised that you'll never die], I would make love to you right now!
-I promise I'll never die.
and we all thought Polaski gone = sanity
I can't wait until there's a curtain barrier in the middle of every bar in Boston, separating the genders lest we be led to temptation or distracted from our beer swilling.
Oh yes!
How many bar fights started when some overcontrolling prick got worked up because some guy might have looked at "his" "girl"?
We'll have to ban women entirely to stop that.
Men are passe
The new trend seems to be all-out brawls among women. There was one set of hearings I went to a few months back where all but one of the hearings involved girl-on-girl action.
since when are female bar brawls "girl-on-girl action"
;-P
No no, that's what the curtain is for
Some Guy can't get worked up because Other Guy can't see His Girl. Plus, it'll kill sexual harassment, cut STD transmission rates, children born out of wedlock, etc.
On the serious side: the fact that the guy who threw the glass is getting charged with manslaughter should be pretty, uh, sobering. Why not just come out with a PSA TV ad and some posters that reinforce that / remind people that even if you didn't "mean" it, you're still gonna go to jail for a couple of years if your actions cause a death?
Drunken Frat Boy is gonna think twice about lobbing that beer glass after he and his friends hear about the other guy rotting in jail for killing someone.
That is, after all, how our country is supposed to work: you behave because you know if you don't, you'll be punished. We don't just hand everyone solo cups- bar fights if anything will get worse, because people will feel free to lob the solo cups (and their contents) at each other.
Not to mention the environmental impact of forcing bars to use plastic cups has got to be incredible.
Every bar should have a mechitza?
hee
That's exactly what I was picturing :) My ass is fully gentile, however, so I don't know what the justification for it was...kinda made that part up.
This is correct!
Also, with all the dangers of broken glass now readily apparent to us all, I think we can all band together and demand that the city outlaw Jewish weddings. We cannot tolerate a tradition where people willfully put themselves and their guests in immediate harm just because of some silly tradition.
Of course, if we do away with Jewish marriages, to be fair, we'll have to end the tradition of marriage altogether. Unconscionable not to take action now.
The beer geeks will not be
The beer geeks will not be pleased
For all those who are
For all those who are thinking plastic cups... there are plenty of plastic beer mugs around. Stop complaining and whining. This may have been a freak accident, but people shatter mugs and glasses all the time in bar fights. People get hurt all the time. Its about time they do something about it.
My sympathies are extended to the DiMaria Family for their loss.
Not a cups or mugs discussion
Plastic is the problem.
Moreover, it isn't even plastic that is the problem. The problem is infantilization and grandstanding and "taking action" that isn't supported by facts, logic, or reason let alone evidence of efficacy. I would like to see some data/evidence that banning glassware in bars will make any difference compared to, well, not serving drunks and chucking out people when they get out of line?
What happened to Mr. DiMaria is very sad, and I feel bad for his family. Absurd unfounded grandstanding by licensing boards and politicians does nothing for his memory or for reducing risks to the public.
troll alert, troll
troll alert, troll alert.
2/10 sir.
ban cars
People get killed by drunk drivers all the time. We should ban cars not made of Nerf-like material.
We should ban people from
We should ban people from walking the street.
Seriously, which fuckhead board member thought up this brilliant plan? Because they should be fired, pronto.
What's that saying?
You can ban all the stuff you want, but someone will still twirl around in their front yard until they're dizzy and pass out just to see Jesus.
The glass cup was not the issue here. It's also not like there's a rash of glass cups being thrown in bars. It's also not like anyone else has died due to being cut by glass of any kind in a bar lately.
This is just reactionary bullshit to look like something's "being done" to make sure this "never happens again". It's ENDEMIC of our dear leaders' thought processes these days. They all think that you can NEVER go wrong by "making the world more safe" and so we ratchet everything up another notch. You're a better "protector" of society if you clamp down on yet another aspect of life that has "proven" to be deadly or dangerous or...hell, we're running out of prevalent, deadly and dangerous, let's crack down on random and slightly harmful.
Even calling this meeting is a WASTE of everyone's time and money.
Deval Patrick had better get a rein on his new Boston Licensing Board lead lackey before this really bites him in the ass. Remember, it's the GOVERNOR who in this backwards-as-fuck system runs the *city's* licensing board. I'm not voting for his opponents for numerous reasons, but I sure as hell am not going to vote for Deval if this is what his administration of my city thinks is a priority.
I can't imagine...
...drinking certain beers out of anything other than a pint glass.
The are plenty of bar flies here, both in politics and among the voting constituency, so I have a feeling this idea wont get very far in city hall.
But...But...What about the children?
Think of the children!
(Could always get douches out of the bars - oh wait, that just leaves a few folks left, most of whom are probably the designated drives racking up that bar tab full of selzer...)
hey people
we all know this is ridiculous, but dont just yell into the chasm that is the internet...does anybody know or have a link with contact info for this licensing board so we can inundate them with emails or show up at the hearing and voice our displeaseure?????????????
lets go...
City Council president: Let's not overreact
Statement just in from Mike Ross:
Perhaps we should consider
Perhaps we should consider banning dumbocrats from city government. Can you imagine the snark from the leftists if this kind of idiocy was put forward by the quitter gov. of Alaska?
We need to ban bad
We need to ban bad politicians, both sides, Ms Palin included.
Reactionary politics, of any kind of ideology, is the worst kind possible. Be it bitching about a mosque in NYC, or banning glass cups in Boston because of a freak fight.
Not here but...
While I don't think this is a serious problem or "epidemic" around here, it is quite a serious problem in the UK. I guess there are a good deal of pub fights there that end tragically (serious injury, sometimes death) due to patrons using pint glasses and mugs as weapons. There seems to be over 5,500 glass pint and bottle-related attacks per year in England and Wales. The solution? Shatterless plastic cups, according to the linked article. There was a push for all bars to use these plastic cups in the UK to stem injuries from fights (guess they'll just have to use the good old fist to the face instead!). Not sure if this ever came to fruition across the pond, but I surely would not be pleased with it happening here.
87,000 attacks a year!
Associated Press did a followup in February about new shatterproof pint glasses introduced by the British government:
I've changed my mind
This ban would probably go into place at just the right time to save a lot of people from broken glass in the bars around town.
After watching the Sox play last night, I want to shatter a glass and run a shard from it across my own jugular. I can't even imagine how they'll disappoint halfway through September.
I was all ready to check mark off that game going into the 6th inning. We had it in our pocket...and then let it slip away.
Pens and Plastic Bags
We better ban them, too.