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Mayor shakes up licensing board
By adamg on Wed, 12/03/2014 - 4:01pm
Marty Walsh, the first Boston mayor in decades with the authority to appoint his own officials to oversee liquor and food licenses, today replaced all three of the Boston Licensing Board members who had been appointed by Gov. Patrick.
In are Christine Pulgini of Hyde Park, currently a lawyer in private practice specializing in employment issues; Lisa Maki of South Boston, who has worked in the city's law department since 2010 and is an adjunct professor at Suffolk Law; and Keeana Serene Saxon of Roxbury, currently deputy general counsel for the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.
Out are Nicole Murati Ferrer, who had chaired the board, Milton Wright and Suzanne Ianella. Ferrer "will transition to a different role" at City Hall, mayoral spokesperson Kate Norton said. Wright and Ianella, the board's longest serving members, "are no longer employed the City of Boston," Norton said, declining to say whether they jumped voluntarily or were pushed.
"The changes we’ve made to the City’s Licensing Board and our approach to licensing across the City presents a fresh opportunity to support economic development across our neighborhoods," Walsh said in a statement.
Walsh gained the power to appoint members of the board earlier this year, as part of legislation giving Boston 75 new liquor licenses over the next three years for areas away from Boston Proper and the waterfront.
In addition to granting liquor and food-serving licenses - and meting out punishments for violators of city and state codes - the board also licenses rooming houses, fraternities, dormitories, bowling alleys and, naturally, pool tables and fortune tellers.
The city still has a separate licensing agency - the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing - which oversees licenses for entertainment in bars and concerts at venues and sets restrictions on such things as dancing. Norton said the two will remain separate because "their scope is completely different," although the two bodies typically hold hearings on identical violations at bars and venues that serve liquor.
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Comments
fortune tellers?
Really?!
Most certainly
The hearings on new license requests are always a letdown, because applicants just get asked about whether they're going to put up a sign with their prices and not use neon, instead of being asked to make predictions. Maybe the new board members will finally up the ante.
Now, the disciplinary hearings for fortune tellers, while rare, can be something else altogether.
Whatever happened to Ms. Tini?
Did the state at least get after her for taking her sister-in-law's driving license exam for her?
YES!
Hopefully, this will be the end of condescending attitudes towards the bar community and a general Peter Pan understanding of the role of police officers and police intervention in bar activities. See you in hell, Ferrer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaG2Acg8n60
Yeah!!!
Last thing this town needs is some bureaucratic bitch cracking down on all those poor misunderstood bouncers who like to use deadly force when two patrons get a little too loud when singing the theme from "Laverne and Shirley" in a drunken stupor on Trivia Night, eh, Will?
Stick to driving
You know nothing of the industry I've worked in for the last decade. This woman went out of her way to berate bar managers and owners for not calling cops, either blissfully unaware or fully aware that ANY police intervention at an alcohol-serving establishment automatically leads to the bar being written up for a violation, no matter who's at fault or who called them.
Yes, God forbid she do her job keeping bar owners in line...
And you'll forgive me if I shed the smallest tear ever for bar owners in this town, who I've been dealing with since before the better part of you was still dripping down your old man's leg like maple syrup, sonny.
LOL
so many visuals.... so many visuals....so many visuals...
(but a good one, dvdoff!)
Norton said the two will
Can I lodge a petition to the website overlord (DBA adamg) to get some sort of banging-head-on-desk emoticon added as an option along with the other comment formatting options? I feel like it would save the commenting community a lot of time when responding to comments like the one quoted above.
How about face palm?
(－_ლ)
Will the comedic stylings of Mr. Colbert do?
Wow ! He's really cleaning
Wow ! He's really cleaning house.....
Who's next
-The Meter maid's
-Animal Control personel
-Health inspector's
-Boston Sewer worker's
-Boston Parks Dept workers
-Boston Public works
-Librarians
CAN'T BE A HACK FOREVER !!!
Sure you can...
If you're the right hack. Take Ms. Ferrer, she's removed from her governor-appointed position, but will "will transition to a different role at City Hall".
Can't keep a good hack down.
Well ...
She came out of the city law department (same as one of the new board members), so it's not like she doesn't have some skills that might prove useful inside City Hall.
Not really
The Board is well rid of her. In my few dealings with the Board she was completely over her head, and I don't say that lightly, I've been working around govt for a long time. I have zero connections to bars, so am not familiar with Will's complaints. But smart she is not.
She must be pretty connected to have gotten the first job, then a gubernatorial appointment, then be kept on with the city. Esp with Walsh trying to clear space in city hall for his friends. It would be interesting to know, if anyone does.
You neglected
The apostrophe inspector's.
City Messenger? City Stenographer?
a) City Messenger?...
An Office that could be updated with new, more open technologies and software.
b) City Stenographer?...
Better, more open technologies and software are used by other stenographic services!
Wait...
Your abuse of apostrophes aside, why on earth is "librarian's" (sic) on this list? I can maybe get behind the other ones, but librarians? Like, the actual degree-holding librarians, not the circulation desk folks? My family and I have found them to be nothing but amazing and helpful. And their salaries are surprisingly low for being City of Boston employees.
17F Orders !
>"17F Information Request - Executive Orders re: Compensation: The City Charter's 17F provision authorizes the Council to request from the Mayor "specific information on any municipal matter within its jurisdiction" and for the Mayor or a representative to appear in a week to answer these questions. Councilor Murphy filed a 17F information request for the list of all Executive Orders in effect related to expenditures, including compensation and salaries. This came out of a public hearing on the Boston Public Library President's compensation, which revealed that she received not only the amount authorized in the budget under the "Salary" line item, but additional bonuses allocated out of the "Other" line-item through Executive Orders. We voted to suspend and pass Councilor Murphy's 17F information request to receive the list in one week. Councilor Yancey noted that there were other outstanding 17F requests previously filed (e.g. list of all non-bid contract vendors, list of all active employees by demographics and department, the list of all Boards/Commissions/Authorities for the City, etc.) which had not been answered, and requested action on these as well."
--Councilor Michelle Wu. Boston City Council meeting notes - Dec. 3rd
https://www.facebook.com/michelleforboston
Lose your blues
To this I say:
From the oldest of times, people danced for a number of reasons. They danced in prayer... or so that their crops would be plentiful... or so their hunt would be good. And they danced to stay physically fit... and show their community spirit. And they danced to celebrate. And that is the dancing we're talking about. Aren't we told in Psalm 149 "Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Let them praise His name in the dance"? And it was King David - King David, who we read about in Samuel - and what did David do? What did David do? What did David do? David danced before the Lord with all his might... leaping and dancing before the Lord. Leaping and dancing. Ecclesiastes assures us... that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to laugh... and a time to weep. A time to mourn... and there is a time to dance. And there was a time for this law, but not anymore. See, this is our time to dance. It is our way of celebrating life. It's the way it was in the beginning. It's the way it's always been. It's the way it should be now.
Do you know why strict Baptists oppose pre-marital sex?
Because it might lead to drinking and dancing!
Footloose
I know I chuckled when I saw this. I was like, is it 1984 again and I'm watching Footloose (sorry folks the reboot doesn't exist to me, cuz no one can move like Kevin Bacon did!)
But seriously, I think its a hold over from the purtian age. I think the minute you allow dancing, the business type changes. It's no longer a bar, and is considered a 'ballroom' or 'cabaret' (I THINK) and you need a different license for that.
I'm glad
Someone else caught that and thought of the same pop culture reference.
This city's archaic laws never cease to amaze me. I can't decide if Boston is the most progressively conservative city I know, or the most conservatively progressive.
Neither
Boston's not progressive at all, really. It's mostly hot air.
Call Tito Jackson
HOLD ON! Before we let this person sit on the board I want to see the President of Suffolk University testify before the city council to explain what steps they've taken to employ Boston residents and promote diversity.
yeah
Why have 5 of the last six board members been women? I want me some licensing diversity. Who licenses these people anyway. If they have no license to be licensers, how do we know they are qualified?
Away from Boston proper?
Walsh gained the power to appoint members of the board earlier this year, as part of legislation giving Boston 75 new liquor licenses over the next three years for areas away from Boston Proper and the waterfront.
Where is "away from Boston proper"? Does this refer to outlying neighborhoods, or anywhere outside of downtown, or what? Does the state still control new licenses in BP and the waterfront?
Sorry for speaking in code
Until Oct. 1, most liquor licenses could be used anywhere in the city. With the total number capped in a booming city, though, that meant the prices on the open market soared and national chains or big local operators began buying licenses from places in outer neighborhoods for chi-chi spots on the water and the like.
The legislation that is giving Boston 75 new licenses specified they could only be awarded in certain neighborhoods (Dorchester, Roxbury or Mattapan) or in the city's 20 "Main Street" districts (such as Roslindale Square). And unlike existing licenses, they cannot be sold outside of whatever neighborhood or district they're granted in.
The idea is to encourage restaurant entrepreneurs in these neighborhoods
who cannot afford $300k or more on the open market for a liquor license.
Thanks for clarifying!
Especially gratifying to learn that the granted licenses will stay in the neighborhoods.
Agree
I always thought it was weird to have a chain buy up a license in say Allston to open a place serving liquor at Logan airport.
This is a great start
This is a great start, but the whole idea of using artificial scarcity to make a liquor license into a valuable item that can be sold (thereby raising the cost of opening a restaurant/bar by $300,000 for no benefit to anybody) is insane. It's as bad as taxi medallions.
Was Susanne the last Ianella
Was Susanne the last Ianella on the city teat, or are there still more family parasites dug deep in the body politic?
Governor's Council
Christopher Ianella is a Governor's Councilor. Richard resigned as register of probate a couple of years ago.