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Walsh wants to look at letting some bars stay open until 3:30 a.m.

It's partly economics, the mayor tells WBZ: Many young'uns, of the sort powering the New Economy, want later hours for nightlife.

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Comments

Then you can take the T home so you won't drink and drive...

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n/t

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I suspect it'll be a little rough in the beginning, with transit, police and poorly run establishments and the poorly behaved learning to handle it. I think in the long run, it'll be very good for the city.

I'm beginning to like this Walsh guy a little...

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I love the idea of things staying open later, but I hate the idea of a lot of the trouble making drinkers getting another hour and a half to drink. Then again, maybe they would be too drunk to fight if we give them more time to consume booze.

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The gist of it is that last call would be 2:30 and the bars would stay open until 3:30. That at least gives the drunks an hour to process before they get pushed out onto the street, and it allows people to leave at their own pace a little bit, which may alleviate some of the after hours sidewalk altercations that are prone to happen downtown and in allston.

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Yeah I'm sure the staff would love to work for free for an hour while everyone "sobers up" and then wait until everyone leaves at 3:30 so they can finish cleaning up. An extra half hour of tips for an extra hour and a half of work with the added bonus of getting home at 4:30 to go to sleep... sounds great.

This is a stupid idea. There won't be less fights because people are tired... that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. People will just be more drunk and probably on coke like everyone in NYC. The bars don't stand to make any more money if last call is at 2:30 so why would they do it? People are still gonna drive drunk or have to pay $30 for a cab and the posters below who think people are gonna wait until 6 to take the t are out of their minds. When you get out of the bar at 2 there are a couple places you can still grab a bite to eat but at 3:30 you're shit out of luck. The only people who stand to benefit from this are irresponsible drunks who have nothing to do during the day so they can stay out til 4 am gettinng wasted.

Honestly, why do people need to be out until 4 am? When I was in school in boston I always wanted the bars to stay open later but in retrospect it was probably a good thing they didn't. There's really no point and there is plenty of time to get drunk between 5 pm and 2 am. They should drop the Puritan bullshit altogether and let all establishments create their own hours except for bars which cut off at 4 am like New York. That would make a lot more sense than this retarded idea

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If bar A closes at 2:00am, and evicts everyone, because they cant make any sales after that hour
But bar B closes at 3:00am (after ending service at 2am), people are more likely to pick bar B, as it is a more pleasant evening experience, as it allows them to leave when they want, not when the bouncer wants.

Its like asking why a store should have A/C if its not generating direct income.

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Who wants to be in a bar where you can't get drinks? Pointless.

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Just order 4 at last call.

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Not sure if you were being serious or not but it's illegal in MA to serve multiple drinks to the same person at once.

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I am well aware of the 2 drink serving limit. Ok, go up twice and order 2 Drinks each time at last call. Also, not sure if you were being serious, but most places are not very strict with that law.

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.

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Honestly, why do people need to be out until 4 am?

Honestly, is it any of your business whether they want to or not?

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.

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In pointing out 5pm as the time that "everyone" is done with work is probably the point there. If I left my office at 5pm everyday, I would have enough time to go out and get drunk but when you are working in your office until 8 or 9 at night (or later for some people) by the time you leave the office, have dinner, its practically last call.

-sent from my office at 7:00pm on a Friday

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More vomiting on our sidewalks.. Sorry, I don't support this idea.

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Hey Walsh, instead of later hours could you maybe tackle the violence in your home neighborhood?

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Getting bars opened later, getting restaurants opened later, these are achievable goals. Laws get passed, permitting gets streamlined, things get worked out.

Now, what are the steps Walsh could be taking to end violence in Dorchester entirely and permanently that Menino, Flynn, and White didn't do and that mayors throughout the world have not tried?

A good mayor can work on several things at once. Some are relatively easy (trying to get parades organizers and their opponents to compromise) while others (ending violence amongst youths) may be difficult. Just because he is working on one thing doesn't mean he cannot work on others.

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Or maybe people are capable of doing more than one thing at a time. These binary insanities are quite annoying.

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Right, because a Mayor should only be able to address one issue at a time.

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.

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This is a complete waste of time to "look into." Just let businesses DO IT. Why must everything so simple, that dozens of major cities and millions upon millions of citizens take part in elsewhere, be dragged out?

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let's face it, 24 hour accessibility of food (and booze until 4am) is fantastic. Boston shouldn't try to be NYC, but should learn to adopt some of the things that make it world class. 24 hour food and transit and two of them.

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Will the core of the MBTA be open later as well?

Would this just make it more likely that people from outlying areas would just plan to stay all night (at a hotel or crash with friends or just stay up) instead of heading home in a big 2am rush?

Perhaps more 24-hour eateries would fill that gap ... people leave bars at 3:30, go eat, then catch the T at 6am ... sort of like our grandparents did.

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Combining later hours with food will reduce the problems we see when bars close at 2am. You can't just have a few 24 hr food establishments though, you need enough of them to absorb the crowd so there aren't long lines of punchy drunks. Later hours will also mean people are more likely to tire themselves out before they cause trouble, and reduce the problems associated with everyone hitting the streets all at one time.

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Yes, that sounds about right. Drunks will hit the streets at all hours!! What a concept!!

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Overnight service was finally cut in 1960. Before then there was hourly service on many lines. See page 6 of this. (big pdf)

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I suspect it is also illegal to operate a bicycle while under the influence.

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It is also far more difficult to ride a bike while drunk than to drive a car.

However, you can use a bike to hold you up and walk until you are sober enough to ride it.

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We are all here because we don't wish to live in NYC. Am I right?

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I'm sick of listening to all the comparisons to NY. This isn't NY, that's right there aren't enough taxis, the pizza sucks, Massholes can't park etc etc.
Go back if you want NY living.

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I mean, you don't seem to want to live in a city, with all that historically entails.

Historically, Boston had thriving night life that attracted adults from both Boston's neighborhoods and nearby cities. It died out as a result of strangling regulations and massive depopulation of a generation of young adults who moved to the suburbs post-war (Boston peaked out at over 800K people in 1950).

Now that grown adults are moving back into the city, they are interested in resurrecting that grownup night life which once thrived in Boston. It isn't new, and it isn't NYC.

The city is not, was not, and will not always be just as it was when you became aware of it - whether you were raised here or moved here.

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I'd imagine one reason to look into it would be to be certain to have the proper safeguards in place to make the move work properly. It seems simple, but do we currently have the same number of police on the streets at 3:00am that we would need if there were an added element to the equation, such as hundereds of people spillining out into the streets? Something tells me being sure to have that added presence might be something to look into. Perhaps the Police Force isn't currently staffed for such an adjustment.

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That explains a few websites.

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because they'll only be opening select bars and restaurants until 3:30 am. Only the bars with "good" reputations in the eyes of the licensing board will be considered for later close times, but when the "bad" bars close, the rowdy patrons that get the "bad" bars in trouble will flood the good bars. No operator of somewhere "good" is going to want an extra hour of business enough to risk their liquor license on the frat boys spilling out of Joshua Tree.

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might actually realize that the Licensing Board is a pointless bureauracy with no legitimate reason for existence (i.e. their "functions" could easily be absorbed by other departments) that should have been totally abolished 40 years ago.

And while I'm dreaming, I'd also like a pony - Susie Derkins

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(a) Joshua Tree is gone, didn't you get the message?
(b) bars with "good" reputations such as Deep Ellum has pursued extended hours and have not really had their scenes change drastically.

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You know you're in a World Class City when you can legally greet the dawn drunk in public.

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Got a press release from the mayor's office this afternoon:

Mayor Walsh Outlines Vision for a Global Boston

In his first address to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, Mayor Martin J. Walsh today unveiled a series of commitments to make Boston a world-class, international city. The Mayor spoke of efforts underway to recruit and retain both local and international businesses, enhance Bostonโ€™s cultural offerings, and embrace efficiency, data and innovation to spark progress.

Later bar hours were part of it, I'll try to post the entire thing later. But, gah, "world class," no, please, Mr. Mayor, just stop right there.

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We are all here in Boston because we choose to live here and not New York. Please stop trying to make Boston New York!!!

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Nobody is trying to make Boston into NYC.

People are, however, trying to make Boston a better city - and that means looking at what works in other cities.

Stop trying to make Boston into an isolated and insulated fort.

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Don't go to bed at 9:00 every night, Kitty. Try going dancing some Saturday night; you might find yourself having such a wonderful time, you'll wish the music didn't stop at 2:00!

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Always happy to read your posts.

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Years ago, cats used to dance in the streets at all hours. Sadly cat safety has gone downhill over the years. How do you think leaving the bars open another 2 hours will solve the problem?

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But don't let information and reality cloud your judgementalment.

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Obviously world class needs to be defined. So here is a definition: a metropolitan area with cultural, industrial, educational, governmental and sports institutions, and which has a historical foundation, which all are world famous.

Cultural institutions that are world famous: MFA, Gardner, ICA, Harvard Museums (all of them), BSO, several other classical music institutions including the Boston Philharmonic and yet plenty more cultural institutions within an hour drive of Boston (not least of all Peabody-Essex). Add that 2 religious denominations are based in Boston (U.U. and Christ Scientist). And let's not forget what some art historians consider the most significant bronze sculpture of the 19th C. in this country, the Mass 54th Regiment by Saint-Gaudens. Also there is the Emerald Necklace including the Arnold Arboretum.

Industrial: Vertex, Gillette (albeit Gillete is now part of Proctor-Gamble), software companies scattered around the area, TJX Companies (Marshall's, TJ Maxx, etc.). The hospital industry alone is huge.

Education: Too many to fully list but starting out with Harvard, MIT, BU, BC.

Governmental: Capital of the Commonwealth, headquarters for the regions Coast Guard, Federal District and Appellate courts. Boston also hosts the world's oldest commissioned naval ship still afloat (according to Wikipedia).

Historical: Too much to list.

Sports teams: Baseball, football (U.S. versions) and basketball teams all of which have won the highest accolades and were the top team at times in the past 10 years.

Boston is a small city. In square miles and population it is not terrible large. Its metro area (according to the Wikipedia again) is 10th largest. Yet for a city that on the baseball field might be seen as a small player it swings a pretty big bat.

My impression of Boston as a city and metro area is that until the 90s it was insular, insistent in its provincialism and in terms of self perception of Bostonians willing to accept a 2nd rate identity in order to maintain that insularity. Staying closed and small is easier and feels safer than being open to the anxiety that accompanies significant change, new ideas and a new outlook. I see the Menino period as having been one where Boston began the transformation from a small provincial city that was inwardly focused to one which can now look out to the world and, pardon the purple language, join the ranks of cities that would be considered world class. It will not happen overnight but I see the changes happening. I see an exciting future for the city and the region.

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Who's going to clean the sidewalks after our "world class drunks" make a mess???

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And move there. Please.

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Actually why don't you move there.. you will be happier out there with "Happy Hours"

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It's an extra hour and a half..... The people that are drunk messes will be such, regardless of the time the bars close.

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Until 4:00 am.

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then I want to piss all over my neighbors fence, puke on the sidewalk and be a general nuisance to those who need to get up in the morning to work. Let's keep the bars open until 5:00 am.

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Is this "demand" for later hours backed up any research, or is it an assumption that this will somehow transform Boston into a different kind of city? Boston isn't New York, it does not have 8 million people working all kinds of varied jobs with all kinds of varied hours -- I am not convinced the demand is there for bars closing at 3AM. Even in the Seaport District.

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that the locals always bring up to any plans for expanded nighttime hours for ANY business actually based on any research? Perhaps we should take a more enlightened attitude to proposals like these and actually require people who don't want such things to happen to ACTUALLY PROVE their points beforehand.

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Is this "demand" for later hours backed up any research, or is it an assumption that this will somehow transform Boston into a different kind of city? Boston isn't New York, it does not have 8 million people working all kinds of varied jobs with all kinds of varied hours -- I am not convinced the demand is there for bars closing at 3AM. Even in the Seaport District.

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The mayor is going to be "selective" in where the bars will be open til 3:30AM?

I've got the perfect place in mind.

Let's see how your own neighbors like the idea.

(I can never get images to post on here. NM. Anyway, it's a map of the street where Mayor Walsh lives. You get my point.

IMAGE(<a href="http://i.imgur.com/9mojzU2.png)">http://i.imgur.com/9mojzU2.png[/img]

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It might help your argument if you highlighted an area that actually has any bars.

Anyway, as one of the mayor's neighbors, I welcome it for the bars are that somewhat outside your area.

edit: my mistake, there actually is one entire bar within your circled area.

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IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/9mojzU2.png)

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Thanks for helping.

I still can't get it to work! (User error.)

And, regarding the circle - yes, that's the point; it's people who don't live near bars that think it's a neat idea to have bars open.

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... is that you're using a link to the image, instead of just the image address. It appears you're doing something like this:
[img]<a href="http://i.imgur.com/9mojzU2.png"> http://i.imgur.com/9mojzU2.png</a>[/img]

... instead of just doing this:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/9mojzU2.png[/img]

When you really want to link the image somewhere, add it afterwards, so that the anchor code is outside the [img] tags, like this:
<a href="http://www.universalhub.com" title="Universal Hub"> [img]http://i.imgur.com/9mojzU2.png[/img]</a>

For extra credit, you can make the link open in a new tab/window by adding the "target" parameter, like this:
<a href="http://www.universalhub.com" title="Universal Hub" target="_blank"> [img]http://i.imgur.com/9mojzU2.png[/img]</a>

( Note: I deliberately selected the "Plain text" option, so that you'd be able to see the code, but it still converted anything that looked like a URL into a link. That's not intended for these examples, so just ignore the colors and pretend it's all just plain text. )

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Just used your magic to post a turkeyzilla image here:
Callahan re-opens Monday morning; Longfellow undergoes shakerectomies

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Some of the bars in Mayor Walsh's neighborhood are already serving until 3:30, but the doors are locked and shades drawn.

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I live in the in the middle of the mess at Tremont and Stuart, and I'd be thrilled with later hours. Not because I want an extra hour for partying (i'm way to old to party with the axe-wearing set) and not because I think it would alleviate any late-night issues that we already have. I support later hours for all businesses because I'd like to see this backwater town evolve into a beautiful, modern, twenty-four-hour city.

Will a 3am closing for clubs do that? Probably not, but it's a start. Ditto for the late-night T service. It won't single-handedly turn this city into something great, but it will help. 24-hour restaurants won't make this a 24-hour city, but without them, I promise Boston will remain a hick town.

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This region has one of the oldest and most diverse economies in the country. It's done quiet well already.

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hipsters stranded on a Red Line Train at 4 A.M. looking for a bathroom. What could go wrong?

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This is what happens when a lot of transplants from newer parts of the country move to the older northeast. Apparently, people think that what is keeping Boston from being a world class city is a lack of late night venues. This area has done well for a long time and doesn't need to try to imitate other places. Boston has diverse daytime oriented economy that has served the region well for many years.

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This is such bullshit, I don't know where to start.

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If you did, you wouldn't have this bizarre notion that not having late night and 24 hour amenities has anything to do with Boston.

Perhaps you should talk to someone in their 80s and 90s about what real nightlife was like in this city before 1960. People would take hotel rooms and party all night at the clubs, sleep it off, and drive home. People would take the T and stay out all night, eating at diners after the clubs shut down, then stumbling home at dawn.

This went on from at least the 1920s until the grand suburbanization of the 1950s and 1960s sucked all the people out of the city.

It has nothing to do with just being the way Boston always has been - it is an aberration of depopulation.

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Without the MBTA fulling working for close to 24 hours a day, a monumental task, then this would create many problems.

Also, the cost of hotels and parking in Boston is far too prohibitive for most people to recreate what happened prior to the suburbanization starting in the 1950s. Perhaps you should find something else to champion about this idea other than people stumbling home at dawn.

There is little denying that today's economy of Boston is much different than the time you describe.

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The main driver of the desire to have some nightlife is the increasing presence of people aged 25 to 40 in the city.

These people want to be able to live near where they work, so they are moving back into the city. Some will leave when they start families. Some will not. Some won't ever have kids.

Demographics matter.

Also, it costs extreme money to be able to even open a bar or club. The clubs want to be able to serve people later hours because there is customer demand for that.

Economics matter.

Oh, yeah - these people are also voters. Politics matter, too.

And all three are changing and evolving with the rest of the world, which is increasingly accomodating of that change.

This isn't a museum, it is a living city.

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Boston will always be smaller and different than many of the other cities people mention when it comes to this issue. Also, this is hardly the most important thing facing the city. Many of the people wanting to see this implemented are simply going to leave the state once they get their degree, regardless.

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The people wanting this are not college students. only 1/4 of college students are old enough to drink anyway.

These are people who live here and work here.

Boston isn't a small city - please look it up.

Daytime economy. Hoookay. Central Planning Directorate says No Night Fun for YOU!

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Wants to be an enabler.

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Saw this in the Boston Globe comments:

"There is the bar vote and the church vote. The important thing to remember is that the bar vote doesn't vote."

There is a lot of truth in that, although Ray Flynn might disagree.

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