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Boston's late-night revolution won't be starting on Brighton Avenue in Allston

The Boston Licensing Board has rejected a request from Amelia's Taqueria to stay open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

The vote came after a hearing at which the mayor's office and the Allston Civic Association said there was no need for tacos to be served in the area later than the take-out place's current 2 a.m. closing time, even if the T does now run until 3 a.m.

Mayor Walsh this week announced a task force to look at what parts of the city could support later hours at local restaurants and clubs.

Neighborhoods: 


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Comments

Not many restroom available at that time, we cant have people defecating in the streets.

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The more open eateries, the more available restrooms.

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Just sad.

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Allston Civic Association said there was no need for tacos to be served in the area

Strange, I'd have left tacos off my list of "Things Allston Doesn't Need" but included the ACA. Guess the world don't move to the beat of just one drum.

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"there's no need for a taco place to be open that late", and which is totally unsubstatinated by any actual facts, is all it takes to reject a totally reasonable and practical request from an existing business that is already licensed.. Especially when the objections come from a biased group (Allston Isolationist Society Civic Association) that legally has no authority to grant or deny the request.

This is the type of government waste and bureauracy that can't go away too soon. Sad that the media is more focused on "shock horror" tactics like outing the identities of law enforcement types who haven't been actually charged with any crimes than going after needless and wasteful fifedoms like the Licensing Board and local "civic" associations.

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On the other hand, anybody has the right to object to a request. And the licensing board ought to take into account the objection, in proportion to the objecting organization's track record of genuinely representing the community it purports to represent.

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That's a word we need to all re-familiarize ourselves with. No one can anyone if there is a "need" for an establishment to be open or at what time. No one can tell anyone what time they can and can't visit an establishment if they so choose. The Allston Civic Association is anti-American.

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No one can anyone if there is a "need" for an establishment to be open or at what time.

LOL, especially not in Massachusetts, amirite? Good one.

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You, or I, or the Allston Civic association, or the Chess club of greater Milwaukee, for that matter, are entirely free to express our opinion as to whether or not a change in operating hours benefits or harms the neighborhood. Nothing remotely anti-American about that.

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Because the Allston Civic Association is just voicing an opinion.

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They don't have any legal authority, all they can do is weigh in with the licensing board, same as anybody else can.

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The judge decides that every member of the board and their first born to be drawn and quartered on the morrow!

The ACA members and their immediate families are to be placed in stocks at Ringers Park and smacked in either end with skateboards.

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(Expletive) you, Berkeley.

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As I mentioned, you need a whole night life 'ecosystem' in place to make this fond hope work.

Once habitats are identified, you start with late night food. Let's assume this is mainly a weekend thing as we don't have as many nocturnal trust fund layabouts as NY does.

Will a food purveyor want to handle the added hours and risk?

Okay, the drunks are now at a food place. The ethanol is getting buffered.

Now we have to get em home and the T is the preferred option since we can't very well encourage herd level drunk driving. What's the cost/benefit on that?

Some swells will take cabs instead as is the case now. Cabbies will probably benefit most as the wee hours are pretty bleak for them now.

And really extending restaurant hours can't be that painful. There probably are a reasonable number of non drunks who are night owls or your various gack and meth bingers.

What do they have now and where is it?

Are they going to send teams from this august council of 24 down to New Orleans and NYC for field study? Maybe they can join all the hogs shuttling back and forth to Vegas to 'study' gambling.

This will be the fun part.

Should there be any thought to added drunk safety features in these designated slobber zones or will we continue to leave weird death traps like dark waterfronts without railing?

Any thoughts on Patrol allocations to handle the new bursts of activity where scuttling alley rats once ruled the roost?

The details and their quality will be how you tell whether this is fluff to pander to the young and restless or they really are serious and have a clue.

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If the city and police and community association are going to speak against late night tacos, then we need these attorneys to pull together the cabbies, universities, and late night employers to bring the heat from the other side.

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And that is how the democratic process works.

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universities and even late night employers maybe not so much.

A lot of businesses are satisfied with the regular closing hours, maybe more than you might think.

Pizza places, some restuarants, probably most bars and cafes would like to stay open late though.

I think they should do a trial month in August where every place in the City can stay open 24/7 for the entire month if they want to. Make it like a study. After the month is over, go over all the data (complaints, compliments, problems with police, etc), and then we can go from there.

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Let businesses set their own hours.

Address ACTUAL problems as they ACTUALLY occur in REALITY.

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What New York has along with every other 24 hour city is a real, breathing night economy. So much of the work on the infrastructure, waste removal, international business/trading are done at night in New York that there is a natural vibrancy in some neighborhoods that is mostly-to-somewhat sober. All these workers create real demand for restaurants and bars open around the clock (not to mention bodegas, subways, buses). These businesses do not rely on drunks. A restaurant filled with drunks at 3 in the morning is annoying anywhere and bound to lead to drug dealing, fights, and street defecation. Most places would kick out obnoxious drunks in NY no matter what the time. Creating a night economy that revolves around drunks is nonsense. Find the neighborhood where workers get off work at midnight to 5am and you can start to build. I can think of anywhere in Boston, maybe the Gillette factory?

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In the late 70s-early 80s, I'd be on my way to work in the morning down Summer Street downtown, and the old Blue Sands bar (which some will remember) was open and packed with people around 9:00 AM. Presumably people from the overnight shift at the Gillette plant and the postal annex having a cocktail hour.

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The ACA hates people from Allston Village telling the folks who live north of the Mass Pike what they should have in their neighborhood. It's quite ironic, then, that they have absolutely no problem telling the people south of the Pike what they "need" and "don't need".

I went to ACA meetings when I lived in Allston, and I don't think I've ever seen a group set up to stifle dissent and discourage young residents from getting involved in civic activities. They require you to attend so many of their meetings per year in order to even have a vote on an issue. And most of those meetings are a complete waste of two hours of young people's time, listening to crotchety people rant on and on incessantly about how new condo and apartments and students are ruining the neighborhood. The group seriously needs to pack it in or change their name to "North Allston Civic Association".

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