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Pru restaurant stunned to learn it couldn't use its heated patio in December - after residents of the luxury condos next door called 911 to complain

Managers at Earls Kitchen and Bar in the Prudential Center apologized to city officials today for renting out their enclosed patio for a corporate holiday party in December - saying they didn't realize the patio license they had previously agreed to required them to stop patio operations in November.

Earls, a Canadian chain, features heated patios at many of its locations and all the others are open year round, so the Boston manager didn't realize he couldn't rent it out for a Dec. 14 event, he told the Boston Licensing Board today - until police showed up shortly after 8 p.m. due to two calls to 911 from residents of the neighboring Mandarin Oriental condominiums about the sound from the nine-piece band hired to entertain patrons under its retractable roof.

Earls faces a separate hearing before the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing, because the one-day license granted by that office - which has the same chairwoman as the Boston Licensing Board - was for a DJ, not a live band.

One of the licensing detectives who responded after the second call, Sgt. Det. Robert Mulvey, told the board that when he and his partner arrived, there was another Mandarin Oriental resident on scene, talking to the manager about the music.

Both the Pru Earls manager and the chain's East Coast regional manager apologized for the oversight.

The Pru manager said he immediately stopped taking reservations for the patio until April, even though that has caused such a drop off in business he has been forced to lay off "quite a few workers" - many of whom told him that meant "they can't make rent and things like that."

The Earls managers, which said it had earlier worked with Mandarin Oriental residents to ensure soundproofing was put in place inside the patio area, said they will be applying for a year round patio license - and said they are confident they can win approval from those residents for that.

The licensing board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take about the Dec. 14 incident.

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Comments

But why stop taking reservations altogether? Just tell private parties that they can't hire bands, musicians, or DJ's. Especially if hosting some of those parties means retaining some or all of those laid off employees.

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Acoustic sets only, then?

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          ( whistling? — I wouldn't want to make that call )

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You only allow solo acts.

So low you can't hear them.

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...is my kind of party, come to think of it.

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Read it again.

" the patio license ... required them to stop patio operations in November"

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The manager sounds like a bit of a crybaby. Perhaps the executives at Earl’s might consider a minor cut to their annual bonus in order to keep their employees out of housing court for nonpayment of rent.

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the idiotic regulations and restrictions. Can use the patio for events in June but not December? More NIMBYism disguised as "quality of life."

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This is people asserting their rights to protection from noise pollution. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, you have a right to relative peace and quiet. That’s why permits are or are not granted.

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Was the club there first?

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The restaurant and patio just opened last year in a brand new space created just for it. So, the condos were there first.

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No. Just arrogant entitlement.

Sorry, but this is just stupid.

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(And I do mean roadman and you both). Why should the people who live in these apartments have a little bit of peace?

In the end, the restaurant got their variance to have al fresco seating by agreeing to not have the tables out in the winter then proceeded to ignore the agreement. I think if you want to talk entitlement, you are pointing the finger at the wrong party.

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I live closer to central Boston (City Hall) than you do by about 2-4 miles.

You are more suburban than I am.

I bet you would love to live under one of the flight paths and next to a high school, with a roaring freeway audible for miles. Ah yes - so quiet here. But I don't bitch about it because the high school was there when I moved in, as was the freeway, and I actually use the airport several times a year.

I'm betting that you didn't live in Kenmore for five years when it was a nightclub district, either. I did. I know what noise is. I also know what permitted use is, too. Move into the Prudential area, and the Marathon will happen and businesses with restaurants and entertainment will also happen as will NYE celebrations. That's what soundproofing is for in million dollar condos.

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So in your suburb, is it a libertarian fantasy world where there are no regulations on anything? My guess is that Medford also has sound ordinances, just like Boston.

But this isn’t about either of our sururban realities. This is about a restaurant agreeing not to have outdoor dining/entertainment in the winter, then just doing it anyway. That might fly in the areas to the north of Boston, but we in Boston kind of like dining venues sticking to the rules.

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Maps are not tools of the devil. Learn to read them. The municipality is irrelevant to level of urbanicity.

What is relevant are the things you are completely unable to grasp - demography, density, era of development, and distance from core.

So funny that when called out on things that you can't fathom, you explode in venom rather than expand out of your mental boxes and learn something. What are you afraid of - sin?

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You don’t live in the Back Bay, yet you are calling out those who live there for griping that a restaurant violated an agreement to give those residents some peace and quiet. That you and roadman don’t even live in Boston just makes the hypocrisy that much worse.

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I lived in Myles Standish Hall for 2 years, which put me most likely closer to Narcissus than your frat was.

And perhaps you haven’t followed the bitching and moaning about aircraft flight paths on this website. I can tolerate that for the greater good.

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Who else could afford to live in that hotel? Let them suffer a little noise.

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If you choose to live in a major city, you cannot expect the quiet of a secluded suburb.

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I forgot the city is only for those who can afford $6million dollar condos in the Mandarin. The rest of Boston apologizes for disturbing your urban peace and quiet in the heart of a major metropolitan area.

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Based on what I read in this article, it wasn't just the music. The Patio license is not Year round. Continuing to use the patio could result in more licensing violations.

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Sooooo the noise from the Patio is ok in the summer and and spring when one would open their windows but not ok in winter time? It just does not make sense to me

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Are there really that many private parties that want to be outside before April? Must be a Canadian thing. Also, Earl's is a pretty big chain- to fire workers instead of absorb the costs of all those frozen loonies seems implausible, and if true, very cruel.

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Do what you want then beg for forgiveness. Drinking establishments know what their licenses allow them to do and not to do. Suspend their license for a few days and see if they pull this act again.

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First thought: The chain restaurant can take a hike.
Second thought: The millionaires can take a hike.
Final thought: I'm glad I don't spend much time in the Back Bay.

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If you owned a condo at the Mandarin then you'd probably be a millionaire... I guess you're
glad of that?

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If you don't want to bother to learn a city's laws and regulations for running a restaurant, then perhaps you're not qualified to be the restaurant's manager. It's not rocket science.

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Meanwhile, one of those residents fancies himself an urban beekeeper and some of his flock overran the patio this summer. Dude wouldn't contain them and the restaurant couldn't do a thing about it, either, due to the critical bee shortage.

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.

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The link is me spending time on the patio this summer and my friend running out because she's terrified of bees and the bartender and manager apologizing profusely and explaining why they couldn't do anything about the bees.

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Sorry, I'm with the bees on this one. If you don't like bees, you need to be prepared to get away from them when you're outdoors.

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So the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing granted a one day entertainment license for an event in December for a premises licensed by the Boston Licensing Board that is not licensed to operate during the month of December and both boards have the same chairperson?

And now the

licensee

is in trouble for using a one day license that was issued by the Mayor's Office to an unlicensed premises for the wrong type of entertainment?

Wow. Just wow.

Thank goodness the department of redundancy was done away with under the current administration so these problems don't happen.

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what losers! seriously who calls 9-1-1 for that!? I'm not defending the restaurant or suggesting they were not wrong to violate their license. BUT you call 9-1-1? I wish the dispatch just laughed at them and said sorry rich person with no life, we have major emergencies to deal with please call the restaurant or city licensing board during business hours.

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requires ALL calls to go through 911, including noise violations.

In other cities these would go through the non-emergency line or "311" type line, but in Boston they go through 911.

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