The Boston Licensing Board gives Michael Tallon another chance tomorrow to convince it not to revoke the license for his Townsends restaurant on Fairmount Avenue, several months after his landlord locked the place up for non-payment of rent.
Tallon didn't show at a similar hearing in September, but the board voted to give him a second chance to explain himself. It's against the law to sit on a liquor license without using it.
Although Tallon did not appear before the board, his landlord, John Button, and representatives from the mayor's office, City Councilor Rob Consalvo and Hyde Park Main Streets did, and all pleaded with the board to pull the license. Button said he had another party interested in opening a restaurant in the space but that he couldn't move forward until the liquor-license issue is resolved - the law also prohibits issuing two liquor licenses for the same address. And city and Main Streets officials said they are tired of seeing a vacant space in what was once considered an up-and-coming part of the neighborhood.
Board hearings begin at 10 a.m. in its eighth-floor hearing room in City Hall.