Theater District

Venu manager Tom Montgomery with map showing distance between shooter and club.

UPDATE: Board agrees with club; issues no penalty.

The Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday whether to order a rollback in hours for Venu, a Warrenton Street club that already had a long list of complaints against it when a man police say was a patron got a gun and started blasting away at two gang rivals down the street.

Boston Police report four men were shot outside Venu on Warrenton Street just as the club was getting out for the night. The victims, in their 20s and 30s, were taken to local hospitals and are expected to survive.

Police say officers arrested a woman near the scene on a charge of illegal weapon possession, but that she did not appear to be involved in the shootings.

Both clubs, which have the same owner, have had a series of violent outbreaks over the past couple of years that have led to license suspensions by both the Boston Licensing Board and the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing.

Rumor, on Warrenton Street, had to explain to the Boston Licensing Board why it was cited by police for having a customer smoking inside during an inspection on July 3 and why a 19-year-old was allowed to get a drink before slipping on a step and cracking his head open on July 20.

On the heels of today's announcement that Anthony's Pier 4 is slated to become a mixed-use, 21-story, high-rise development that will include retail and residential (apartments) comes news that an empty parking lot near Chinatown and the Theater District is the site of a proposed 29-story apartment building.

The Boston Herald, Banker & Tradesman, and Boston Business Journal coverage.

For a historic view of the "Hinge Block" and previous plans for that area, check out the ArchBoston.com forum.

http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=1280&page=6

Image above from me.

Police investigate stabbing; little yellow cone marks the location.

Courtney Sacco reports a man, 23, was stabbed around 12:30 this morning outside New York Pizza, 224 Tremont St. Workers at the pizza place, spotting "blood squirting up the left side of his chest," grabbed towels and tried to slow the bleeding, according to a police report.

Sacco reports the man was taken to Tufts Medical Center with what initially appeared to be a fatal stab wound. Police are looking for three possible suspects, one a black male in his early 20s who fled in a black car.

Photo copyright Courtney Sacco. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

The city licensing office has ordered an 11-day suspension of the entertainment license for Venu, following a November melee at the Warrenton Street club that took cops from across the city - and repeated shots of pepper spray - to break up.

The Boston Licensing Board - a separate state agency - could add even more time to the punishment following its own hearing today. Acting board Chairman Michael Connolly noted similar problems at Rumor, which shares the same building and owners with Venu, and said he's worried what would happen if two of the four large clubs in the area have violent outbursts at the same time, because Boston Police might not have the resources to quickly put down a multi-club disturbance.

"Boy, oh, boy, I'm more concerned than I've ever been, and I've been on this board for ten years, that this thing is just going to explode one night," Connolly told club officials. "Structurally, the concern goes well beyond any one establishment. A potential tinderbox exists there. This thing could just blow sky high ... if things get out of hand on any one night."

Managers at Rumor, 100 Warrenton St., say they immediately began using metal detectors after a bouncer was stabbed during a brawl in the club this past July, with a knife one patron apparently smuggled in under his junk.

The Harvard Crimson gets the Cure Lounge's version of events at that post-Game black alumni event from PRmeister George Regan: Basically, there were troublemaking gang bangers trying to get in, and it's the alumni group's fault for not getting party-goers to bring Harvard or Yale IDs.

Regan says the club has good reason to avoid trouble - it got into a lot of it under its old name: Aria.

Boston Police report arresting two Bostonians and three Randolph residents in a donnybrook that just would not stop around 2 a.m. on Sunday at Club Venu, 100 Warrenton St..

Jezebel posts e-mail from the leaders of a black alumni group who say managers at a new lounge in the Theatre District were worried that, you know, the all black crowd would naturally attract gangbangers:

BostonTweet posted this video from today's protest at Emerson against the cretins from Kansas - who never even showed up.

The Boston Licensing Board today heard such differing accounts of what happened one January night at the Rumor nightclub that board Chairman Daniel Pokaski wondered at one point if both parties were talking about the same incident.

Incidents at two other Boston establishments will also force the board to consider what the hell actually happened.

Boston Police report a woman sitting in her car outside 230 Tremont St. around 2 a.m. on Saturday when a woman allegedly reached through one of her windows and grabbed her wallet:

As a result, the victim quickly exited her car in an effort to retrieve her property. When she exited her car and confronted the group, the victim says members of the group began kicking and punching her.

Charged with larceny from a person and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon: Jan Braggs, 20, Rachel Green, 20, Shakeem Davis, 18, and Raquel Lamons, 20.

Innocent, etc.

Boston Police charge that David McKenny, 44, of Winthrop, forced a man at gunpoint into his car at Stuart and Tremont streets on Jan. 9, then used his gun to force the man to hand over his money.

Police say the man was then dumped out of the car near Washington and East Springfield streets.

McKenny is 5'7", weighs about 215 lbs. and has black hair and brown eyes.

If you know where he is, contact detectives at 617-343-5619 or drop an anonymous tip by calling 800-494-TIPS or texting TIP to CRIME.

Boston Police report officers came upon a group of people beating and kicking a man on the ground outside Boylston Place around 2:25 this morning. On seeing the law, the attackers scurried away, but police say officers managed to chase after and grab one of them.

Julio Labrana, 20, was charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (a shod foot).

Innocent, etc.

Alleged shooter.
Held on $1 million bail;
Cops say he told them
he had beef.

WBZ reports city officials have started the process for shutting down Aria following Sunday's Girls Gone Wild shooting/smashing/rampaging.

WBZ also informs us that:

The "Girls Gone Wild" video series features young women in sexually provocative situations.

Just in case you didn't know.

The Globe, meanwhile, reports police were tipped off days before that trouble might happen, that members of the Youth Violence Strike Force were in attendance, that people were patted down at the entrance and yet, somehow, a guy managed to get a gun in:

George Regan, spokesman for Aria, said, "To call this incident bizarre is an understatement. This club spends a lot of time and money on security, and there were seven to nine police officers in there when this happened, so I don't know what else can be done."

George Regan, hmm?

The Herald focuses on the scene inside the nightclub as the rampage erupted:

While trying to escape, she said she fainted from terror recalling the 100 souls who died pushing and clawing their way toward the doors of The Station nightclub in Rhode Island as it burned to the ground in 2003.

Aria is accessed from Tremont Street by a steep, narrow staircase

Hmm, maybe the Fire Department should be joining the investigation?

And the Herald has a different quote from Regan:

... (Aria) takes security very seriously. When you send your kid to school, you don't expect them to be shot there, either.

Aria, 246 Tremont St., might have some explaining to do to city licensing officials after an all-out brawl shortly before the scheduled end of "Girls Gone Wild" night early this morning:

... The fight grew to about 20-35 people, as patrons started to swing champagne bottles striking people about the head and torso. Officers, at this time, were engaged with the crowd and trying to break up the various fights that had broken out.

While actively engaged with the crowd, officers heard one loud bang consistent with the sound of gunshots, followed by two to three more. An officers that was on a platform looked in the direction of the gunshots and observed the suspect standing about five feet away with his hands extended holding a black firearm randomly firing shots into the crowd. ...The suspect refused to heed officers' commands to drop the weapon as they attempted to remove the gun from his possession, and kept trying to reach for his waist.

After disarming the suspect, officers were now faced with an attack from the crowd who attempted to attack officers. Officers requested assistance from other units and alerted the dispatchers that officers were in trouble. Numerous units from around the city responded to the scene and after some time were able to secure the scene.

Initial tally: Damion Jamaal-Anthony Haley, 24, of Milton, charged with the shooting. Four injured people, including a state trooper, taken to the hospital. Haley already had six outstanding warrants, police say.

Channel 5 reports police shut down the streets around the club and brought in dogs to control the rampaging mob.

The Herald reports a Boston police officer got into a crash while racing to the scene. Channel 4 reports it was a K9 unit at the intersection of East Berkeley and Tremont.

John Daley says, sure, light up the Theater District:

The Theater District has bigger problems than a lack of flashing lights. But a Jumbotron (or four) would be a nice change from the dark, boring atmosphere that exists down there now.

Landsdowne Street and the Waterfront? I'm not so sure.

Jenny says you'll find them at the Intermission Tavern on Tremont in the Theater District:

... Skinny? Healthy? It was nice knowing you two, but step aside. I have a new friend now.