Daniel Pokaski

Boston Licensing Board chairman to retire

adamg — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:01:17 +0000

The Globe reports Daniel Pokaski is retiring after 21 years of hearings on bars, restaurants and hotels.

Even though the board meets in City Hall and uses the city seal on its stationery, it's technically a state board, so Gov. Patrick will get to name a replacement.

Boston social clubs running dry as city starts to enforce booze regulations it didn't know existed

adamg — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:57:42 +0000

The Bulletin reports on an only-in-Boston situation that could force Knights of Columbus halls and similar facilities to shut down and create problems at the city's two public golf courses.

The Boston Licensing Board, whose members are appointed by the governor, has been granting the facilities "temporary" liquor licenses for decades, but only recently found out that, in 1991, the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, whose members are appointed by the governor, ruled any one organization could get a special license for no more than 30 days a year. And now the board says the commission is ignoring its requests for a meeting to do something about the anomaly - which only applies in Boston.

The story gets even better - read down far enough to see the brilliant solution that Licensing Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski has come up with.

Bar owners can raise a toast to the Boston Licensing Board

adamg — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:11:15 +0000

The Herald reports the board headed by alleged Wilkerson best bud Daniel Pokaski seems not to have ever met a bar it didn't like - no matter how many times the police show up with evidence of major issues:

The Roxy racked up a whopping 67 violations since January 2005, at least a dozen of which were broomed without a hearing. In only two instances did the popular downtown club receive suspensions, one for three days. Even during its one-month closure, the club was allowed to cash in by hosting private parties.

Dianne Wilkerson determined to drag things out

adamg — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:37:07 +0000

Won't quit her Senate job just yet to ensure "an orderly transition," she claims.

Meanwhile, Daniel Pokaski flees a reporter who wants to know what he thinks about a federal complaint that paints him as a less than flattering character in the Wilkerson affair.

Oh, and a mayoral flunky tells one blogger (and plaintiff) that the mayor has "no influence on the licensing board."

Was Wilkerson trying to get a casino for Roxbury?

adamg — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:03:19 +0000

Lily Von Schtoop and Dan Kennedy both wonder why the Wilkerson affidavit devotes so much space to a trip Dianne Wilkerson made to the Foxwoods casino. First, Miss Von Schtoop:

Hmmm. I wonder - is Agent Corr trying to lead us to the Wilkerson-Used-Extortion-Money-To-Gamble-At-Foxwoods-Oh-My theory?

OR are a few of those "each and every every fact known" facts that might include a casino at Crosstown? If Wilkerson was willing to take $23K to obtain liquor licenses, I wonder what it would cost to get a casino?

I mean, the mayor is all about bringing a casino to Suffolk Downs so all Wilkerson would have to do is say 'Hey! What about Roxbury? Why don't we get one?' From what I read in the affidavit she likes to play that card to get her way. ...

Kennedy's memory, meanwhile, is jogged by the Foxwoods section and he remembers an odd, unexplained meeting that Wilkerson called last September with some members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe (feuding at the time with the now ousted leader of the tribe) and an aide to Gov. Patrick. What did they talk about? And what of the fact that one of the fixers the tribe hired to make its case on Beacon Hill is good pals with Boston Licensing Board Daniel Pokaski, who may or may not have helped Wilkerson with the liquor license that led to her recent charges?

Wilkerson fallout: Is Daniel Pokaski next?

adamg — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:52:44 +0000

Michael Pahre wonders why the feds waited until now to nab Wilkerson - since based on that affidavit, they had her cold last year. Are more dominoes about to fall? If so, Pahre predicts the next to go is Boston Licensing Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski - painted in a particularly unflattering way in the affidavit:

... BLB Chairman Pokaski will probably resign within weeks -- if not days -- because he stood to gain financially from the August 2007 meeting that allegedly resulted in him approving a temporary license for Dejavu while the state legislature approved a pay raise for him. ...

Meanwhile, Pahre raises an issue about the Globe: In all its wall-to-wall coverage in print today, the Globe made absolutely no mention of the role played in all this by its own Adrian Walker. Is the paper embarrassed the feds painted its columnist as a patsy used by Wilkerson to help blackmail the city council and Pokaski to get her client his liquor license?

It's not like Walker didn't want to write about the case. Yesterday, boston.com posted his musings. But after two paragraphs generically writing about his July column, Walker spent the rest of the piece sighing about what a shame Wilkerson had become. What did Wilkerson say to him to convince him to write that July column? We have no idea.

Liquor-swilling moneybags can just go party someplace else, Boston official huffs

adamg — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:16:09 +0000

Seems the thing to do these days is to buy an entire bottle of booze at a high-priced restaurant and then keep it at the table for the evening. Except in Boston, where the licensing board has banned this "bottle service," the Herald reports. Licensing Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski says the practice violates our sacred restrictions on happy hours and adds:

"We're not New York and we're not South Beach," he said. "The city of Boston has a lot more to offer than just getting people inebriated. If all they can offer their clientele is just swilling down alcohol, then perhaps they shouldn't be in the business."

Jay Fitzgerald suggests Pokaski needs a glass or two of chablis with which to unwind:

... What next? Banning sale of expensive bottles of wine at restaurants because the high price might encourage people to drink every last drop? ... I'm not sure it's his place to be lecturing people about what Boston has to 'offer' outside his strict regulatory guidelines. ...