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JP restaurant operated more than five years without a food-serving license because nobody at ISD told owner he needed one
By adamg on Wed, 07/13/2011 - 2:11pm
The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council voted last night to back a request from Los Bendecidos, 264 Hyde Park Ave., for a common victualer's license.
The small pizza and Hispanic-food takeout place applied for and got its health and building permits from ISD, but council member Michael Reiskind said nobody at ISD told the owner - who bought it from another person who also never had a food-serving license - he also needed permission from the Boston Licensing Board.
The board heard Los Bendecidos' case last month but deferred action until after hearing from the neighborhood council.
In recent months, a number of new restaurants have been snagged by ISD's apparent inability to inform applicants about the Boston Licensing Board, although typically they have been open for a couple of months or less before being discovered on a routine inspection by a Boston Police officer.
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Comments
Ah bureaucracy. How many
Ah bureaucracy. How many councils and board approvals, along with permits to screw a light-bulb?
jp restaurants
on that note, is there any update re: tacos el charro closing? i miss them terribly.
ISD?
What does ISD stand for and what are they responsible for?
Inspectional Services Department
Sorry for lapsing into bureaucratese. They inspect things in Boston. Lots of things.
Please please please don't
Please please please don't let City Hall take away my Cuban sandwiches
Which raises the question ...
What added value does the licensing board provide here?
Thank you for not saying
Thank you for not saying "begs the question"!!!
Putting aside the cl*sterf*ck
Putting aside the cl*sterf*ck that is Boston permitting, how is it that I know about common victualer's licenses and these people don't? You can't just buy a car and start driving and say that no one told you that you needed a license - it's your responsibility to know. If you are opening a restaurant, it is your responsibility to know what you need to do so legally. The fact that the knuckleheads in one office don't inform you that there's another hurdle to jump doesn't absolve you of your legal responsibilities. Somehow, all those other restaurants figured it out.
Without acknowledging there
Without acknowledging there is a "cl*sterf*ck ... Boston permitting" process (that's nearly impossible to navigate!), you cannot comprehend what it's like to open a small business in this town.
So, generally, all I have to say to your insipid, pointless, waste-of-space post is ... CRIPES.
So, in other words ...
only well-connected people with multiple generations of family in the business of government featherbedding and nepotism should attempt to open a restaurant, because that keeps out the riff raff?
That's what happens when too little information is public, and much of it is special "in the know" sort of stuff. That's political machine crapola. Unless you can show us a website or a single source of information (office to contact, obvious person to ask) that can tell us "what do I need to do to open a small business in Boston", just saying "but I know that" isn't sufficient. Unless EVERYBODY has easy access to that info, it might as well not exist.
I thought Boston already went through this with exam cheating on firefighter and police exams by legacy candidates.
irresponsible business owner
...does this mean that this restaurant hasn't had a food inspection for 5 years? That's strikes me as negligent on so many levels.
No, it doesn't mean that
Health inspections are done by ISD. In fact, the place has been inspected regularly.
Normally, common victualler's licenses are really boring and only come into play if some crime occurs at the establishment (or right in front of it), or police find it open later than it's supposed to be open - or do a random inspection and ask to see the place's licenses/permits.
Boston deserves its own
Boston deserves its own Licensing Board. There is no reason to have it state-appointed unlike every other MA community. Part of this may be signals crossed between the city and state elements here, I don't know. Regardless, the point stands overall.
The Irish can't be trusted.
The Irish can't be trusted.
Sort of...
The Irish immigrants, through demographics and political savvy, gained political control in Baltimore and New York earlier than in Boston.
Given their opportunity to watch those cities become cesspools of patronage and corruption, the Brahmins' belief that "The Irish can't be trusted," while no doubt a product of Brahmin xenophobia, racism, and just plain unwillingness to share the goodies, wasn't entirely insane.
Wow, bigoted much?
Wow, bigoted much?
I wonder if the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council...
would've approved of this restaurant's victualers license if the restaurant weren't an ethnic restaurant? I wonder if they're asking that the restaurant help keep the local housing stock affordable?
WWWFD?
What Would Whole Foods Do?