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Boston gets 225 new alcohol licenses; now city officials have to figure out how to dole them out

Gov. Healey last week signed a bill giving Boston 225 new liquor licenses, most to be doled out to restaurants in 13 specific Zip codes - and at prices nowhere near the $600,000 or more that most current licenses go for on the open market.

Now city officials have to come up with a plan on how to alert potential license holders and to decide who gets the new Zip-code-restricted licenses, which will be given out in groups of five every year for three years in each of 13 Zip codes: 02118, 02119, 02121, 02122, 02124, 02125, 02126, 02128, 02129, 02130, 02131, 02132 and 02136. The groups of five will be split between three licenses to serve all types of alcohol and two limited to beer and wine.

Unlike most of the city's current 1,400 alcohol licenses, which can be resold and even used as collateral for loans, the new licenses can't be sold; if a restaurant with one of the new licenses goes out of business or moves, it will have to return its license to the licensing board - which can then only award it to another applicant from the same Zip code.

The City Council today approved a request by Councilor Brian Worrell (Dorchester) for a hearing at which councilors, the Boston Licensing Board and other city officials can discuss the way the new licenses are awarded. Worrell called for an aggressive education campaign that would include fliers and tutorials in several languages and even door-to-door canvassing in city business districts with few if any liquor-serving restaurants to ensure potential applicants learn about the new opportunity.

The licensing board does not sell liquor licenses - and so has nothing to do with the price of licenses on the open market - but it does charge an annual fee to license holders, currently starting at $1,800 for a beer-and-wine license and $2,800 for an all-alcohol license - on top of fees based in part on the size of the restaurant.

The last time the state Legislature deigned to give Boston a large new supply of licenses, in 2014, the licensing board simply threw open the application process, met with applicants and then selected winners. But while those licenses were also limited to certain neighborhoods away from downtown, the North End and the Waterfront, in the end, some areas, most notably Mattapan and much of Blue Hill Avenue, got no new licenses. This year's legislation aims to solve that by reserving 15 licenses for each of the 13 Zip codes - those 15 licenses can only be used in the Zip codes for which they were designated.

Worrell, who spearheaded the successful effort to get Boston its first major infusion of liquor licenses in ten years, called the measure "a truly transformative economic opportunity" for current restaurant owners in the city's outer neighborhoods - and for operators of take-out places that might now have a reason to invest in adding seats - who couldn't compete with well heeled national chains to buy one of the old-style licenses.

By encouraging the growth of restaurants, the measure will also help grow the city's "Main Streets and economic corridors" outside of Boston Proper and the Seaport, he said.

In addition to the Zip-cde licenses, some of the new licenses will be reserved for non-profit groups and 12 will be traditional licenses that can be used as loan collateral and resold. In a nod to state Rep. and House Majority Leader Michael Moran, who had blocked previous efforts to get Boston more licenses, three new restricted licenses are specifically set aside for Brighton's Oak Square neighborhood.


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Man agrees to pay $5,000 federal fine for flying a drone near the Marathon finish line

The US Attorney's office last week charged a man with violating national defense airspace for allegedly sending up a drone near the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15 - but also filed an agreement to drop the charge after a year in exchange for a $5,000 fine - and for the government to keep the drone.

Allan Nip, 30, had face a potential sentence of up to a year in federal prison if convicted on the misdemeanor charge. The agreement must still be approved by a magistrate judge in US District Court in Boston.

The Marathon is now considered a national-defense event, in which the Defense Department sends in experts in everything from explosives to radiation to help guard the route, and for which private drones are banned along the route.

According to an "information" filed in US District Court last week, Nip allegedly:

[D]id knowingly and willfully, and without lawful authority, operate an unmanned aircraft system, to wit a DJI Mavic 3 with Serial Number 1581F45T7227B00SU049, within restricted National Defense Airspace, to wit within an area subject to a Temporary Flight Restriction prohibiting unmanned aircraft system operations near the finish line of the 128th Boston Marathon as set forth in Notice To Air Missions 4/8918.

According to the agreement Nip signed, the FBI seized the drone on Marathon Day. The agreement calls on him to surrender the drone's controller to the FBI.


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Suspicious package filled with powder sent to Secretary of State's office, but is intercepted by postal inspectors

Associated Press reports the Secretary of State's office at Ashburton Place was one of 15 elections offices across the country targeted by somebody who sent powder-filled packages to them. The one here was intercepted by postal inspectors; in other states, the powder turned out to be flour.


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Plans unveiled for Vietnamese diaspora memorial in Fields Corner

The Dorchester Reporter posts renderings of the proposed memorial at Town Field.


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Revere reports mail woes

The Revere Journal reports the Revere City Council is demanding answers from the US Postal Service on why mail delivery in the city sucks, just like in Brighton and Mission Hill.


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Man robs downtown bank, gets arrested on the Common not long after, police say

Boston Police report arresting a man who robbed the Brookline Bank branch at 33 State St. shortly after noon yesterday. Read more.

Tue, 09/17/2024 - 12:06
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As the big yachts go, it was bigger than most

Hodor on the left. See it larger.

Eric Bender, who covers the waterfront, couldn't help but notice the Lonian docked at Commercial Wharf today, because the thing is enormous: It's a 285-foot-long superyacht.

It's so big it has a "garage" to store a smaller, 32-foot long boat for, we guess, those quick trips to little bays that can't handle the craft's draft or wake or something. Or owner (and Las Vegas billionaire) Lorenzo Fertitta, could just get a helicopter to pick him up - and ferry his up to 12 guests - from the yacht's helipad.

Of course, a $160-million yacht that costs $10 million to $15 million a year to operate (with a staff of 27), just isn't enough to contain all the life you need to live, so naturally you go out and buy a separate 217-foot long "support" catamaran (with a staff of 20) to hold another five smaller boats, your jet skis, your quad bikes, your ATVs and your motorcycles - with room left over for your submarine and your other helicopter.

And no, that doesn't sound at all like the sort of ship a Bond villain would use to visit his lair under an active volcano. Fertita, obviously a "Game of Thrones" fan, named it Hodor - and it follows the Lonian around everywhere, just like Hodor did with Bran:

Hodor:

Hodor the Catamaran

The catamaran design means you never have to wait long for Hodor to open its door:

Hodor the Catamaran's large doorway


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Peabody Square flooded, one building evacuated after gas crew punctures water main

Update, Tuesday a.m.: The MBTA rolled out shuttle buses to replace Ashmont Red Line service after the water disrupted power to the trains.

A National Grid crew working in the street at Dorchester Avenue at Ashmont Street in Dorchester around 6 p.m., struck a Boston Water and Sewer Commission main, turning Peabody Square into an impassible lake and forcing firefighters to evacuate at least one building after they started smelling a strong odor of gas.

National Grid workers apparently drilled into the main as they were searching for the source of a natural-gas odor that had been wafting through the area since at least Sunday.

By the time BWSC workers arrived on scene shortly after 6:30 p.m. to stanch the flow of water, the flooding had left a 9-foot-by-9-foot flooded hole in the middle of the square.

Police shut Dorchester Avenue through the square, along with streets feeding into it, such as Bushnell Street at Lombard Street. State Police were asked to shut Dorchester Avenue at Gallivan Boulevard.

The flooding did not reach the nearby Ashmont Red Line stop, but it did cause delays on the Ashmont branch.


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Some rain might be on the way

The current forecast from NWS Boston shows a chance of rain for Wednesday night into Thursday.


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