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Maybe the New York Times was prescient

Sure, we all snorted when the Times said we're all calling South Boston SoBo these days, but next spring, the neighborhood could get an Italian restaurant called the Sobo Bistro. And on East Broadway, no less.

Michael Norton has already gotten zoning-board permission to convert an old electrician's shop at E. Broadway and L Street into a restaurant. On Thursday, the Boston Licensing Board figures out if it has a spare beer and wine license to grant him to open his restaurant sometime this spring.

At a board hearing this morning, Norton said he will open the restaurant even if no license is available - and would then seek to obtain one later.

The proposed 60-seat restaurant would be next to the Tasty Burger, in which Norton has been an investor.

His lawyer, Kristen Scanlon, answered the required question of public need for the license by saying the restaurant would be a needed food-based establishment in a neighborhood she said was still dominated by bars.

Alone among city officials, City Councilor Bill Linehan opposed the license request, saying Norton should meet with the local neighborhood association to go over issues such as hours and trash collection. Also, Linehan only wants the restaurant to be allowed to be open until midnight on weekend nights; Norton is seeking permission for midnight closing seven days a week.

Board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer expressed frustration at the request, saying that while she's a strong proponent of the neighborhood approval process, holding up a license request that's been pending for some time is unfair to the applicant - especially since the local association won't meet again until January. Liaisons from Linehan's office and Mayor Menino agreed to try to set up a meeting between Norton and officials from the neighborhood group - and abutters.

The neighborhood came out in strong support of the concept of a restaurant in the vacant space at a zoning board hearing, but that was before Norton clarified he would run the restaurant himself, rather than seeking to have another concern run it.

Norton said his immediate abutters are a gas station, Tasty Burger, an empty funeral home and some vacant single-family homes being converted into three-family buildings. He said he did send the owners of those properties notices about today's hearing.

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Comments

Shouldn't Boston Zoning board be renamed to BoZo?

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NORTHERN italian or Southern Italian food, which is it.

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Thanks Mark! You made my day!!

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This is going to be good.

~The Original Sobo Yuppy

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You are not THE ORIGINAL SoBo Yuppie!

I am...but nice to see other SoBo Yuppies posting. Let's band together!

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You are not the Original Sobo Yuppy, imposter. You probably grew up in Southie.

~The Original Sobo Yuppy

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Wow.. why the insult?

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I just hope whatever restaurant ends up here is good & affordable.

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I'm kind of sad it's more Italian Food. The only decent restaurants already on the East Side are Italian spots. Cafe Porto Bello is a block away. How about splitting it between a brick oven pizza and a grill/fish menu?

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I absolutely love the name of the place!!!!

Go SoBo! Bye, bye Southie.

I feel like I need to brush my teeth every time I say Southie. or wash my hands every time I type it!!

I don't even like Starbucks Coffee but I go there all the time! Must support businesses that cater to yuppies.

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" Tasty Burger, an empty funeral home and some vacant single-family homes being converted into three-family buildings. He said he did send the owners of those properties notices about today's hearing."
He owns these buildings.

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If he owns those buildings... and he owns a piece of Tasty Burger. why did the abutters of Tasty block the outdoor seating last year?

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I'm guessing the abutters in question live across L Street from the Tasty Burger.

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For the love of GOD can transplants stop calling Jamaica Pond "JP Pond"?!

"Jamaica" modifies "Pond" in the same way that "Jamaica" modifies "Way" and "Plain."

The Pond was, yes, always an accompanying aspect of the Jamaica Plains [well, after all was "inherited" from the local Native Americans], but it was never referred to as "Jamaica Plain Pond."

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For the same reasons, we will need to pre-emptively ban the use of "South SoBo" before that gets going.

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SoBo is here to stay!

but we need to break it up. lets try these:

If you live north of West Broadway, its called E-Bro North, SoBo. (Get it, E-Bro = east broadway)
If you live north of West Broadway, its called We-Bro North, SoBo. (Get it, We-Bro = west broadway).
If you live south of West Broadway, its called E-Bro South, SoBo.
If you live south of West Broadway, its called We-Bro South, SoBo.

So this new yuppie restaurant is located in the E-Bro South neighborhood of SoBo! (since its on the southern side of E-Bro).

- The Original SoBo Yuppie!

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