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The City that Always Sleeps could get its first 24-hour check-cashing place

Because, sure, who hasn't had an urgent need to cash a check at 3:30 a.m.?

Steve Fox at the South End Forum is sounding the alarm over a proposal by PLS Check Cashing at Mass. Ave. and Tremont Street to extend its current closing time from midnight to never, which would make it Boston's first non-stop check-cashing place:

Some of the concerns that neighbors have expressed include 1) as the only 24 hour facility, this location would become a citywide magnet all night long and bring to the South End the potential problems with impaired drivers and/or suspect transactions, 2) there are public safety concerns given the kinds of "business" transactions that tend to occur between midnight and 7 AM, 3) because this is a business that deals exclusively with currency, the risks of theft, armed robbery, and plain vanilla rip-offs would become concentrated in this location.

Finally, and most importantly, this location is included in the "Methadone Mile" section of the South End, an area that is the epicenter of drug transactions and addictive behaviors. As the South End community attempts to work with public and private partners in a Task Force specifically focused on the problems associated with this geography, a 24 hour check cashing service would not be the kind of service that would act to ameliorate the increasing problems we are seeing in this part of the South End. Even for those who would not be directly using the check cashing service, a facility open 24 hours/day, 7 days a week, would draw people to that corner and present opportunities for problems that might otherwise not occur if the facility was closed.

If you live in the South End and have feelings on this, send them to the mayor's neighborhood liaison, Sam Chambers, at [email protected].

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Comments

I can't imagine this proposal will get any support, and will hopefully die a well-deserved, quick and painless death.

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How many people coming out of there with cash at 4am are going to get stabbed or shot, within 100 feet?

Is this business actually serious about 24-hours, or is this some kind of negotiating ploy for something else?

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There's nothing more excruciating than when people extract pronouns to soften their rhetoric.

I had a girl legit cancel a date on me once because "there were things that were said." She didn't say "things that you said," she tried to dance around the fact that I said something she didn't like, instead of directly confronting me.

"There are public safety concerns given the kinds of business transactions." You pussies. Just say "I don't want junkies getting cash at 3:30 AM outside my window." I love to rail against NIMBYists, but even I won't give them crap for this one.

I used to keep late night hours, and I romanticize my 20s. I don't hate the idea of a good person being able to cash a check at that hour, but maybe tell the company that they have to be able to open several 24/7 storefronts around the city to scatter their clientele.

Same argument I made about opening the casinos in MA one at a time: You're going to have traffic problems because it's the only one of the something, and it's brand new.

And to think, ABBQ, I don't have "intellectual curiosity." Pfft.

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I had a whole write up which was lost.

The gist was you don't need to call me out, just post more thoughtfully. ;)

And as for the topic, my opinion is that if the reasoning for 24/7 is for late shift employees, those folks should be able to wait until traditional hours.

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Nt

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Now I know where to cash my checks at 3AM! World class,baby!

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It's not open at 3 a.m. yet. It still needs to be approved by the state Office of Consumer Protection.

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I'm more concerned for the employees' safety, arriving/leaving their shift. Or the customer who gets jumped on his or her way out. Seems like just another idea that will invite more gun and kniife violence. Sigh. I really don't think I'm overreacting either. It's just all wrong.

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The Methadone Mile has gotten a LOT longer since the last time I've been there.

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of "People who want to cash a check between the hours of 12 and 7 AM" and "People who file federal tax returns with their own social security number" looks a lot like Elton John's sunglasses.

IMAGE(http://www2.pictures.stylebistro.com/gi/Tom+Ford+Cocktails+Support+Project+Angel+Food+1Wyh2dStGC4l.jpg)

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