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Board to decide whether Southie has enough packies or if there's room for one more

The Boston Licensing Board could decide tomorrow whether to let Jamie's Variety, 113 H St., at the corner of East 5th St., sell beer and wine.

At a hearing this morning, several South Boston residents supported owner Indravadan Patel's request for a beer-and-wine package-store license. They praised Patel as a good member of the community and said beer and wine in his store would prove a boon to senior citizens living across the street, who would no longer have to make the somewhat dangerous trek up to Broadway to buy beer or wine.

"Us older people, us retired people, don't want to go up to East Broadway," one supporter, a retired Boston cop, said.

They were joined by the mayor's office, which supported Patel's request.

His attorney, Rashi Mangalick, added Patel would not sell nips or single bottles of beer.

But opponents, who included city councilors Michael Flaherty and Annissa Essaibi George, said enough's enough. South Boston is already "oversaturated with liquor stores," and not every corner store or gas station needs to sell alcohol, an aide to Flaherty told the board.

One resident who said that unlike supporters, she actually is a direct abutter to the market, started by acknowledging that Patel and his workers "are very nice people," but said double parking at that corner is awful and would only get worse as truck drivers parked there to make deliveries.

One supporter countered that double parking is horrible everywhere in South Boston, not just at that corner, so that's hardly a reason to make it harder on senior citizens who want to buy some alcohol without worrying about getting hit by a car on Broadway.

An aide to Essaibi George and Mangalick even clashed over ownership: After Mangalick called Patel the "owner," the aide handed the board a copy of an assessor's record that showed Patel was not, in fact, the owner. Mangalick said that Mangalick, in fact, the owner of the business, but allowed as how he is a tenant in the building. She said the landlord supported Patel, that Patel would never have applied for a beer and wine license without his support.

The board typically decides license applications at a meeting on Thursdays.

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Comments

Just what the auld sod needs, so here's to swimmin with out of state women.

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I Grew up at H & 5th Street , The people that live in 120 H street are older people and why should they have to cross Broadway . Let them be able to buy a six pack or a bottle of wine , with out getting hit by car ... The people that live at 199 H street are able to get there beer and wine on East 8th Street , it is the same walk as the residents that live at 120 H street .
The guys that own the Corner Store are wonderful and hard working guys .... Just let them do there job. And let the older folks be able to pick up some beer and wine safely .
Thank You

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South Boston is over saturated with liquor stores. Also according to the report the owner/attorney lied about owning the store.
How many other stores does he own?
Why did he lie?
Investigate him.
What does he pay these workers?
These stores are not ‘mom & pop’ stores they are owned by a nation wide conglomerate that pay the workers low wages& make them work long hours barely making ends meet. Attorney General should investigate these operations.

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Can you point me to your data that proves this?

Also, if this is true, you know either this place, or one of the existing ones, will fail, right?

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"But opponents, who included city councilors Michael Flaherty and Annissa Essaibi George, said enough's enough. South Boston is already "oversaturated with liquor stores," and not every corner store or gas station needs to sell alcohol, an aide to Flaherty told the board."

First, South Boston is not "oversaturated with liquor stores." Beer and wine should be allowed to be sold in any store as long as the rules are followed. In most parts of the country you can buy beer and wine (and sometimes hard alcohol) at Walgreen's, gas stations, supermarkets, etc.

Want to "curb" some of the double-parking issues? Allow more stores to sell what the market dictates. That way you can walk to your nearest store of choice, and not clog the road with your car to begin with.

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I appreciate you going to these neighborhood meetings and reporting on them. Not everyone can or wants to make these meetings. In fact I sat next to you at one unknowingly and you mentioned being here for Uhub! I replied I'm on Uhub everyday! Appreciate the hard work and yes I have donated to the Paypal in the past and will do so in the future.

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There are enough packies in Southie now and most of them will deliver their products right to your door so that nobody has to saunter up to Broadie and possibly take a dixie on the way home with their packie products.

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convenience stores to have to go through a similar process before they're allowed to sell Lottery scratch tickets and games.

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Anissa Essaibi-George seems to oppose everything -- except when her developer husband is involved. She opposed this beer and wine license for a small convenience store because Southie has too much alcohol? Yet, she will certainly have no problem with the expansion of Loco restaurant into the ground floor storefront space of her her husband's new building at 410 West Broadway. I guess tequila on West Broadway is OK, but beer and wine on H Street is not. #Hypocrisy #DeveloperHusband #DoubleStandard #ProhibitionFailed #Insanity

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