The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to let the newly renovated McDonald's at 178 Border St. extend its drive-thru closing time from midnight to never.
At a hearing today, the move got "strong support" from both Mayor Walsh and City Councilor Sal LaMattina, whose representatives told the board that the round-the-clock food would be a good fit in an area that already has two 24-hour pharmacies.
Bob King, owner of the McDonald's at Harvard and Commonwealth Avenues, has withdrawn his request to the Boston Licensing Board to operate 24 hours a day.
The McDonald's is currently licensed for operations between 5 a.m. and 2 a.m.
King also withdrew his application to extend the hours of his Western Avenue McDonald's to 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.
The owner of the McDonald's at Harvard and Commonwealth avenues is seeking permission to stay open around the clock.
The Boston Licensing Board considers its request to extend its hours, which now run 5 a.m. to 2 a.m., at a hearing on Wednesday.
A little over a year ago, the board agreed to let the burger place change its opening hour from 7 a.m. to 5 a.m., after owner Bob King agreed to take steps to keep his franchise from becoming a hangout for methadone patients.
Norwood Police report somebody used a stolen credit card to purchase $2,500 worth of McDonald's gift cards at one of the McDonald's in town.
The new owner of the McDonald's at 178 Border St. says a $1-million renovation of the facility should curb the appetite of drug addicts who keep shooting up in his restrooms.
Chief among the new changes: The new restrooms won't have locks, Peter Tripoletti told the Boston Licensing Board today.
Tripoletti was there to answer a citation by Boston Police for "permitting an illegality, drug use on premises," issued after several incidents over recent months involving the restrooms at the restaurant. Police say addicts would go into one of the restrooms, lock the doors and shoot up.
The Boston Licensing Board says the presence of methadone patients who aren't breaking any laws isn't reason to keep the McDonald's at Harvard and Comm. avenues from opening at 5 a.m.
Its approval means the burger/Egg McMuffin emporium can now open 21 hours a day. It previously had opened at 7 a.m., which franchisee Bob King said meant he could not serve the crowds clamoring for McDonald's take on breakfast earlier in the morning.
The owner of McDonald's franchises at Harvard and Comm Ave. and on Western Avenue wants to start opening his outlets at 5 a.m. - and to extend the Western Ave. closing time to 3 a.m. He says he's already taken steps to deal with an increasing problem with methadone patients hanging out at the Harvard Ave. location.
At a Boston Licensing Board hearing today, the Allston Civic Association opposed the hour extensions. Association President Paul Berkeley said that with some outlets seeking later hours at night and others seeking earlier hours in the morning, members are "fearful we're just going to become a 24-hour community."
At Dorchester Dunkin' Donuts and Egleston Square McDonald's
Boston Police report they are looking for an armed robber who is grabbing cash out of cash registers at Dunkin' Donuts and Mcdonald's across Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan, most recently Wednesday night at the Mass. Ave. McDonald's.
Police say in all six cases under investigation, the common thread has been a black male in his 30s, about 5'8", with a Hispanic, Haitian or Jamaican accent who either orders something or hangs out in the lobby for awhile, then pulls out a gun and either demands cash or jumps over the counter and takes it. In addition to the Mass. Ave. robbery, police are looking at:
Firefighters are at Washington and Kneeland streets, where CO2 is leaking from a 100-gallon tank in the basement of the McDonald's at the corner. Police are diverting traffic away from the area.
Around 10:20 p.m. at the McDonald's at 870 Massachusetts Ave. Suspect is described as a black male, 5'7" in a red hoodie and blue jeans. He had a black backpack.
David Yamada doesn't think much of the Orange Line ads that posit lack of a Big Mac stuffed in your mouth as the sort of mental issue that one more typically sees advertised on clinical-research ads between Forest Hills and Oak Grove:
I'm sorry, but the ad is just too close to the real thing to be funny.
The Boston Licensing Board voted today to let the Soldiers Field McDonald's extend its closing time from 11 p.m. until 2 a.m.
At a hearing yesterday, representatives from the mayor's office and the Brighton Allston Improvement Association asked for an earlier closing time.
The mayor's office asked for midnight at the request of Boston Police and the neighborhood association asked for 1 a.m., saying it was concerned about the area being flooded by people getting out of area bars between 1 and 2 a.m.
The Soldiers Field McDonald's, which already has a 24-hour drive-thru, is seeking permission to keep its dining room open until 2 a.m.
The Boston Licensing Board considers the request at a hearing tomorrow.
Last year, the restaurant simply started running its dining room around the clock, figuring if the nearby IHOP could, so could it. Then, a Boston Police officer issued a citation and the franchisee learned you can't simply open a restaurant whenever you feel like it without permission of the licensing board.
McDonald's plans to seek permission to open the dining room at its Soldiers Field Road location around the clock - after learning it couldn't do so just because a franchisee felt like it.
The outlet at 1750 Soldiers Field Rd. already has permission for a 24-hour drive-thru, but was cited by police last month after a detective found the dining room open at 11:45 p.m., customers munching away inside and a large sign advertising all-night food behind the counter, even though the dining room is only licensed to stay open until 11 p.m. In addition to issuing a citation, he ordered the immediate halt to food sales inside.
See? Plenty of room on Tremont
The peeved citizen who repeatedly complained about the McDonald's delivery truck blocking West Street early every Friday sent a shoutout this morning to the BPD officer in cruiser 1145 who forced the driver to turn onto Tremont Street to keep West clear. Granted, he let the driver pull onto the one-way Tremont the wrong way, but baby steps, people.
Stupid truck.
Every Friday morning, somebody tries to drive down West Street in Downtown Crossing. Only to have to back up and find another way to work because of a stupid McDonald's delivery truck parked there, just around the corner from Tremont.
MBTA Transit Police report they've nabbed the guy who allegedly destroyed a $3,000 cash register at the South Station McDonald's, possibly in a snit over it being closed when he wanted to buy something.
Timothy Chace, 28, of Dorchester, was arrested on a charge of malicious destruction of property with the aid of people who recognized his photo from a wanted poster, police say.
More specifically, somebody called police and told them where he worked, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports:
The Allston Civic Association will oppose plans by the owner of the Brighton Mills McDonald's to extend his hours until 2 a.m., the Crimson reports.
The association voted 7-6 to oppose the later hours. Members cited the precedent that letting the burger joint stay open would have and said only transients from away would be likely to eat there that late. Owner Bob King says he needs the extra hours to make up for the anticipated loss of revenue during the relocation of the nearby Charlesview Apartments.
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