Back in May we reported that state Senator Linda Dorcena Forry, in tandem with Mayor Marty Walsh, filed a Senate budget amendment intended to keep Boston bars and restaurants open until 4 a.m. Despite growing support for the measure, which we still continue to push, the amendment failed to make it to the final budget proposal for which voting commences on Monday.
The reasons Senator Forry’s and Mayor Walsh’s brainchild was unable to move past the Senate chamber abound, at least so think State Representatives. In fact, the House’s budget proposal was absent of any similar legislation that addresses extending nightlife in Boston past 2 a.m.
BostInno spoke with state Representative Michael Moran, who stands in opposition to later liquor service, about what exactly the hurdles are from a Beacon Hill perspective.
To him, the matter is twofold: not only is it a public safety concern, but tacking the amendment on as a budget proposal was an insufficient way of putting the mater before his, and Senator Dorcena Forry’s, State House constituents.
BostInno also reached out to Representative Aaron Michlewitz, another lawmaker in opposition, for a comment on the matter but he has yet to respond.
Representative Moran, whose districts include Allston-Brighton and parts of Brookline, told me in phone call that “wisdom decided this was not the best way to go about finding a solution to this.”
He made it abundantly clear that this is no knock on Senator Forry’s parliamentary chops and even applauded her for rightfully bringing the concerns of the people of her own respective district before the State Legislature.
But, he continues, “I might suggest that the best way to have this looked at would’ve been to have something filed a little more comprehensively.”
In essence, the amendment is too vague for Rep. Moran’s taste and has not elicited enough conversation around the matter to hammer out any important details – and the lack of dialogue equates to him as a lack of detail.
The amendment reads that the law capping last call at its current time would hold true “except in a city or town that is serviced by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Late-Night Service, as authorized by chapter 161A of the Massachusetts General Laws, and provided that the local governing body of such city or town accepts this provision.”
As it pertains to Boston, and as is a major concern for Rep. Moran, the amendment does not discern how many liquor licenses would be awarded per city neighborhood. Rep. Moran conveyed that if someone had approached the subject highlighting how many licenses would be allotted towards Roxbury and Mattapan, for example, as opposed to a broad number where many could be concentrated in high-volume, touristy areas like the North and South Ends, the House would be more open to consideration.
The Boston delegation also presented Beacon Hill with a letter to sign without any discussion, Rep. Moran continued, in hopes of consolidating more support and streamlining the process even more.
“We said we could not sign the letter if the 4 a.m. licenses are on there,” he noted. “Every person signed the letter when the 4 a.m. item was taken off.”
For a district like Rep. Moran’s, teeming with young professionals and college students, one can empathize why not having a specific outline of where establishments could stay open later is worth exploring. He also mentioned that advocacy groups, like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, have not had ample opportunity to voice any concerns of their own. The Allston Civic Association stands with rep. Moran, maintaining a position against the amendment.
Some 60 percent of police calls that come out of the area are in minutely close proximity to bars in Allston and Brighton alike, said Rep. Moran.
On the flip side of all of this is the city’s younger demographic, those more privy to utilizing the MBTA’s late-night pilot program in hopes of enjoying public transportation deeper into the night all year round. As per the program, an MBTA subway line will embark on its last trek of the night just prior to 3 a.m. Aside from people burning the midnight oil on the weekends, mostly comprised of food service industry workers, medical professionals, and the like, who don’t get off work until after midnight, late-night service doesn’t afford access to much – technically last call isn’t until 2 a.m. but many establishments begin to close down around 1 a.m.
Rep. Moran is still open to more talk of the matter, however, and isn’t closing any possibility for dialogue at this moment. Should Senator Dorcena Forry and Mayor Walsh team up and bring forth the issue come the next budget meeting in January, things could play out a bit differently. And while there’s still a possibility the measure could be tacked on to further legislation, as it was with the Senate budget proposal, it remains to be seen whether it will find its way out of the House.
A spokesperson from Mayor Walsh’s office said in an email that it’s unclear what the next steps are for the mayor’s Late Night Task Force, a group of local individuals charged with investigating the feasibility of a later Boston nightlife, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated as more information continues to be made available.
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