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City councilors to seek just one new liquor license for now - for a West Roxbury social club
By adamg on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 10:19am
Updated following City Council vote.
The City Council will ask the legislature to relax its limits on liquor licenses in Boston so that the Irish Social Club in Boston can regularly serve alcohol to guests again.
The move, which comes even as the council readies for a hearing on ways to convince the legislature to give Boston a lot more liquor licenses, is needed to help preserve "the legacy of Irish and Irish-American culture in Boston" that the club promotes, city councilors Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) and Steve Murphy (at large) say.
The club shut down last year - and returned its liquor license - but has since has held several fundraisers and organizational drives to stay open.
Currently, the club has to apply to the city for a special liquor license every time it holds an event. O'Malley said the request will seek a special license that would apply only to the Irish Social Club - it could not be transferred or sold elsewhere.
O'Malley, who grew up going to dances at the club, said it is "a safe place, a centrally located place," for community events. Ge said the response from the community has been overwhelming - a drive to raise $50,000 for a new sprinkler system raised $100,000.
Murphy called the club "a jewel in the neighborhood of West Roxbury."
Councilor John Connolly (at large), who lives in West Roxbury, said the club and the effort to bring it back "speaks to what makes West Roxbury a great place to live."
The council voted unanimously in favor.
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Comments
This move gives rise to an appearance of bias if not corruption
Nobody is denying the contributions and importance of the Irish to Boston, but it doesn't look good for two Irish members of the City Council to be pushing for a special dispensation for the Irish Social Club. It certainly gives way to an appearance of bias, if not corruption.
With or without a social club, the legacy of the Irish and Irish-Americans in Boston is secure. With a specially granted liquor license to the Irish Social Club, so too would be the legacy of a perception of the Irish as clannish, taking care of their own first.
Oh please
If these were minorities, you wouldn't be saying that. People only bring up corruption when, god forbid, white Americans want to preserve their forefathers culture.
Obviously!
I don't think anyone here could possibly imaging non-white politicians being targeted in a corruption probe over trying to secure liquor licenses for members of their community.
Really?
Wasn't that one of the things Chuck Turner was accused of accepting bribes for?
Um, yes.
That was the point I was making.
Legacy of the Irish
So the legacy of the Irish in Boston is... hammered Micks?
Nice use of racial slang
I guess you can say Micks and not get busted on these postings. Is Nigga, Spic, Chink, Dago, next? You stay classy Lanny Budd.
The Irish are not a race, so
The Irish are not a race, so how can it be a racial slur? It may be an ethnic slur at best.
And Hammered Micks would make an awesome band name.
Call It What You Want
As the son of Irish immigrants who went through the busing wars of the 70's, You are still engaging in hate speech.
How did you know I was the
How did you know I was the son of Irish immigrants who went through the busing wars of the '70s?
I am black Irish, though. Do I get to rap using the N word or not? Please reply.
Arbitrary
"the two councilors say a liquor license would let the club attract new members and compete for event business"
This is true for every business trying to get a liquor license under our arbitrarily-capped system, so it's not clear why this club should get special treatment over those who have been waiting in line.
They SOLD their liquor
They SOLD their liquor licence and now want a new one? To attract new members? Why didn't they just keep the one they had?
From what I know the club was on the way out until they shut down suddenly and now there is a drive to rejuvenate membership. The problem is - in my opinion, as an Irish immigrant living near there - younger Irish people aren't as interested in an insular parochial club. We embrace our adopted community for all it's diversity and don't want to weep into crap beer listening to songs from the old country. We are not like the Irish-Americans who mostly populate these types of clubs, we are not all Catholic, we don't go to the Southie parade in protest at it's exclusive policy, we only go to church for funerals and we can skype home anytime we want. We're different and these kinds of clubs don't welcome or recognise that which is why they're failing. Saying that, I celebrate my rich Celtic heritage, my kids play Gaelic football, they can speak Irish and sing a come-all-ye with the best of them. I have never felt part of the Irish-American community in Boston and I have lived here for almost 20 years, the Ireland I grew up in is very different from the one these types of clubs seek to promote.
Social Club did NOT sell their old License - NO $$$ Received
Hi! Not sure where you got your information but the original story that Adam G references is true, the Original License was RETURNED to the Licensing Board for NO money. NOT sold. No really, I would imagine this was one of the first times this has happened at the Licensing Board, ever. It was returned by the previous Social Club President without the members knowledge. By the time the rest of the Board (and members) learned what had happened it was too late. That President is now obviously no longer President and the new Board (I'm the new Recording Secretary and a 30 something Irish American) has been trying to rectify this...*mistake*...I'm not sure what you'd call it. Since we have to pay for and apply for special licenses for nearly every function we haven't been able to do as much new events as we'd like - YET. We've started by trying to do more events with West Roxbury in general, like the 1st Taste of West Roxbury and Richie Gormley's "Lord Mayor of West Roxbury" Fundraiser for West Roxbury Charities. However, outreach to the local football clubs, holding seisuns, maybe feises is something we want to do going forward. The only way these groups are going to reflect "the new Irish" is if they show up - why couldn't your kids Gaelic Football team hold an Annual Banquet at the club?
Fair enough then.
If the club didn't profit from their license, then I could see some special allowance being made now. That's certainly a bizarre circumstance. I'm surprised the licensing board even knew what to do with it.
+1
Thank you. I live near there too. And I find your opinion interesting, unexpected and informative.
Actually, any 'Irish'
Actually, any 'Irish' American knows the 'real' Irish dislike them and appear to be, what's the word,embarrassed by Americans of Irish descent.
As a 1/2 second generation 'Irish' American, I honestly could care less about the so-called old country. Only went to the St. Patrick's Day parade once [in NYC]. NEVER go to 'Irish' bars, etc. Honestly, in reality I'm far more 'diverse' in my background and the place and manner I was raised than almost any 'real' Irish, so I find their looking down their nose at 'Irish' Americans pretty amusing.
By all means, hop on a plane and go 'home'. I am already home.
You prove my point, thanks. I
You prove my point, thanks. I think you might want to look up some punctuation rules with all that time you have, maybe the chip on your shoulder could help?
I am also already home, appreciate the welcome.
Hmmm...I punctuated
Hmmm...I punctuated correctly, aside from spelling American's incorrectly as 'Americans'. But I don't have an English degree, and clearly aren't as superior as you. So if you say I write poorly, so be it.
Honestly, my last name isn't Irish and I don't look Irish, so I'm sure any Irish person I've met wouldn't know I was an American of second generation 1/2 Irish descent. And I've found many of them to be snooty, superior and snobbish. And most do not like Americans of especially Irish descent. This isn't me having a chip on my shoulder, it's a fact. Young Irish especially are often snobs. And no, I'm not that old, only my early 30s. And finally,BTW, it was my Irish Grandmother who first pointed this out to me. She also noticed that they were often snobby. Trust me, I'm not the only American who has noticed this attitude and trend.
My apologies
I got the license issue wrong initially, but have since corrected the original post to reflect that one board member just gave the license back, rather than selling it.
My information came from the
My information came from the article above, I see that it has been corrected now.
My kid's football team is at the Irish Cultural Center, they have their own facilities.
How much did they sell theirs for?
As a matter of principal, I certainly agree that Boston needs more liquor licenses. The market for them is unproductively high and punitive on people trying to start a business or other organization.
BUT, the high cost of liquor license benefited these folks when they sold theirs. They can't profit from this arrangement and then turn around and expect it replaced for next to nothing. There are a lot of people who should be getting a remedy for the high cost of acquiring a liquor license than an organization which presumably just made a great deal of money because of the high cost of acquiring a liquor license.
They didn't sell their liquor
They didn't sell their liquor license.
But I doubt the Licensing Board would have
allowed them to keep it either.