Hey, there! Log in / Register

East Boston billiards parlor had to educate foreign-born workers that BPD cops aren't coming in to grab them

When the two licensing detectives walked into Billares Colombia on Bennington Street around 12:40 a.m. on Jan. 15, an employee who had been overseeing shots of aguardiente fled, leaving the bottles just sitting on a pool table, where anybody could drink from them.

That reaction might have made sense in her native Colombia, where cops walking into a place rarely means anything good, the parlor's attorney says, but in Boston, that meant a trip downtown for a Boston Licensing Board hearing on a citation for "failure to comply" with city bottle-service regulations, which require bottles to remain under the control of a server at all times.

The two detectives were there for a snap inspection.

At the hearing this morning, Billares's attorney, Danilo Avalon, acknowledged the infraction. "She did make a mistake and walk away," leaving the bottles behind, because that's just what one does in Colombia, he said.

He said Billares's owners have re-trained their staff, to emphasize they are not in Colombia, that police are not there to harm them and that they should "simply cooperate with them."

He said the parlor has had no other problems with bottle service since it won an amendment to its license to allow it three or four years ago.

The board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take.

. .

Neighborhoods: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

What a complete waste of public resources.

up
Voting closed 0

for creating the violation in the first place. And yet, BPD refuses to go after dirt bikers whose reckless actions are endangering others. Sad times we live in.

up
Voting closed 0

Under what circumstances was the choice to run made by anyone other than the bartender? Did the detectives brandish a weapon? Make threatening gestures? Scary noises? Bare their teeth?

up
Voting closed 0

that police are not there to harm them

Well, (expletive), if the establishment didn't call the police, then the police are there to harm them.

What, the police don't come to your home or business just to say hello and sip tea?

up
Voting closed 0

donut shop, they're there to say hello and sip coffee.

up
Voting closed 0

They say way-oh, way-oh.

up
Voting closed 0

“they are not in Columbia”

But are they in Colombia?

up
Voting closed 0

"not in Columbia"

Hey, this is a Harvard city!

up
Voting closed 0

Ivy League universities in the District of Columbia, in Columbia Maryland, or Columbia South Carolina.

There is however a place in South America called 'Colombia.' I wonder if this person was from there.

up
Voting closed 0

Columbia used to be a name synonymous to America. That's why they call DC the "District of Columbia"

up
Voting closed 0

Columbia Broadcasting System

But it went out of common fashion after Colombia the country declared independence and some...unpleasantness...around the time of Teddy Roosevelt brought its existence into the American public consciousness.

up
Voting closed 0

The State of Washington wanted to be the State of Columbia, as in the Columbia River.

Only there was concern with it being confused with the District of Columbia.

up
Voting closed 0

up
Voting closed 0

I really hope they stop selling coke out of this establishment. It is really bringing down the neighborhood.

up
Voting closed 0

Of course, this isn't something that is happening.

up
Voting closed 0

unfortunately, it is.

up
Voting closed 0

No, it's not, and you're just stirring up shit.

up
Voting closed 0

Well, when they do lines in the bathroom stall its kind of hard not to notice. Also if you ask the local cabs they will tell you the police know about it and they have been doing it for years, but refuse to do anything about it.

up
Voting closed 0

For years? The place hasn't been open for 5 years. This isn't some long-term institution known for depravity. I highly doubt if there were sales or blatant use of drugs in any establishment in Eastie, that a blind eye would be turned. I know they do with the biker gangs, but there have been a number of busts in the area.

up
Voting closed 0

If they're bringing down the neighborhood, they should at least improve their product

up
Voting closed 0

Now let's imagine what were to happen if this weren't a one-off misunderstanding but instead we had a large number of people here who were isolated behind a language barrier and/or had a load of cultural baggage that wasn't quite compatible with how we do things here.

That would be bad if it were to ever happen and we might want to prevent such an eventuality to the extent that we can.

up
Voting closed 0

This is not a comment on the ethics of being in the country without papers but I suspect that the workers were in the country without papers. I understand things are different in Columbia but seriously I am not buying it. Although they still have nothing to worry about with BPD but the owner needs to be careful because now the ICE guys know where to stick their little rat noses.

up
Voting closed 0

Didnt you just read? Like 10 threads regarding it being Colombia not Columbia..... Makes your entire point mute

up
Voting closed 0

While we're pointing out spelling errors...

up
Voting closed 0

On that note, "moot" actually means important, so I think "mute" was a bit more accurate in that regard.

up
Voting closed 0

moot
mo͞ot
adjective
1.
subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting of a final decision.
"whether the temperature rise was mainly due to the greenhouse effect was a moot point"
synonyms: debatable, open to discussion/question, arguable, questionable, at issue, open to doubt, disputable, controversial, contentious, disputed, unresolved, unsettled, up in the air
"a moot point"

up
Voting closed 0

ethics of being in the country without papers.

It is unethical to be in the country without papers.

It is even more unethical to work in the country without papers.

It is more unethical still to be in the country without papers, work in the country without papers, and for the cherry on top to also do the job poorly as a direct consequence of doing it without papers.

up
Voting closed 0

It's unethical to steal from people looking to get an education with a fake "university".

It's unethical to console a country in chaos by saying you would have run in to a mass shooting unarmed, despite being a draft dodger who pisses on Gold Star families and POW's.

It's also unethical for food to spoil because the migrant workers that do the work white people won't do have to worry about a bunch of thick necked Nazis like the ICE goons.

As far as that last bit of nonsense, spend a lot of time in East Germany back in the day?

up
Voting closed 0

to have a class of jobs reserved for people of just one ethnicity, to shunt people of that ethnicity into that class of jobs, to pay people of that ethnicity peanuts on the grounds that it's not work fit for white people, and put the figleaf of a market-driven wage ceiling on this operation by keeping the borders open to make the amount of labor over-supplied with respect to the amount of jobs.

It's also of questionable ethics to refer to American border patrol as Nazis when they are demonstrably not Nazis. Doubly so in a political climate where certain extremists feel it is open season to commit violence against people they deem to be "Nazis."

As for the last bit...Soviet Union...why would anyone want to spend time in a mere client state? Go for the gold, my friend. Which reminds me: did you check under your mattress for Russian internet trolls today? I hear there's an infestation going around.

up
Voting closed 0

I would argue that one could oppose war (especially one we had no business in like Vietnam) while also having the gumption to charge an armed civilian shooting at children.

That said, I don't believe Trump would do either of those things.

up
Voting closed 0

How many anti-Trumpers here believe that nominal neutrals like myself and hard-core Trumpists like my good friend capecoddah, and the anywhere between 39 and 50pct of people who don't disapprove of Trump enough to say so in a telephone poll...don't also think that was a questionable thing for him to say?

Indeed, it is possible to agree with some, many, or most of Trump's stated political and campaign goals while also thinking he's personally a clown.

up
Voting closed 0

Whom you just described to a T. In his words, "Trump acts like a 13 year old girl." But that girl also nominates conservative judges who will defend his beloved pro-life stance (he's himself an adoptee, which is a step above citing Jesus nonsense as the reason), and he's ostensibly pro-Israel, which are his two hot buttons.

He's not in my circle because we agree on abortions (I'm as pro-choice as anybody you'll meet), he's there for talk about sports and horse race handicapping and Vegas intrigue. The middle exists. It's just not very loud anymore.

up
Voting closed 0

Having a friend with whom you disagree with on politics. Can't have that these days. Everyone expects the Spanish Inquisition.

up
Voting closed 0

Still waiting on that check for the wall? Still waiting on that swamp to be drained of the Goldman guys he vilified on the trail?

Trump is a puppet, incapable of any type of rational thought and the GOP and their owners are making big bucks off of the chaos he's causing in the government.

And if and when the Russian connection is made, the GOP will pin it all on that traitorous fool.

up
Voting closed 0

and hard-core Trumpists like my good friend capecoddah

Catch me if there are any gun rights infringed upon without at least reciprocity passing. First things first.

I am a hard-core fan from way way back. His books were very inspiring for a Gen-X'er such as myself. I do have limits, though. I could easily ditch Trump for Tony Robbins and have a nice life. Of course, President Trump is doing excellent with the court picks. I forgave Reagan for most of his crap..... most. I have a feeling President Trump is going to follow the same path, but would not be surprised if he went full left-wing Bush at some point. It has happened too often in my life.

up
Voting closed 0

It is even more unethical to work in the country without papers.

Why? Who is being harmed by your actions?

up
Voting closed 0

lawfully who are also seeking employment and now have additional competition that isn't quite as subject to worker protection laws or minimum wage laws as they are.

up
Voting closed 0