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Land rush at the licensing board as restaurant owners try to get one of 10 new liquor licenses
By adamg on Thu, 01/21/2016 - 12:36pm
The Boston Licensing Board next week hears 12 requests for liquor licenses - all but two from either the North End or the South Boston waterfront - for one of the ten "all alcohol" licenses freed up by the state legislature for Boston last fall.
That's on top of the four restaurants whose requests they heard this week and two last week.
The 2014 state legislation that gave Boston new liquor licenses that could only be used in certain outer neighborhoods also included 10 "unrestricted" licenses so far - with another 5 next year - that could be used anywhere in the city. But ambiguities in the 2014 meant the city didn't get to dole them out until after the legislature amended the law last fall (attorney John Connell has more details).
Unlike the neighborhood licenses, which have to be returned to the city if the holders go out of business, these unrestricted permits can be resold, subject to the board's approval. In booming Boston, that instantly makes them worth $300,000 or more - and an asset solid enough that banks will use them as collateral for loans. They do carry an annual fee that starts at $2,800, then adds $1 for each seat.
Board Chairwoman Christine Pulgini says she and the other two board members will first decide whether the applicants are even eligible for a license - for example, whether they proved a "public need" for a license. Then, assuming there are still more applicants in the pile than licenses, they will decide who gets them by looking at the time stamps on each applicant - and award licenses to the earliest filers.
Some of the license requests come for proposed restaurants. But in some cases, well established restaurants are seeking licenses:
The board this week heard a request for an all-alcohol license from Josephine Oliviero Megwa, who has run Piattini on Newbury Street for 15 years. If she gets the license, Megwa said she would return her current beer-and-wine license to the board, to award to somebody else. Last week, Ghassan Samaha made a similar request and promise for his Al-Wadi restaurant on VFW Parkway in West Roxbury.
Of the restaurants up for hearings next week, five are for Italian restaurants in the North End, five are for restaurants and a hotel in the South Boston Waterfront and Fort Point neighborhoods and one is for a restaurant at the Pru.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Jan. 27 Boston Licensing Board agenda | 155.77 KB |
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Comments
IT's beyond absurd that the state legislature gets to control th
The city should be allowed to issue as many licenses as it thinks is reasonable for the city. More examples of bumhick suburban handwringers fucking the city over while also sucking the economic teat.
Most suburbs have limits as well
But they're based on population, not the whims of the legislature.
The process should be this
A) Does the establishment agree to meet the requirements to sell liquor?
B) Does a background check reveal a legitimate reason (related criminal record) to not allow the establishment to sell liquor?
If the answer to (A) is Yes and the answer to (B) is No, then the establishment should be allowed to sell liquor.
Yes.
A license to sell liquor should be like a license to drive. As long as you meet the various (reasonable) qualifications, you should be able to pay a (reasonable) fee to get one.
Just don't drink and
drive...
First come, first served?
First come, first served? Yeah, that sounds like a fair way to do it. After all, there's no possibility that these applicants, most of whom own multiple establishments, got any inside information that the logjam was over and these licenses were becoming available. And who could have a problem with giving a $300,000 gift to wealthy restaurant owners? Wasn't the idea behind these licenses to share the wealth a little? See you later Mom and Pop.
No, the idea wasn't to share the wealth
You're right - nobody who didn't already have one of the better known licensing/zoning lawyers on retainer would probably know about these ten licenses.
But don't forget that for the ten licenses, there are also 40 licenses available in Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and whichever of the city's 20 or so "Main Street" districts are not in those neighborhoods. No, they don't become $300,000 assets, no, they don't resolve the issue of Boston liquor licenses becoming this sort of overpriced rentier thing, but they do begin to get licenses in the hands of people who could never afford a regular license on the open market. As with much of everything political, this was a compromise - you may recall Ayanna Pressley, who came up with the idea, wanted to end the cap on the number of licenses completely.
I wasn't referring to the
I wasn't referring to the restricted "Main Street" licenses. If there are 10 licenses for the rest of the city, why should most of them go to just two (already well-served) neighborhoods? Any why should most of them go to people who could easily afford to buy a license on the open market? Look at the list of names on the Licensing Board agenda you provided (thanks for that, by the way). Something is wrong with this picture.
How many prospective licensees
employ Dennis Quilty as their attorney? 10? 11?
Good question
Look at the attached agenda - and count up all the references to Quilty, Karen Simao, Joseph Hanley and William Ferullo (all of whom work in Quilty's firm).
Why does that matter?
Licensing and permits is what they do. Do you hire the guy with the most experience, or do you hire somebody who never represents in front of the licensing board? I know which one I am picking
Its like getting a bond.
Every year or so I gotta go over to A.A. Dority to get a bond with the city.
It's not a conspiracy, it's just what they do.
Same with this guy.
Time to end portability and private sales of liquor licenses
The legislation should have required that either the new licenses be sold to the highest bidder or carried the same restrictions as the neighborhood licenses so that a $2800 license couldn't be sold privately next week for $300,000. Now, it's essentially a winning lottery ticket without the random drawing. I could see grandfathering existing licenses so they could be sold one more time but eventually the city has to put an end to this racket. It's also ridiculous that an existing neighborhood bar/restaurant can sell their citywide all alcohol license for $300,000 and then receive a neighborhood license for $2800 the same day. It must be nice to make $297,200 for a paper swap.
That's what made the Piattini and Al-Wadi requests interesting
Granted, the more restrictive beer-and-wine licenses would probably "only" fetch something well south of six figures, but it's interesting both places agreed to just hand in their current licenses should they get one of the new all-alcohol ones. I'm doubting there's no market for beer-and-wine licenses.
Artificial Scarcity
These licenses seem a lot like the taxi cab medallions. Artificial scarcity and absurd profits for those connected enough to get their hands on them, all while raking the consumers over the coals. We already don't have happy hour, can't we at least get a little bar/restaurant competition?
And if we ever come to our senses and get rid of this antiquated system, guess who's gonna put up a stink about it being unfair and come crying to the state because they dropped 300k on a license?
Whole thing is beyond stupid.
Thanks, Puritans.
Word
Imagine what the culinary scene could be if competition were allowed.
I thought they were supposed to be for
the outlying neighborhoods that are under-served because the licenses are too expensive for newer restaurateurs? The North End and Seaport are hardly lacking dining establishments!
Separate stacks of licenses
Those are a separate stack of licenses. In addition to the "outlying neighborhood licenses", they also created a number of new "unrestricted" licenses that are available to all. And they trickle out over a period of years (10 this year, 5 more next year according to Adam at the top).
But they aren't really
But they aren't really "available to all." Unless you are one of the favored few who is already time stamped at the Licensing Board, you won't get one. One of my favorite restaurants, which is in neither the Seaport nor the North End (two highly over-rated venues in my opinion), would love to have one of these licenses but is just now finding out about them due to publicity from the press, not the City. So, despite all the lip service paid to helping small business owners, the cards are stacked against them yet again.