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The noblest slice: Theater District pizza place wants credit for invaluable public service in the wee hours
By adamg on Tue, 01/10/2017 - 12:16pm
At a hearing this morning, BPD Sgt. William Gallagher said he issued a citation to New York Pizza around 2:35 a.m. on Oct. 23 because of a crowd on Tremont Street that was so large and restive it was forcing pedestrians to detour into Tremont Street, possibly risking their lives. The one yellow-vested employee outside was simply unable to control the hungry horde, he said.
New York Pizza attorney Thomas Finnerty, Jr. acknowledged the infraction and said his client has since taken steps to avoid a repeat: When post-club crowds descend, employees will set up a line to keep the hungry from blocking the sidewalks - and that more employees will go outside to keep things under control.
Finnerty then launched into a defense of his client as he pleaded with the board for mercy when it considers possible punishments: "New York Pizza serves a very valuable service this time of night," he said.
People who have had too much to drink in a night of clubbing can sober up a bit as they wait for and then consume a slice, he said. "They can reflect upon whether or not they should be driving an automobile," he said.
"That's a very valuable service," he said, adding the take-out pizza that the place sells late at night also helps out workers getting out of the nearby bars, clubs and restaurants at 2 a.m.
The board decides Thursday whether to take any action on the citation.
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Comments
I love that place. Whenever
I love that place. Whenever I go to a show in the Theater District, I pop into this place at intermission to get a slice. They are definitely doing a public service!
I went to law school down the
I went to law school down the street from this place over 15 years ago. The guys at NY Pizza do more than a public service. In fact, they should file as a religious/exempt organization because they are a church of cheap, fast and good pizza, not to mention a patient bunch of monk-like men who have seen every level of student, transient and tourist engendered obnoxiousness.
couple of thoughts
the business has a responsibility towards this, ofc. but if this is also a public sidewalk and if this is a regular/semi regular occurrence perhaps some police presence would be in order.
i suppose its more likely that nothing useful will happen. a customer or employee will get hurt, the restaurant will be fined and they'll be forced to close their doors for some arbitrary period of time.
edit: one final thought, lol @ the pizza sobriety defense. when i was a teenager and worked at bars/restaurants that served alcohol they always told us that food wasnt going to make anybody sober any faster.
Theater District police presence
There's tons of it. The clubs all chip in for extra patrols around closing time on Fridays and Saturdays and, in fact, the cops close Tremont Street completely at 2 a.m. so people can get to their cars without getting run over, although they open it back up soon after. And, obviously, police did respond to this scene, or they wouldn't have issued a citation. For better or worse, part of the deal in applying for a food-service license in Boston is agreeing to keep your customers under control.
obviously they responded
obviously they didnt prevent it from happening
im more interested in preventative measures rather than citation after the fact. i thought i'd said as much in my comment but i didnt. probably posted that part in the cloud (my head).
like i said the restaurant has a responsibility to what happens- that much i recall putting in my first line- but also the street and sidewalk are public spaces. they can control their own customers to the best of their ability but i dont see how they have any grounds to remove somebody from the sidewalk nor to direct (pedestrian) traffic.
if im on a sidewalk with some friends and some restaurant guy starts talking to me im probably going to disregard what he is saying because it is a public area and (in this example) i am not a customer of his restaurant, i'm just hanging out in the area.
at any rate, i have my doubts as to the ability/right/absolute responsibility of a business to control activity on what is ultimately public property for which they have no legal governance over
Time = sobering up
The food itself, not so much.
Taking an hour to get and eat food? More sober.
If it takes an hour or more for you to wait in line, grab a slice or two, and then head to your car, you burn off some booze.
The best response for the restaurant
would be to put out orange traffic cones blocking off a lane of traffic in front, so that the pedestrians can safely spill out into the street. Any business that attracts a crowd large enough to block the sidewalk should consider this.
Details
The City would then require paid details for safety($$), a lane closure permit ($), and goodness know what other permitting.
If they sell enough pizza they could get their $$ back.
You are right about the food, but...
YEs, the food won't sober anyone up faster, but the wait for the food and the time spent in the pizzeria certainly helps. That was the point that the owner was making. Instead of going from the club to the car, and hour in between can do a whole lot of good. It's not a miracle, no, but it does indeed help.
A bit of a stretch.... but
A bit of a stretch.... but kinda' true.
I also fine their pizza pretty good during the day, and horrible late at night when they probably rush through making it. (The drunks will never notice)
Ummm... not a stretch. Back
Ummm... not a stretch. Back in the day, before I lived in Boston, when friends and I would frequent TT's and the Middle East, we would always get a large cheese pizza and sodas at Hi-Five Pizza (sp.) and sober up for an hour before driving home to the 'burbs. Pizza is cheap and that's all we could afford back then and thank goodness for Hi-Five because we weren't the only ones leaving the club and getting food and that was one of the few
places that served that late. Being buzzed is unacceptable when you get behind the wheel -- it's not just about drunks, as you mention.
Sober up a bit?
If you're hammered at 2am, two slices and a Pepsi before hopping back in the car at 2:30am isn't gonna help you.
hammered?
Not everyone is hammered, & if you have 3 drinks or so and are legally drunk, there's a mighty fine chance that 45 minutes to an hour takes you under the legal BAC.
And I deserve some kind of medal because I run a Dunkin Donuts,
and when murderers are in my place sipping coffee and munching Boston creme donuts, they're not out murdering people.
You have a valid point there.
After a sugar/caffeine high and subsequent come-down from those stale crap pastries and godawful copy, nobody would be in the right mind to carry out an act of violence.
conversely
http://whdh.com/news/medford-man-accused-of-selling-drugs-out-of-malden-...
Thank you!!!
Thank you!!!
The city could also widen the
The city could also widen the sidewalks by taking away one of the FOUR lanes of traffic on this one way street.
There are lanes on Tremont
There are lanes on Tremont Street?
Street View shows the lane dashes were starting to fade in 2011, and they only got worse from then, until they reached the current state of non-existence in 2015. https://goo.gl/maps/gYce6RFW2YU2
Good idea
There really are an unnecessary number of lanes there.
Are there?
Left lane to turn left, though the silver line takes up more than then one lane, often.
Actually, the pizza shop's delivery car parks in that lane often.
Two lanes to continue straight on Tremont.
Right lane for turning right onto Stuart.
But as the poster above noted, the street striping is non-existent, so people think their cars are larger than they are and jockey for position like poop there.
If I were the lane line czar
If I were the lane line czar of downtown Boston, there would be the (intended) 4 lanes for the last bit approaching the Stuart light. Upstream of there (starting right around the pizza place), the curb lane would either be parking, or would have a widened sidewalk.
Keeping the curbside travel lane all the way back from Boylston makes the area a wasteland.
I'd also lose the 4-way walk phases at Tremont/Boylston and Tremont/Stuart. That would make things better for pedestrians *and* drivers.
Chutzpah
I like it.
Another option
Allow more restaurants to be open at that time of night, allowing crowds to spread out.
Shhhhh
Not too loud with the common sense. You might upset the local officials. Remember, "D" stands for "dominion."
Design of the entire City Block needs review and redesign...
Design of the entire City Block needs review and redesign for a more pleasant experience walking around the District. Why is scaffolding allowed by City leadership on the block for so long?
Compare around the corner down a block Boston Kitchen Pizza at 1 Stuart Street corner of Stuart St, Washington St., Kneeland St.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/boston-kitchen-pizza-boston?sort_by=date_desc
https://www.yelp.com/biz/new-york-pizza-boston-5?sort_by=date_desc
So they save lives with pizza
...still ain't no Little Steve's.