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New Cleveland Circle restaurant would have 32 security cameras and close ties to BC to keep kids away from beer
By adamg on Wed, 01/23/2019 - 11:50am
The proposed owners of a new restaurant in a Chestnut Hill Avenue spot that has been causing problems for years vow they won't repeat the mistakes of the past two places there - which included having workers drag unconscious patrons into alleys and letting under-age BC students belly up to the bar.
Attorney Stephen Miller told the Boston Licensing Board this morning his clients - George and Bob Kariotis - have already cleared the former Agoros of beer signs and black lights as part of total rehab of the interior. But beyond the cosmetic renovations, Miller said the brothers plan to buy a "sophisticated ID scanner" and to install 32 security cameras to try to limit the number of fake-ID-holding BC students from getting in and to better identify the troublemakers should trouble happen.
Miller added the brothers have agreed that they will turn over any IDs of BC students who either try to get in or who do get in to the college so that the kids can feel the school's full disciplinary wrath. The Circle would also bar admittance to anyone under 21 after 8 p.m. to curb the problem of legal-age patrons passing their IDs off to their younger pals, he said.
He added that while the Kariotis brothers have extensive restaurant experience, they are hiring a chef and a bar manager so that they can devote all their time at night to staying on the restaurant floor to keep an eye on things.
Miller, who is familiar with the location and its problems because he helped Rogaris get his beer-and-wine license, said that almost the entire purchase price will go just to paying off back taxes and other debts the past owners left unpaid.
The proposed license purchase has the backing of the mayor's office
The board could decide at a meeting tomorrow whether to approve the license transfer.
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Comments
Keep It Classy
The best chance they could have of avoiding issues is to make it an actual restaurant that happens to also have a bar, rather than the other way around. Make it a high end bistro with high end prices and BC kids won't come there.
That's true, but....
Aside from the students, the people living in the neighborhood are mostly young professionals. If the place wants to succeed, they need to appeal to the palate and the wallet of the people who would be likely to walk there. Not sure a foo-foo place would survive in that location.
Those same young professionals who are
quitting Facebook and deciding they don't want to be victims of a surveillance state?
32 cameras doesn't foster a good mood for me. Why would I pay money to go to a place like that?
Maybe they still want the BC kids who are still conditioned to authoritarianism. That would fit with child-like rebellion like falsifying IDs.
Young professionals have money
Just look at the restaurants in Washington Square which cater to such a crowd. I'm not even sure what the term "foo-foo" even means but we're talking bistros not white tablecloths. Think something like the Washington Square Tavern or The Publick House or The Abbey from Washington Square - or say the Franklin Cafe from the South End.
You don't need 32 cameras and ID scanners if you're not carrying Bud Light and its ilk.
What I wouldn’t give for a
What I wouldn’t give for a place like that in the neighborhood!
Washington Square is not
Washington Square is not Cleveland Circle.
Also in the news...
Also in the news check out Universal Hub Éminence Grise at mark 08:59 at https://omny.fm/shows/studio-bz/hub-of-the-universe?t=8m58s
Killing a gnat by hitting it with a hammer
How about actually prosecuting the students using the fake IDs? Continued without a finding and oh no, we can't saddle someone with a criminal record for breaking the law are lame "excuses". Break the law, suffer the circumstances. Once enough students get the message that using a fake ID will likely result in a criminal prosecution, watch the number of people using fake IDs really drop.
Another option is prosecuting
Another option is prosecuting neither the underage drinker nor the venue. The district attorney has the discretion to stop enforcing laws that cause more problems than they solve.
They typically do both
The establishment is cited by police and has to show up before the licensing board (or the ABCC if they get caught by its investigators) and the kids they catch get to be arraigned on criminal charges.
Police officer job description
I would much rather be a cop working the beat in the Cleveland Circle area. Can you imagine what it must be like to be a cop on the beat at Melnea Cass? It's like, "hmmm, this guy screaming obscenities and threatening passersby, should I stop and hope I don't get spit on or stabbed with a needle? Nahh, i'll pretend I didn't see him this time."
Compare that to, "hmmm, there is some Chill Bro from BC having a beer. Should I stop and have him profusely apologize, the bar owner apologize, while I make the kid feel inferior and say 'hey, it's not the end of the world chief' while the BC female coed onlookers giggle? Maybe I'll bring the kid down to the station where he can call his parents."
Bingo
Been saying it for years: Police work should be piece rate for that reason, not salaried. What incentive do you ever have to confront the junkie?
Well the obvious answer is
Well the obvious answer is that the junkie could be a genie and grant you three wishes. I don't know if there's another reason, but that would be my incentive.
Disorderly Conduct won't be prosecuted
D.A. Rollins has said Disorderly Conduct won't be prosecuted so why would the officer stop at Melnea Cass to engage a person who he can do nothing with? As for bringing the BC student back to the station and calling the parents, not very effective if the parents live ten states away. They can't come for him but maybe they can yell at him during Christmas or Spring break when he gets home. Most of the BC enrollment is from out of state, very few locals these days.
The campus police and college authorities could do a far better job of disciplining and prosecuting the under 21 drinking crowd in-house with suspensions and expulsions. The BPD sector cars have other things to do in the neighborhoods. If they aren't already, make BC and BU PD "Special Boston Police Officers" or Deputy Sheriffs with the right of arrest at licensed liquor establishments within 2 miles of each school. Also have a roving team of campus officers/deans visit these problem bars to look for underage kids. Or, in this era of constant CWOFs, dismissals, releasing prisoners years early and legalization of drugs, just lower the drinking age to 18 and eliminate all of the above.
As for where officers are assigned to work, Melnea Cass or Chestnut Hill, some like the action and some don't. With a few years seniority, you can usually pick the station/barracks you want.