Summary of last night’s meeting of the North End / Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA):
City Councilor At-Large, Felix Arroyo, spoke for about a half hour regarding his work and priorities during his first term in office. Notable topics included youth issues (summer jobs), keeping library branches open, negotiating the firefighters contract and healthy living initiatives, specifically for asthmatics, with a recent initiative to ban smoking in parks and public spaces. Councilors Arroyo and LaMattina are life-long asthmatics. The Q&A with residents centered around quality-of-life, late-night noise and licensing issues, including Councilor Arroyo’s recent letter to the Governor supporting a “neighborhood-friendly” appointment to the open spot on the three-person Boston Licensing Board.
Vito’s, 54 Salem St. – Damien DiPaola, represented by Attorney William Ferrollo. The application is to the Licensing Board for the City of Boston to transfer the C.V. Malt and Wine Beverages with Cordials License formerly exercised by Eclano Restaurant to operate a new restaurant at the same location. The license has a 1:00 AM closing hour, seven days.
Vote: 28 support, 8 oppose, 1 abstain
NEWRA will write a letter supporting the application.
La Sosta di Marisa, 78-80 Salem Street, Marisa Iocco has applied to the Licensing Board for the City of Boston to transfer the C.V. Malt and Wine Beverages License formerly exercised by Grezzo Restaurant at 69 Prince Street to operate a new restaurant at 78-80 Salem Street, formerly Michael’s Salon. The license currently has an 11:00 PM closing hour seven days. The transfer application requests closing hours of 11:00 PM Sunday through Thursday and 12:00 AM Friday and Saturday. The 78-80 Salem Street location, a one-story building, is currently not zoned for restaurant use. The applicant plans to seek zoning relief to allow restaurant use.
Vote: 34 support, 3 oppose
NEWRA will write a letter supporting the application, conditioned upon receiving zoning relief.
La Famiglia Giorgio, 112 Salem Street, Albert Giorgio has applied to the Licensing Board for the City of Boston for a C.V. All-Alcohol Beverages License. The restaurant’s current license is for Malt, Wine and Cordials only. The application includes a request to condition the Licensing Board’s approval with the restriction that the existing Malt, Wine and Cordial license not be transferred by the licensee or reissued by the Licensing Board within the North End, thereby not increasing the total number of licenses in the neighborhood. Closing hours on the current license are for midnight, 7 days, however, the applicant agreed to closing hours of 11:00 Sunday – Thursday and midnight on Friday/Saturday.
Vote: 31 support, 4 oppose
NEWRA will write a letter supporting the application.
The application for Monica’s Restaurant (Richmond Street) extended hours was removed from the meeting agenda. The Boston Licensing Board ruled last week on the issue without NEWRA’s input, allowing for an extension to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
Councilor Sal LaMattina spoke to the group at the end of the meeting regarding the issues raised in the recent Globe article regarding a plan to make Hanover St. “one-way” as proposed by the North End Chamber of Commerce. LaMattina took aim at the premise of the article, saying “There is no plan to make Hanover St. a one-way street. There is definitely no plan.” A discussion with residents ensued regarding problems on Hanover Street, Salem Street and general quality of life issues.
Stay tuned for more details in upcoming posts.
I generally like Iocco but the last thing the North End needs is another restaurant.
The horse left that barn years ago Jimmy. The general consensus seems to be that It is better to have a restaurant owned by someone like Marissa I then an empty storefront.