a little quiz for our license commissioners
ok mssrs bayliss, weicker and akashian, this little quiz is for you:
is it legal or illegal in the commonwealth of massachusetts to encourage any organized game which promotes excessive drinking?
do you or do you not consider beer pong an organized game which promotes excessive drinking?
are you planning to or not planning to take any action on the signage at the blue shamrock advertising tuesday and wednesday night beer pong tournaments?
here's the cut-and-paste from the massachusetts tips (training and intervention procedures for servers of alcohol) online training guide:
Happy Hour Laws - Licensees may not: offer single-priced, unlimited service drink specials; give free drinks to patrons; encourage any organized game which awards alcohol as a prize or promotes excessive drinking; or serve more than two drinks to a patron at one time.
in my repeated experience walking past and drinking in the bar i have first-hand observed the dispensation of free drinks to patrons, the serving of more than two drinks to a patron at one time, and, now, this.
three strikes? apparently not in lowell...
would the license commission like to respond? (i'm not holding my breath)
edited to add "drinking in" for those reading-comprehension-challenged readers (or reader?) who missed the previous references to drinking in the blue shamrock in previous posts, and wanted to imply that all i do is walk past the place.
is it legal or illegal in the commonwealth of massachusetts to encourage any organized game which promotes excessive drinking?
do you or do you not consider beer pong an organized game which promotes excessive drinking?
are you planning to or not planning to take any action on the signage at the blue shamrock advertising tuesday and wednesday night beer pong tournaments?
here's the cut-and-paste from the massachusetts tips (training and intervention procedures for servers of alcohol) online training guide:
Happy Hour Laws - Licensees may not: offer single-priced, unlimited service drink specials; give free drinks to patrons; encourage any organized game which awards alcohol as a prize or promotes excessive drinking; or serve more than two drinks to a patron at one time.
in my repeated experience walking past and drinking in the bar i have first-hand observed the dispensation of free drinks to patrons, the serving of more than two drinks to a patron at one time, and, now, this.
three strikes? apparently not in lowell...
would the license commission like to respond? (i'm not holding my breath)
edited to add "drinking in" for those reading-comprehension-challenged readers (or reader?) who missed the previous references to drinking in the blue shamrock in previous posts, and wanted to imply that all i do is walk past the place.
posted by kad barma at 4:55 PM
9 Comments:
One of the reasons the license commissioners "don't take complaints seriously" is because of unreasoned whining like this.
You obviously have some kind of hard on for the Blue Shamrock. Your critiques in the past of such vital issues to the long term success of an establishment, such as their accoustics, their treatment of the grammy winning music acts you follow and now this latest little diddy show a bias that would make another downtown denizen like me ignore you, never mind people charged with overseeing liquor establishments in the city.
Everything you point to in this post is done in many other bars in the city. Not to mention, in some of the upscale restaurants I'm sure you have no problems with. They even went on at all those fancy places of the past that are now long gone from town because elitists don't spend enough money to keep them in business.
What, you think Adriana at Paradiso never offered a beverage on the house to her precious few regulars before going belly up? If she didn't, that probably explains why her landlords are short a hundred K or so.
While you're in the business of handing out advice, please fill the license commissioners in on how you only "walk by" the Shamrock but can tell that free drinks are being served. That's obviously a lie. Were you inside and saw it, but can't admit to hanging out in such a shady place because you're upscale friends might be appalled?
Beer pong at the Shamrock? Wow, what a shock. It's not like we can't find it on Merrimack Street or anywhere else in the city. I will tell you what we can't find at the Shamrock. Stabbings and brawls. Lately, those take place closer to John and Lee streets, indicating to the untrained eye that the problems are arising at other establishments. Do you intentionally ignore that in your vendetta against the Shamrock? Unfortunately for you the license commission probably has to take pesky little facts like that into account before shutting a place down because the accoustics aren't up to your snuff.
Did the thought ever cross your mind, or the minds of other downtown imports, that the stabbings and violence are simply a function of a college town and an urban center containing homeless shelters and a sizable, poor minority population, many of whom see their youth turn to gangs and would stab each other regardless of whether beer pong games were taking place nearby. But hey, why talk about that as a factor, when all that would do would point to your own ignorance in chosing to purchase property in an area without doing your proper market research.
Are we getting closer to the crux of the issue now, why your problems always seem to be with the Blue Shamrock as opposed to other bars and other factors?
You live near there, don't you? You got suckered into overpaying for a condo in a "mills and martinis" downtown, when in reality you were moving into an urban city with all the issues that go along with it. Establishments you despise because they're not your type were there before you moved in and still survive somehow, while your
chosen places come and go like thieves in the night because a blue collar town at its heart can't support as many upscale businesses as you'd like. That really digs at your craw, doesn't it? I'll bet you they'll still be playing beer pong at the Blue Shamrock long after your cherished Back Page has shuttered its doors and left the tax collector high and dry.
Was I way off base there in my analysis of your issues? If so, let me apologize. I can only go by what I observe when "walking by" your mind without entering it.
The ignorance I see here is all yours. You obviously don't live downtown here, nor do you actually spend any time actually in any of these bars. The reason I speak first-hand about the offering of shots to underage girls at the Blue Shamrock is that I've been there when it's happened. The reason I speak first-hand about the backed-up toilets upstairs in Gemstones is that I've seen them myself. (And more than once). The reason I am so critical is that the joint is, in my first-hand opinion, worthy of the criticism. If I don't criticize Furey's for the same things it's because their restrooms function, and their bar isn't out of beer when I go there to see a band. (As I will this coming Saturday--you can join me there and we can discuss your ideas about the sorts of places I prefer to frequent downtown). If you're offended that I didn't include the Dubliner in my beer pong rant, well, if you would actually come down here at see for yourself, they're out of business. (So much for long-time establishments still being around). I don't know of any other beer pong tourneys in the neighborhood, but I'm happy to be educated as I sure will be the liquor commissioners too.
And why don't you show up at a Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting sometime? (Oh, yeah, I forgot, you don't live down here). It's ok, I'm sure they'll let you in anyway, and you can read through the police crime stats as the Superintendent shares them, that show it's not college kids, nor gang kids, behind the majority of violence outside the bars here. In fact, I'd be extremely happy to head out for the evening downtown here anytime, and you can pick the spot, so you can judge for yourself. I'm good walking anywhere on the Downtown side of the Merrimack and Concord Rivers on the North and East, and from the White Eagle to the West, and the Hynes Tavern to the South--anywhere in that radius that you like. If you want to go downscale, I'd prefer Furey's to the Shamrock, but I'm in no way trying to talk you out of seeing what goes on there yourself. I don't drink martinis, so, sorry, you'll have to sip those yourself. If I were to add up the beers, I'd guess I've had more over the past five years while at the Worthen than any other single place, and I'd be very happy to start there, but, then again, the Back Page hasn't been around that long and maybe if you'd actually go into it, you could have an informed opinion, instead of the ignorant one you prefer.
Again, the ignorance ball gets two handed back in your court (not the old court). You see I, too, pay attention at the same meetings with Chief Lavallee and the rest of downtown. It is my neighborhood and was long before you moved in.
I'm at the Shamrock all the time, as well as Hookslides, Old Court and even Cappy's. I don't see the constant brawls you try to portray at the Shamrock. As a matter of fact, you belittle your own argument by pointing to your personal experience of a "brawl" upstairs last summer. That's a lifetime ago in downtown Lowell brawl circles.
Fights are a weekly, if not nightly, occurence at Brian's. They even happen at Hookslide's and anywhere else juiced up idiots with too dangerous a combo of testosterone and alcohol frequent. I don't defend them. I decry them the same way you do. Except I try to be fair and don't let personal vendetta's get in the way of certain facts. You want beer pong? Go to any downtown hardcore bar at various times over the last couple of years and you'll have found, or will find it.
Again, your bias shows in your portrayal of underage girls getting served shots. Our friends at LPD and the ABCC ROUTINELY conduct underage sting operations, and the Shamrock has not been nabbed since, I can't remember when. In fact, the worst recent offender is the Smokehouse, with at least 4 underage girls (one even 18 years old) caught in the joint. But there have been many others, which you conveniently fail to mention in your ongoing vendetta.
Whether you believe it or not, you and I are on the same side of the general argument about downtown craziness. But your ongoing whining about the Shamrock, much like many of our other neighbors' unreasonable complaints about other issues start to cloud the more serious concerns and provide justification to the license commissioners and the pols who back them.
Carry on.
If you'd care to read backwards, my September post that started most of this specifically cited the Smokehouse and the repeated incidents of underage drinking as the single "smoking gun" indicative of license commission omission. I happen to live across from the Shamrock and see the stuff that goes on there, and I write about it. If that's "bias", it's a geographic one. I don't hesitate to write about the crap I experience elsewhere, as I did when trashing the Sun's music blog suggestion that places like Ole failing were the fault of the patrons and not the ownership that didn't care to hire a bartender who actually tended bar.
It doesn't take a downtown lifer to smell the difference between a failing business, like Fortunato's, and a thriving one, like Life Alive. You try to play the "I've lived here longer than you" card, but that's a crock. There's nothing down here (but the shells of the buildings) that's been here longer than a few years. There's certainly no Bon Marche anymore. There's no Evos. There's no Dub anymore AGAIN. (I still hang out with the niece of the owners from three iterations ago). My first beer back in 1978 was at the Olde Worthen back when it was the Olde Worthen. I'd show you the initials I carved in the booth, but they took out the booths a long time and several ownership changes ago. Doesn't make me an expert anymore than it makes you. But it does make the point out that I've had just as much experience as just about anyone with just about every joint downtown. I haven't been into the Allstar Cafe. It's on my list. But I can't think of another joint in which I haven't been several times. (Ok, the SAC club is another, but that's on purpose).
I sometimes joke to people that I count my years here by the number of places I can point to where Bam's Unisex Salon used to be. (Four, and counting, I think). I never liked Caffe Paradiso because they charged too much for their beer. I've always found the ownership at Brian's Ivy Hall to be responsive when engaged on the challenges and complications of packing several hundred drunk knuckleheads into their club several nights a week. The management at Hookslide's even more so. When Nick gave me his number to call him whenever I saw something out of whack at the Shamrock, he's never called me back. It's not like I don't want him to succeed, or find his business to be any different than any other. I just find the practices there to be in need of improvement so they *don't* go out of business, and so that we don't end up as a destination drunk for more out of town idiots who piss in our alleyways and don't give two shits about how they leave things before they drunken drive out of town again.
No crock KB. Many folks have lived here longer than you. And many businesses predate your first beer at the Worthen.
You've now questioned my credentials as a senior downtown resident twice, once just now and once previsously when attempting to "educate" me about the chief's numerous downtown summit meetings. I guess that's sometimes easier than dealing with me on the points I raise and the issues themselves.
Tell me, are you the one who complained about Bayliss and the boys granting the Shamrock an outdoor entertainment license because it disturbed your sleep? If not, you surely remember Nick's rebuttal that you (or the person making that complaint) shouldn't complain about noise when you moved in across the street from a location that far predates your arrival as a resident.
(Does that prove I know what I'm talking about and might indeed be a downtown denizen, or are you going to continue to write me off as some "detractor" with no idea what I'm talking about?)
P.S. Enjoying the back and forth. Just with you and others like you would work in a more productive manner to correct the real and serious issues we face instead of coming across as constant nagging wives and making those with the power to make actual changes write you off as such.
That last paragraph should read "WISH you and others like you would..."
The outdoor PA doesn't disturb my sleep. My windows face the Pawtucket Canal. The outdoor PA disturbed the people attempting to enjoy the hospitality of Fortunato's (on the edge of going out of business) and Caffe Paradiso (over the edge of going out of business). My interest in reasonable assignment of outdoor PA privileges and adhering to such is that not doing so can and does cost other owners their livelihoods.
You misunderstand if you think me one of those folks like those who whined at BIH about their noise, but then never let the cops in to measure it. I like nightlife. I go out into it more nights a week than not. I just like better managed nightlife.
As to the stabbing, I can't comment, I don't know anything about the circumstances. If you say it was a gang kid I won't argue, but I will say that the majority of the incidents between 1am and 3am downtown on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights do not appear to have that element.
I know you aren't one who whines at BIH. You're too busy whining about the Shamrock. Sorry, bad humor there. Couldn't resist one more dig.
I do appreciate your dedication to supporting all facets of downtown life, including the businesses themselves. I hope you channel it in a productive manner to help improve the situation.
As for anyone else reading this, what would help downtown more than anything else is a voice on the council. Time for us to run council candidates. Franky was one voice, albeit it too short lived and too timid at times. Wouldn't it be nice if one of the residents themselves actually won election.
Not intended to be a political endorsement as much as an observation--I've met the mayor at numerous events downtown here since his election, including a Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting during which downtown disorder was to be discussed, as well as at community events like the recent book show upstairs at the Old Court this past weekend, and he has always been attentive to citizen conversations, and, observing his actions among the Council, responsive to legitimate concerns. No, not a downtown resident on the council, but someone who appears to respect what we have here.
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