you learn something new every day

the meeting last night among lowell city council, license commission, neighborhood leaders, business owners, police and district attorney employees, and, most of all, concerned citizens, was, to me, a purely encouraging demonstration of the strength of our democratic and deliberative processes, and a positive reflection on the entire community. the license commission took the brunt of collective frustration and its share of lumps from the other speakers, but attorneys and license commissioners brian akashian and ray weicker (all best wishes to commissioner bayliss for his recovery from surgery that precluded his direct participation) were patient for their turn to speak, and creditably eloquent and constructively clear on the full extent and limits to their power as a commission, and fully positive with their suggestions on how better our police and community at large can assist them by bringing them the correctly documented incidents upon which they would be legally able to act. it was eye-opening to learn that, despite the across-the-board and significant increases in crime and liquor mismanagement incidents, the actual number of actionable incidents brought before the license commission has decreased(!!!).

the overwhelming consensus from residents, business owners, bar owners and community leaders was NOT to punish licensed establishments across the board for the misbehavior of a guilty few, and the entire room was collectively relieved and encouraged that no one had any interest in acting on the license commission recommendation to roll back hours across the city. (comments by commissioners made it clear that the nomination of which was more of a presentation of a stark alternative in order to motivate fair compromise than a serious suggestion, which is disappointing they lacked better trust in the other parties to have brought it up in the first place, but encouraging that they're right here with everyone else in wanting to preserve and protect successful, responsible enterprise). the police suggestions of altering closing-hour activities by barring late entry, stopping entertainment with enough time before closing to enable sufficient "winding down" for patrons, and monitoring doorways were accepted wholesale by the city council, and referred to city manager lynch for construction into actionable ordinances upon which they could vote at the earliest responsible opportunity. (perhaps not by this coming tuesday owing to the packet deadline of today, but likely within a week's time after that).

i like the sound of the proposals, will wait patiently for the city manager to craft the legislation and the council to properly deliberate and take action, and look forward to supporting my local establishments with my usual uninterrupted zeal. (the fundraising show at the old court for one of the victims of downtown violence, james mcswain, is tonight at 8pm, featuring the subprime lenders, the abbadons, and MED).

the license commission said loud and clear they want to be able to take action. it's now up to us to work with the city to craft the right legislative language for the new regulations, and to help the police in documenting any and all violations so that the entire process can be made to work to the advantage of all. everybody wants all the restaurants, bars and clubs to succeed responsibly. the owners want to succeed responsibly. let's help them!