Beer Works withdraws application for Davis Square liquor license

[keithn.livejournal.com]

I don't see something I can link to, but according to an e-mail that was just sent out by the Davis Action Group, Beer Works has withdrawn their city liquor license application. This was going to go before the licensing committee tonight.

My assumption would be that they were aware that they were not going to be granted a license and withdrew. So those who opposed the restaurant have succeeded. I have no idea if there is any link to recent issues with the building facade, but my understanding is that that should not have been a major issue since they had planned to replace it anyway.

A big question on my mind is whether or not Davis Square will now see ANY of the 8 remaining city wide liquor licenses. The argument used by Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz against Beer Works would seem to indicate that will not happen. The implication would be that you will see no new alcohol serving restaurants or bars in Davis Square unless they buy an existing license - so the total number of alcohol serving restaurants and bars will not increase in Davis Square anytime soon (without pressure on Alderman Gewirtz and the licensing commission).

Comments

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I think now is the time to start campaigning for Barcade to take that spot: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/04/04/barcade-boston/

[keithn.livejournal.com]

Alderman Gewirtz has decreed that she opposes using any of the 8 remaining citywide liquor licenses in Davis Square. So this idea suffers the same problem, and the same people who opposed Beer Works would oppose this, and the same thing will happen.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

"without pressure on Alderman Gewirtz and the licensing commission"

[vanguardcdk.livejournal.com]

Barcade would be awesome here! (and that wouldn't be a bad spot for it...commercial building right on the Red Line)

[ron_newman]

The Davis Action Group email has this link to view it as a web page.

[mytheria.livejournal.com]

I'd also love if there was a nice sit down restaurant. Having somewhere walkable for quiet special occasion dates. (I still miss Gargoyle's)


Edit: oops, was supposed to be a comment to mzrowan

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you consider Teele Square walkable, but True Bistro and Sabur both sound like they'd fit that ticket.

[mytheria.livejournal.com]

Sabur is one of the best brunches in the area! Never crowded and they serve hot biscuits with fig jam and apricot butter. I haven't gone for dinner in a long time though.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

As well as Istanbu'lu, which I really like!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

...This is the first time I've ever heard anybody complain about a lack of "sit-down restaurants" in Davis.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

For real.

[mytheria.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'm apparently officially the old fuddy-duddy at the ripe age of mid-30's

I was using 'sit down' as a short hand for
1) no TV in sight
2) a reasonable conversational volume
3) a menu not centered on fried food

Basically the closest (that we currently have) to what I think Davis needs is if the back half of foundry was visually and acoustically separate from the bar

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

don't worry, there is a bizarrely pedantic explanation that follows.

[ron_newman]

The Burren does not have TVs (with very rare exceptions such as this year's World Series). However, they sometimes have live music.

[bluesauce.livejournal.com]

Well congratulations NIMBYs, you got what you wanted. No new hamburgers in Davis to scare you.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I can't wait for the Burger King, massage parlor, and tobacco shop to go in and for the same people opposed to Beer Works to completely lose their shit.

[wintahill.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately this outcome is not surprising. Somerville seems to be developing a very anti-business reputation. This article on patch sums it up pretty well.

http://somerville.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/beer-works-withdraws-liquor-license-application--for-now

[laryu.livejournal.com]

The Patch article doesn't really talk about anti-business sentiment, but I completely agree with you anyway. My business (non-retail or restaurant) is based in Somerville but at this point I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else. I also own and live in a home in Davis Square and tried to join the Davis Action Group but was never added to the group. It's very insular and I guess I don't look or think like everyone else. Shameful.

[pryder]

I am saddened by this. Beer Works would have been a good addition to Davis Square; their restaurants feature both good food and good beer.

As for the sports bar concerns, the existing Beer Works locations vary by location. The Fenway and Garden ones feature TV prominently, but you can scarcely open an establishment with a bar in those neighborhoods without having large quantities of televisions because a huge part of your custom will be sports fans. The Salem Beer Works does not have TVs as a major feature; it's been a couple of years since I was there so I can't certify that they don't have any. I have not been to the other locations (Framingham, Hingham, and Lowell), but I would not expect televisions to be a major part of their decor.

[teko.livejournal.com]

I made this exact point at the community meeting. The owner of Beer Works specified that the layout would be similar to Salem -- TVs around the seating area with the sound off, showing only local sports. In no way is Beer Works a 'sports bar'. Several older people insisted that it was a sports bar even after admitting that they'd never been to a Beer Works location, nor had ever been to a sports bar of any kind.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Also, the Fenway one has fairly inobtrusive TVs; I ate there recently and I couldn't tell you if they even had TVs or not.

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

I could be wrong, but I think this just means that BeerWorks is withdrawing their request for one of the city's "special" licences, whose purpose is to encourage economic growth in an area. They can still get a liquor license and open in Davis Sq, they will just need to pay more money for it.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

exactly--the purpose of the special licenses is to promote development in parts of Somerville that need it most. They don't really belong in Davis.

[keithn.livejournal.com]

That's not what I think is going on, and I believe Alderman Gewirtz is sadly being misleading on this topic.

Most cities in Massachusetts get a limited number of liquor licenses from the state. The number is based on a quota - one license per 1,000 residents, with a minimum of 14. So we had 74. There are additional wine and beer only licenses - one per 5,000 residents with a minimum of 5. Any licenses beyond that have to be granted by the state legislature. Some lucky cities can grant as many licenses as they want - such as Cambridge for all liquor licenses or Arlington for beer and wine licenses - but Mayor Curtatone doesn't have the right friends on Beacon Hill to make this happen for Somerville.

When you run up against the limit of licenses granted to you by the state, new establishments must buy licenses from closing establishments or the city's mayor/council/state reps/state senators have to go trade favors on Beacon Hill and get more licenses for the city. The city tried to get the ability to grant unlimited liquor licenses last year, but the state only granted the city 10 more city licenses last year, along with 12 special licenses specific to Assembly Square (they really shuffled the 10 existing Assembly Square licenses to be citywide and then created 12 more Assembly Square licensing - sausage making in action).

Those 10 licenses, as far as I've been able to find out, had absolutely no strings related to "encouraging economic growth." I don't know where that claim is coming from. They are city liquor licenses like any other. Any "encouraging economic growth" label put on the licenses seems to be ad hoc and unofficial - you are welcome to search the Board of Alderman meeting minutes (http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/board-of-aldermen/archived-meeting-minutes) from 2011 and 2012, but you aren't going to find anything.

I strongly believe that this is a nonsense claim that was made by Alderman Gewirtz and her pals on the licensing board as a pretense for rejecting the proposal for other reasons - mainly that Gewirtz wants an organic/locally sourced produce focused grocery store or mom-and-pop retail to fill the space. I believe the argument is bunk for several reasons:

1. The claim that the permits were for "economic development only" was not made until the actual licensing hearing. Through several community meetings and press interviews this claim was never made. It was only at the last possible minute that Gewirtz and the licensing board sprung it as a surprise - which is why Beer Works had to request a continence at the original licensing meeting as they were not prepared for this out of left field argument. If this was a non-starter because of some restriction on the licenses, Gewirtz would not have wasted people's time with two community meetings, as there would have been nothing to discuss.

2. The argument that the city licenses are for "economic development only," if sincere (which I don't think it is), would effectively prevent any new restaurants that serve alcohol (which almost all have to to turn a profit) from opening in Davis Square unless they are taking the place of a restaurant that is closing. You aren't quite right when you claim that Beer Works can just pay more money to get a liquor license. If they don't get a license from the city, they can only get one if another restaurant is closing and selling off the license they don't need anymore. If this was common, the city wouldn't have needed to go and request more liquor licenses from the state last year. This is hurting Somerville. The artificial scarcity causes a situation that when a liquor license is for sale, it is priced exorbitantly high due to the artificial scarcity imposed by the state on the market for licenses. I know Mayor Curtatone has been fighting hard on this issue to get the city unlimited licenses, and I hope he never stops.

3. Gewirtz's has made other claims that I have been able to verify as factually incorrect. She claimed the city only had 3 licenses left and the licensing commission confirmed that there are 8 left. Only 2 have been granted in the last year.

[pryder]

The Fenway and Garden/North Station locations flirt with being sports bars though the TV sound is normally off. (I'd guess that it was turned on for the World Series.) I was at the Garden one last Saturday night and nobody was paying much attention to the screens, but if I had been there on a Celtics or Bruins home game night they would have been. But that's a function of the location.

Salem doesn't even vaguely resemble a sports bar. I wouldn't expect a Davis Square restaurant to be a sports bar. Unless there is a championship game for the Sox, Celtics, or Bruins, or the Pats are in the Super Bowl; then EVERY bar in greater Boston is a sports bar.