Meeting: Salem Licensing Board held Monday February 9, 2009 at 6:00 in the third floor conference room, 120 Washington Street. Present were Chairman Dave Shea, Members: John Casey, Rick Lee and Special Investigator Lt. Ouellette and Melissa Pagliaro, Clerk.
Approved: Application for Street Performer’s License. Applicant: Michael LoPresti.
Mr. Shea asked Mr. LoPresti what it is he does.
Mr. LoPresti said that he had a License last year and would like to renew it. He said he dresses as a character from the Pirates of the Caribbean and allows people to take pictures with him. He gave Mr. Shea a picture of himself in costume for the file.
Lt. Ouellette said that his BOP was fine.
Mr. Shea asked if he knew the rules for donations. He said there is no selling or passing of a hat or anything else.
Mr. LoPresti said that he leaves a treasure chest stationary and he is mail y interested in weekend around Halloween.
Mr. Lee motioned to approve for the B-5 area.
Mr. Casey seconded.
Approved: Application for Pledge of License - New Market at 109 Bridge Street. Present: Attorney Peter Merry and Huong N. Le, owner.
Mr. Shea asked why they were before the Board.
Attorney Merry said that he closed a loan between NS Bank and Mr. Lee back in March of 2003. He said that for whatever reason the Pledge was overlooked. Attorney Merry said that the auditor’s caught it and they now need to rectify it.
Mr. Shea said that the Board would not transfer a License in the future if the Pledge was not listed on the current License.
Attorney Merry apologized and said he should have been in to do this 5 years ago.
Mr. Casey motioned to approve the Pledge of License.
Mr. Lee seconded.
Discussion: The Board said they would like to discuss another issue with Mr. Le while he was present.
Mr. Casey said that prior Boards recommended that not more than 4 signs advertising alcohol products be in the window of any package store or convenience store that sells beer & wine. He said that almost all of them have signs littering the windows. He said that the cash register should also be visible from the street for public safety.
Mr. Shea said he thought it used to be a percentage of the window space. He said the Board needs to be more specific.
Mr. Lee said that he really does not have an issue with signs if the register is visible from the street.
Mr. Huong said that the sign that is in front of his register is Neon and see through.
Mr. Casey said that it still blocks a clear view of the register and it needs to be more visible.
Mr. Huong said he would move it over.
Mr. Shea said he does agree with Mr. Casey and the windows plastered with these sign looks very tacky. He said that the Board likes to try and keep the storefront looking nice. He said he wanted to let Mr. Huong know he was not being singled out.
Mr. Casey said that the Board will shortly be working on a letter that will go out to all package stores and convenience stores that sell beer & wine in regards to this matter.
Discussion: Jennifer Reardon, In a Pig’s Eye, 148 Derby Street.
Ms. Reardon said that she is here to discuss changing her Entertainment License. She said with the economy the way that it is she would like to add Sunday evenings. She said she currently holds a license that says she closes at 6pm on Sundays but is allowed to stay open for private functions. She said she would like to open from5pm-9pm for Jazz.
Mr. Shea said the previous files are a mess and that he is not aware of the Sunday night private functions deal.
Lt. Ouellette said he recalls Ms. Reardon coming in for a series of One Day liquor Licenses.
Ms. Reardon said that is correct but at some point she came before the Board and was granted permanent permission to open on Sundays from 6pm-midnight. She said she did that because it was silly to keep coming for the Board for one day at a time approval.
****STOP FOR 3 MINUTE RECESS***
***RESUME MEETING***
Ms. Reardon said that when she purchased the business years ago that she agreed to close one day a week because of some issues with the neighbors. She said she now wants to add Sunday evening and that the music would be over at 9 pm. She said that although the music would be done at 9, she would like to have the closing time the same as the other nights in case people want to eat or drink.
Lt. Ouellette said she does not have to advertise in the paper but that maybe some sort of notice to the neighbors would be appropriate.
Mr. Shea said Lt. Ouellette makes a good point.
Mr. Casey did find the From 43 from 1991 showing that Ms. Reardon does have a 7 day Liquor License.
Mr. Lee said that his issue is that there has been an issue before with people smoking in a certain area and the neighbors. He said that Ms. Reardon was asked twice before to move the bench from Daniels Street to Derby Street and it is still on Daniels Street. He said he drove by the other night and there were about 8 people smoking outside on Daniels Street side and they were blocking the entrance way as well. He asked her to try and move her customers away from Daniels Street. He said he would like to see some effort now to move them to Derby Street otherwise there will be a problem once warmer weather comes when neighbors have their doors and windows open.
Mr. Casey said he agrees with Mr. Lee on this issue and that maybe she should consider moving the window boxes from Derby Street onto Daniels Street and putting the bench on Derby Street.
Mr. Shea said that they will put Ms. Reardon on the Agenda for the February 23rd meeting. He said that she should send a letter to the Board asking to extend hours and amend the Entertainment License so that it can be properly posted on the Agenda.
***Noted that some supporters of Ms. Reardon’s business were present but thought they should hold off until the discussion on the 23rd.
Approved: Series of One Day Liquor Licenses for Salem Council on Aging. Applicant: Lynn Barrett and Doug Bollen.
Mr. Shea said that Mrs. Barrett and Mr. Bollen are doing this to be cautious. He said this is to serve beer & wine to the seniors at the Center when they have pizza parties. The beer & wine is not sold it is given to them at no charge. The following dates have been submitted for approval:
Feb.19, April 2, May 14, June 25, Aug. 6, and Sept. 17. Each event will be from 4-7 pm at the Council on Aging, 5 Broad Street. The detail officer and fee are waived. Insurance is through the City.
Mr. Lee motioned to approve.
Mr. Casey seconded.
Approved: Change of Location - Dunkin Donuts - Highland Ave.
The application before the Board is to move the Dunkin Donuts that was locates at 272 Highland Ave to 232 Highland Ave. Capacity is to be for 12 people with the final number coming from Ed Paquin in the Building Department. The operating hours are to be the same as last location from 6am-9pm.
Councilor O’Keefe reminded the Board that they cannot approve any License with hours earlier that 6 am and after 11pm. Applicants need to go before City Council for early open/open late hours for approval.
Mr. Casey motioned to approve.
Mr. Lee seconded.
Mr. Shea noted that the applicant has to go through City Council for the 5am opening.
Old/New Business:
NEW:
Review of Ordinance for Outdoor Seating from City Council.
Councilor o’ Keefe said that it has already gone through the first passage. He said it is before the Board to see if they would like to add any wisdom or comments or have any questions about it.
Mr. Shea said that it does not say anything about the Licensing Board’s role in it.
Councilor Sosnowski said that it varies from ward to ward. He said that right now it is Councilor Pelletier and Councilor McCarthy that has this issue in their wards.
Mr. Casey said that the Licensing Board needs to be involved because any establishment that has outdoor seating is looked at as extended seating and there are rules and regulations that the State has on that.
Councilor Sosnowski said that it really is a shared responsibility between the Licensing Board and the City Council. He said that the Licensing Board has years of experience in dealing with this subject.
Mr. Shea said that local and state laws already give the Licensing Board approval to regulate outdoor seating.
Mr. Lee motioned to approve the City Council’s Ordinance for outdoor seating.
Mr. Casey seconded.
NEW:
Mr. Lee reported that he and Lt. Ouellette have been out doing spot inspections. He said they have been to VFW, the Moose, Ward Two, Strega’s, Casa Blanca, Bangkok Paradise and Brisas Del Caribe. He said just as a discussion some of the things he found of concern: He said that Casa Blanca allows 18 year old in. He said they give them bracelets to identify that they are under age and they watch them very closely. He said that they have a very impressive security system though. He said that at the VFW club they had meat raffles. He said that at one point there was pit with $230.00 cash in it sitting there. He said that none of the clubs they checked had any kind of gaming machines. He said that the only issue with Strega
was the owner’s attitude.
Mr. Shea said that he was a t the AOH after these checks and that the word is out that Mr. Lee and Lt. Ouellette are out doing checks.
Mr. Lee said that every establishment they went into seems to be hurting, he said that every place was dead quiet.
Commun-
ications: -Board read documentation form Bangkok paradise that the owner sent in as promised. This was verification of the establishment scanner machine and training.
-Spirits at 300 Derby Street. Complaint from a neighbor about noise and the manager yelling out on the street to residents on January 29, 2009.
Lt. Ouellette said there was no report of the Manager, but there were police reports three nights in a row on 1/2/ and 29 and 2/1/09 on noise.
Mr. Shea asked Ms. Pagliaro to call them into for discussion on the 23rd and notify the tenant that called.
-Board reviewed the packet from Jack Harris from the ADA and outdoor seating.
Ms. Pagliaro informed the Board of her conversation with Mr. Harris last week. She told Mr. Harris of the new Ordinance from City Council. He said he was not aware of it. Ms. Pagliaro told Mr. Harris that he should also gives copies of the packet to City Clerk’s Office to give to Council. She told Mr. Harris that maybe now the meeting should take place with the City Council but that the Licensing Board would like to be invited.
-142 Canal Street, ADM Auto Sales. Coming into the meeting on the 23rd to extinguish old License and new one is to be applied for with the two men that have been running the business for over a year. Mr. Shea asked Ms. Pagliaro to send a copy of the Worcester DA’s report to him and Mr. Lee and Mr., Casey.
-Compose a Letter to Convenience Stores that sell beer & wine and Package Good Stores about signage. Ms. Pagliaro will type letter and send a copy to the Mayor’s Office and the City Clerk’s Office. The Board voted that only 33% of stores windows may have signs with Liquor advertisements.
Mr. Casey motioned to approve.
Mr. Lee seconded.
Approved: Minutes from January 26, 2009 meeting
Adjournment:
Mr. Casey motioned to adjourn.
Mr. Lee seconded.
Respectfully Submitted,
Melissa Pagliaro
Clerk of the Board
Submitted: February 11, 2009
Approved: February 23, 2009
| 
