Extending the Boston’s bars and nightclub curfew past 2 a.m. appears to have gained new life. According to a report today in the Boston Herald, Mayor Martin J. Walsh has included the nightlife proposal in a package of 56 bills he is looking to get passed on Beacon Hill. The measure, which made headlines in March before stalling in June, was eventually shot down in the Legislature after disagreements over the exact time select bars and nightclubs could close.
Walsh reportedly pushed for 4 a.m. Currently, all bars close at 2 a.m., with “last call” coming around 1:45 a.m. Some idea discussed last year involved having the “last call” remaining the same, but allowing bars to stay open for a “cool down” period. Among the advantages were decreasing the bottlenecking of multiple clubs letting out patrons at 2 a.m., as is in the case in Allston and other nightlife areas in town.
Here’s word on today’s news from the Herald:
The measure would allow restaurants and bars to stay open past 2 a.m., cut some of the red tape for regulations and eliminate the need for establishments that serve liquor to get special licenses for billiard tables, bowling alleys, video arcades and fortune tellers.
“After 17 years in the Legislature and now as mayor of Boston, I see the impact Boston has not only on the region but on the commonwealth,” Walsh said in a statement yesterday announcing his legislative agenda for 2015 and 2016, which includes 26 newly filed bills and 30 recycled proposed measures. “I am committed to working with the state legislature and our local partners from across the commonwealth to pass legislation that is mutually beneficial to us all,” Walsh said.
As first reported in the Herald, Walsh last year pushed to extend the closing time for bars and restaurants in Boston until 4 a.m. and created a late-night task force in hopes of making the Hub more amenable to globetrotters used to late-night dining.
But the measure, which needs approval from the Legislature, died on Beacon Hill last summer after Walsh and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo locked horns over what time bars should stop serving.
The other bills on Walsh’s agenda include measures that would increase funding for municipal broadband service, and give the city power to issue fines against drinking establishments for liquor license violations. As the Herald notes, currently the city can issue “only warnings, suspensions or revocations.”
[h/t Boston Tweet]