Happier Hours
Boston mayoral candidate Mike Flaherty’s drink ticket looks like the place to crawl for a later “last call” in bluest Beantown, where the Irish and Italians took over from the Yankee bluebloods a long time ago, but Puritan Blue Laws never quite gave up their deathgrip on the nightlife. Boston Herald: Bar group backs Flaherty in bid to boost nightlife.
Challenger Michael Flaherty is loading up his party train with bar and club moguls for the weekend ride to Election Day, trashing “wet blanket” Mayor Thomas M. Menino and stoking their hopes for later closing hours and all-night subway service.
The Boston Nightlife Coalition - a group of frustrated nightclub owners and promoters who have banded together against Menino - has packed recent fund-raisers for Flaherty and his campaign partner, City Councilor Sam Yoon.
The group also has taken out a full-page magazine ad and has been handing out fliers urging people to vote Flaherty/Yoon if they want:
- Bars and clubs to stay open later
- Late-night dining options
- The T to run all night
- A fair liquor and entertainment license process.
And in a shot at Menino, 66, who has rejected previous bids to extend bar hours, the fliers urge support for Flaherty if “you are not 65 and go to bed at 9:30 p.m.”
“If you’re tired about hearing from your patrons that they can’t get home after a night out on the town . . . then you need to join me,” Flaherty told the cable show “Dirty Water TV” after pledging to support Hub nightlife during a fund-raiser at Hub hot spot Post 390 this week.
Flaherty criticized Menino as a “wet blanket” on nightlife and called on owners to “tell your family, friends and staff to get out and vote on Nov. 3 for a new mayor.”
Whole thing. Meanwhile, Boston’s massive college population votes “Awesome!”
Boston’s younger set gave the Floon campaign a rousing endorsement yesterday, saying if mayoral challenger Michael Flaherty and unofficial running mate Sam Yoon are in good with bar owners who want longer hours, they’re in good with them.
“Awesome” was how recent Northeastern graduate Dan Jasiak, 23, described it, and he lives above a Boston bar. “Longer bar hours would be bonus. Even if they stayed open till 3 a.m., that would be awesome.”
“Late nights would be a driver for the economy here,” said James Vomero, 21, a Boston University senior. “Cabs would make more money, corner stores and hangout spots like T Anthony and U Burger could stay open longer too.”
Even the underage set liked it.
“It gets boring in Boston. New York is energetic, and a longer nightlife in Boston would bring the same energy here,” said Suffolk University freshman Bryer Blumenshein, 18.
Be interesting to see if that gets out the youth vote.
In other wacky election news, HotAir: Scozzafava quits on bad poll news. Sounds like someone got a stiff shot of reality. Gateway: RINO season officially open. Malkin: Spoiler exits.
Previously, in the beer-politics nexus, Beer Summit II.
Quick, which branch of the service was born in a bar?
If you guessed Marines, you guessed right! Tun’s Tavern, Nov. 10, 1775, where a committe of Congress met to draft the resolution and, upon passage, recruiting started.
The Brew, the Shots, the Reeling … *
If you love beer and your country, donate via Team Marines for Valour IT. Proceeds go for laptops and specialized electronics for war-wounded vets of all services, even ones that started in more sober surroundings.
* art compliments of Cassandra at Villainous Company, Team Marines team leader whose husband is currently commanding a lot of very sober Marines in Afghanistan.
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Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:50 pm on Saturday, October 31, 2009
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November 1st, 2009 at 12:08 pm
[...] November 1, 2009 Posted by taoist in Cool Stuff. Tags: Boston, Election, Food, Mayor trackback A Boston Mayoral candidate who calls for less regulation on bars and clubs and liqueur licenses. Boston’s got a great restaurant scene already, just a little bit more freedom and it would [...]
November 1st, 2009 at 5:40 pm
[...] Jules has booze news [...]