Somerville city ordinance prohibiting 24 hour food shops.

[randomness]

One of my friends told me a while ago that they had been told by a local politician that they would initiate repeal of this ordinance if we could find it. I can't remember who told me this; if you remember this particular conversation with me, please remind me, as one of my lawyer friends found it for me.

Comments

[bwilder.livejournal.com]

I was there, but I don't remember who was chummy with the politician.

I'll work harder at trying to remember.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks!

[tcb.livejournal.com]

not sure if you were there for this discussion, but there was some confusion as to how the 24 hour dunkies avoid this (like the one in Magoun Sq).. I mean, ok, the cops need someplace to go, so maybe they got a variance, but still..

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I wasn't there for the discussion, but here's an excerpt which may explain it:

> Article I
>
> Sec. 8-7. Operating hours of convenience stores and
> other stores selling
> food.
> (a) No establishment engaged in the sale of food
> at retail shall,
> unless expressly granted permission by the board of
> aldermen, remain
> open for the transaction of regular business between
> the hours of 12:00
> midnight and 5:00 a.m.

> (c) The board of aldermen may issue special
> permits for the purpose
> of allowing certain establishments to conduct
> business at retail between
> the hours of 12:00 midnight and 5:00 a.m. if, in
> their opinion, the
> public convenience will be served.
> (d) A permit may be granted after a public
> hearing called for that
> purpose duly advertised for two consecutive weeks in
> a newspaper of
> general circulation in the city. The fee for such
> permit shall be set
> from time to time and such fee shall be on file in
> the city clerk's office.
> (e) A special permit may contain such terms and
> conditions as the
> board of aldermen specify. Application for such
> permit shall be made on
> forms provided by the board of aldermen. Each permit
> shall expire
> annually on the fifteenth day of May unless sooner
> revoked, suspended or
> renewed.

As a sidenote, I suspect repeal will be difficult unless some revenue source replacing the permit fees can be found.

[(Anonymous)]

But they just raised all the parking fines, didn't they? Hah!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

They did indeed. But I'm sure they'll want some additional revenue.

[redhound.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, issuing a permit to any food retailer willing to pay the fee would probably be revenue-positive.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yah, but our intent is to maximize the number of late-night food vendors. I suspect the fee is discouraging entrants to the market.

[redhound.livejournal.com]

Possibly. I was under the impression from the way you framed the question that the issue was more about being able to get the permit than about being able to pay the fee.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

*nod*

I'm not sure myself which is the bigger obstacle, the red tape or the fee. My preference is that the entire ordinance go away, but I recognize that the revenue incentive makes that more difficult.

Feh.

[julianyap.livejournal.com]

What you need, then, is a brand new revenue source. Perhaps Somerville shold set up a numbers ra- I mean, a municipal lottery. ;)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Methinks doing so might be unhealthy, so long as the descendants of the Winter Hill Gang are still running the numbers locally.

Speaking of which, the FBI is investigating whether Whitey Bulger is actually relaxing in Punta del Este, Uruguay: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/08/04/fbi_said_to_visit_uruguay_in_search_of_bulger/