The Revere License Commission held its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday (October 18) afternoon in the City Council Chamber. Chair Robert Selevitch and fellow member Daniel Occena were on hand for the session, in which they took up a few routine matters as well as a hearing into complaints about an Everett St. establishment.
The first matter taken up by the commission was an application for a Malt/Wine Restaurant License from Mass. Trips, Inc. d/b/a Esquite Taqueria, 1148 North Shore Road.
Emiliano Moreno presented the application. “We want to have alcoholic drinks to increase traffic at the location,” he said. “We want to offer a few drinks, not a full bar.” There were no opponents to the application and the commissioners approved it unanimously.
The commission next addressed an application from Jia Liquors Corp. d/b/a BCM Liquors, 535 Broadway, Nirav Kiritkumar Patel, manager, for a change of its d/b/a certificate. There were no other changes to the license.
Mr. Patel presented the request to the commission. There were no questions from the commissioners and no opponents. The commission unanimously approved the application.
The commission then heard an application from the Revere Beach Partnership for a 1-day Malt/Wine & Entertainment license to be exercised at Waterfront Square on Sunday, October 22, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the Pumpkin Dash Road Race Post-Race Party with an expected attendance of 500.
Chris Puiia, the event manager, presented the application. He noted that the purpose of the application was to extend the size of the existing beer patio at Fine Line in order to accommodate a larger crowd, which had been confined to the smaller outside space at the Fine Line last year.
After a few questions from the commission and with no opponents, the commissioners unanimously approved the application.
The commission then heard another request for a 1-day Malt/Wine, Common Victualler & Entertainment License from Revere Parks & Recreation to be exercised at Veterans Memorial Park on Saturday, October 28, from 3:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a rain date of either Sunday, October 29 or Monday, October 30. The event is an All Hallows’ Eve celebration, featuring the movie Hocus Pocus with an expected attendance of 250 persons.
Charles Giuffrida from the Parks and Rec. Dept. presented the application. There were no questions from the commissioners and no opponents. The application was approved unanimously, with Selevitch noting, “I appreciate the thoroughness of your application. The Revere Parks and Rec. is doing a great job for the city.”
The last matter was a hearing into a “pattern of incidents involving late-night brawls, intoxicated patrons, vandalism, and motor vehicle accidents” at Carnaval Latino Restaurant at 7B Everett Street. The commission took up the matter at its September meeting and continued it for 30 days after the commission required that the business hire a detail police officer to address the situation.
Gerald Limos appeared on behalf of the owner of the establishment, Argueta & Piche Corp. He noted that since the September meeting, there had been no incidents, but that business at the restaurant had fallen off dramatically in the past 30 days.
“Why would the business drop off because of the presence of a detail officer?” asked Selevitch. “I don’t understand.”
Ward 3 City Councillor Anthony Cogliandro appeared at the hearing.
“Security is the number one goal here,” said Cogliandro. “I am happy that we haven’t received any complaints on my end. I think that in this area, where we have a 2:00 AM license, we are competing with a 4:00 AM license at Encore in Everett. “
Cogliandro suggested enlarging the hours until 2:00 AM (from the present 1:00 AM closing), but that the detail requirement be maintained and that the commission take it up again in another month.
After the commissioners discussed whether to keep the requirement of a police detail in place, the commission voted to extend the hours of the entertainment license to 1:30 AM with a detail officer on Friday and Saturday nights, but if a detail officer is not available, the business can remain open. There will be a review in 90 days.
Before the commission adjourned, Occena brought up an issue about noise issues late at night at the Wonderland Ballroom.
“There recently has been a significant amount of noise from Wonderland Ballroom where cars are doing burn-outs in the parking lot at closing.There was no detail officer there, though we had requested them to do so in the past,” said Occena.
The commissioners voted to conduct a hearing on the matter at their next meeting on November 15.
