Mayor Michelle Wu and the City Council want to keep the party going in Boston after the World Cup ends, and are pressing state lawmakers to extend 3 a.m. last call hours and public drinking zones through the summer.
Wu and the Council on Wednesday spoke favorably about a special state law that loosened nightlife restrictions in Boston for the international soccer tournament, by allowing the city to set later last call hours at bars and restaurants, and implement two downtown social districts where people can legally drink outside.
“We’ve had no incidents,” Wu said on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “The businesses have reported huge gains, and people have been having a great time. I think it’s really important that with all that’s happening in the world, there are spaces where people can come together and have fun.”
With the temporary provisions set to expire July 31, city officials are exploring ways to make the changes permanent, which would require Beacon Hill to sign off.
“We would very much advocate for that,” Wu said. “It should be on cities to be able to make those decisions, and we are going to continue to advocate for keeping the momentum going. It’s not just World Cup and summer events, but all throughout the year, there’s something happening in Boston.”
In the meantime, the Council, by an 8-2 vote Wednesday, passed a resolution backing a state Senate bill that seeks to keep the public drinking zones and later bar hours in place through August, or the “rest of the summer” as councilors put it.
“More than 200 establishments now participate, and two social districts operate downtown,” City Council President Liz Breadon, the resolution’s lead sponsor, said. “Residents and visitors have embraced the extended hours and social districts. We’ve hosted the Tartan Army and other World Cup visitors with great success.”
The city’s two social districts opened last month at Union and Marshall streets in downtown’s Blackstone Block Historic District and on Temple Place in Downtown Crossing, where people can purchase booze from restaurants and drink outside.
Breadon said “the summer is just getting started,” and pushed for state lawmakers to pass a bill co-sponsored by state Senators Barry Finegold and Julian Cyr that now sits in the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
The Senate bill, Breadon said, would “keep the fun going and allow cities and towns to continue the program through August.”
Both Breadon and Wu cited the potential economic benefits from keeping looser drinking restrictions in place in Boston.
Cyr, a Democrat who represents the Cape and Islands, said Thursday that the bill would actually continue the program for a longer period of time, through Labor Day on Sept. 7.
“I think there’s been a real recipe for change in Massachusetts this summer, and I want to figure out how we can hold onto that,” Cyr told the Herald. “It makes abundant sense for us to extend this through the end of the summer. Also, I’ve been a longtime proponent of a local option happy hour. We should do that as well.”
Boston’s sleepy nightlife scene has come alive in recent weeks, as soccer fans from around the world have flocked to the city for the World Cup. The Scots, known as the Tartan Army, were a particular force, with some local bars reporting that they ran out of beer due to round-the-clock Scottish drinking.
“I think it’s encouraging to see Massachusetts embracing so much fun this summer,” Cyr said. “Let’s find a way to keep it up.”
City Councilor Brian Worrell made similar arguments last month when he proposed a home rule petition that would allow for last call hours to permanently be extended from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. in Boston. If approved by the Council, the legislation would advance to Beacon Hill for consideration.
Worrell, who spearheaded a prior legislative effort that brought 225 new liquor licenses to Boston, said last month that his proposal is about boosting revenue and keeping the city competitive, akin to nightlife offerings from other major cities that allow for later last call hours like New York, Washington D.C. and Miami.
“I think we are a fun city, but there’s an opportunity to be a little more fun,” Worrell told the Herald. “We want to be an area that continues to attract young people.”
The push to keep the temporary nightlife parameters in place past July 31 has its detractors, with criticism centering around public safety concerns and police staffing constraints, in light of last weekend’s chaotic and bloody July 4 violence that left 13 people shot, two fatally.
Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, the city’s largest police union, said Thursday that the union is “100% against” extending 3 a.m. last call hours, given that the police “can’t manage the calls that we have now.”
“As the police commissioner himself recently stated on the record, booze and big crowds are a bad combo that lead to more trouble,” Calderone said in a statement. “And, really, we couldn’t agree with him more. Extending last call from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. is a bad idea that invites and encourages bad behavior and the elected officials pushing the measure should think long and hard about the undeniable negative consequences associated with excessive alcohol consumption.”
Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy, the two councilors who have joined the BPPA’s call to beef up police staffing levels to counteract violence, voted against Breadon’s resolution to extend looser drinking regulations, while Miniard Culpepper, who represents Roxbury, where most of the July 4 shootings took place, abstained from taking a position by voting “present.”
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