##VIDEO ID:U_io_r2DZN4## good morning thank you all for joining us we're just going to give a quick moment to clear the waiting room and make sure that folks have connected to audio and guys hear me morning we can hear you awesome thank you looks like every the waiting room is cleared everyone is connected to audio so with that we can get started good morning this is an administrative hearing before the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing today is Tuesday October 22nd 2024 this hearing is being conducted pursuant to certain temporary amendments to the open meeting law that is what allows us to meet virtually this hearing is being recorded and will be posted to the city of Boston's website we are joined this morning morning by the executive director of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing Kathleen Joyce and director of operations Rebecca Fu there's only one item on this morning's hearing agenda I'll will read the item into the record I will then ask who is present on behalf of the applicant you'll make a brief presentation regarding the proposal followed by questions by the entertainment Division and an opportunity for Testimony beginning with elected officials or the representatives for members of the public wishing to testify please limit your testimony to 2 minutes and please state your name address and affiliation if any the only application before the entertainment division this morning is Danny's queer bar LLC doing business as Danny's queer bar located at 909 bston Street the application before the entertainment division is to add the entertainment categories of audio device jukebox widescreen TVs board games karaoke disc jockey trivia and floor show consisting of drag shows and comedy for seven days a week until 2 a.m. who's present on behalf of the applicant uh that would be me T roacho great yeah if you could please just uh briefly present the proposed entertainment concept to the entertainment division yes definitely um so at Danny's we um there's a lot of things listed on the uh entertainment uh portion of it uh obviously those things uh wouldn't happen all day every day um we have the juke box which we would kind of use as background music during the day um which you know people can kind of Select music that they want to listen to uh same goes for the TVs those would just kind of be on um to have something to you know people have something to watch if you know they want to um uh we would also use the TVs for uh viewing parties and things like that of different shows um and then as far as um disc jockies and things like that uh we were hoping to have events in which uh we could have a d J um just playing music um kind of curated to um the the night or the theme um and then kind of same thing with uh the drag and comedy so those would be on scheduled nights um where people could come in enjoy uh even for brunches things like that thank you uh director Joyce director Fu any questions thank you very much we're excited to see this application today um and um just a few questions when did you guys open we opened on September 12th okay and um so that's about a month ago and um I know when you went for your alcohol license you did have a community process can you tell us a little bit today about um what the process was like and did you discuss this of the type of entertainment you were going to have I did yep um so I had a meeting with the uh the NAB the neighborhood association with Back Bay um at the time I did explain to them uh what we were planning to do in terms of entertainment um and at the time they also agreed that that would be okay I did get an email from Conrad um just a couple days ago stating that they have no issues and everything is in line from what we discussed at our um abcc me meeting okay if you wouldn't mind sending us um an email from Conrad for our records that would be great of course and your landlord um I'm assuming this type of entertainment is allowed in your lease yes okay um just see I don't have it in front of me so if you wouldn't mind walking us through what the capacity is on each floor of course uh so the Capac let me just pull that up apologies all right so the capacity on the first floor is 151 and the capacity downstairs um our lower level is 91 for a total of 242 okay um and then if you could describe for us um the experience of the manager yeah uh so that would be me um so I have been doing um I'm also one of the owners here um but I've also been doing um I'm a part of lgbtq nightlife events uh it's another uh business Endeavor of ours um where we host different events at where we hosted different events at different venues around the city of Boston in the surrounding cities uh where we would um hire Dr Queens for performances uh we've had um some comedy nights we've had uh board game nights we've had a whole bunch of different things to do around the city um and with opening the bar we were you know looking to just bring that all into just one space um so everyone has or you know everyone the lgbtq community has a dedicated space to go to for for those kinds of things that we did outside of our own venue okay um and I know this was a club before that had did have music on the lower level curious for our information are you could you tell us anything about the type of um noise mitigation was there yeah so as as far as yeah of course so um as far as the noise uh primarily the the majority of the sound will be uh projected from the lower level um it's a brick building so it doesn't really come up High um on the first floor um we have our windows don't open in the front uh so the the sound doesn't go out into the street and we have the volume um uh set at a volume where it can't be heard from the outside um same with the uh residents upstairs we've um spoken with them and made sure that they are not able to hear uh any of the music we've been testing and stuff like that uh and so far um they every test that we've done they haven't mentioned anything to us or they said that the volume is fine okay um but there is a sound different so the upstairs portion is lower than the the lower level okay volume um and you are open um and like should there be noise issues that arise not that you can predict them right now um is there a contact person that um we could get in touch with if we get complaints here or if let's say somewhere down the road neighbors complain to us um sometimes it's just as easy to contact someone in real time and say you think the base needs to be lowered or something like that yeah of course I'm available anytime that's needed okay and we'll um as the entertainment starts to be built out we'll get a contact information contact number for you or make sure that we have the correct email um on file for you um do you restrict age after a certain hour or certain days yep so we are actually age restricted 247 um so we are 21 plus venue always uh and that is for our uh Insurance okay so we do have a sign out front that said um that says it's right on the window it says uh patrons must be 21 and over to enter okay um I just want to confirm you're not looking to have a dance floor are you no we don't have for our down floor okay and then do you think there would be ever an event where you would move tables and chairs to allow patrons to dance in in their like spots yeah so as far as that we wouldn't also we wouldn't be able to do that because uh we're limited on uh space on where we can put those tables and chairs um so we really have no no need to move those okay thanks for going allowing us to go through these questions they might seem but it's um to help us make sure we get the correct information on the license um will you be using promoters no okay and then uh do you do you anticipate having a cover charge for certain events or people buying tickets at the door uh yes so we do intend to um do that in the future um and it also even outside of uh if we were to have a DJ and things like that we've noticed that on Fridays and Saturdays it kind of of just deters the wrong crowd from coming in if we don't have a cover but we do have it posted when we do have a cover okay um and then I don't know if we've received it yet let me see oh before I get to that um do you have cameras on premise we do we have uh I believe it's 16 or 17 cameras okay do you know how long they record video footage for store video 90 days 90 days great um that's great and then um do you have security staff that works a door we do um so on a nightly basis uh like on a Thursday Friday Saturday which we tend to be on the more busy side we have uh six security staff we have uh two people at the door uh and then um checking IDs bags and things like that and then we have four other security guards floating uh between the two spaces great and lastly we'll ask um if you haven't done so yet um to submit a security plan to the um division that would include information like um you know your dispersal plan at the end of the night how you going to avoid people loitering outside um any sort of emergency and operations plan we' like to have that on file perfect um and now Sor just taking some notes yeah no sure I'm going to turn it over to um Rebecca Fu to see if I've missed any of the questions and she usually has some some additional questions covered most of it um my only question is um will there be other managers on staff on nights when you're not there yes um so we have uh yeah so there there will always be a manager on site uh we have uh a general manager um who will be here when I'm not here we also have a service manager who is currently in training who will also be here in the event that one of us isn't here um and then we are also in the process of training uh some bar leads um kind of like acting supervisors things like that um and then think you covered everything uh oh just like administrative I just I had emailed you I just need some documents sent over oh I I forward those over to you file yeah there were a little too many of them so I compressed it okay beautiful thank you yeah I have no further questions thank you Dr Joyce any further questions before we move to testimony no questions thanks okay with that we'll see are there any individuals with us this morning who would like to testify beginning with elected officials or their representatives yes Conor Newman with the mayor's office of neighborhood services at this time the mayor's office will defer to the chairwoman um regarding uh Community process previously as you heard from the applicant they had been in contact with NAB and we're pleased to hear that they remain in contact with them uh historically we know that NAB has had some concerns regarding noise on the ground level across all of Newbury Street so it's it's great to hear that most of the programming will be downstairs uh it doesn't sound like there'll be an issue there uh we're unaware of any concerns this time we've heard nothing but good things uh since the establishment op um and just asked if they continue to work with the community and and a Butters uh with that we to the defer to the joman thank you thank you Connor are there any other individuals with us this morning who wish to testify on this matter uh if so you may unmute yourself and do so uh hello can you hear me we can hear you yeah if you could please identify yourself and then you'll have up to two minutes to provide your testimony great my name is Tara diof I'm a local drag queen and event producer who's worked with lgbtq nightlife in the past and I want to give my hearty recommendation for Danny's to receive this license I think it's important that we keep in mind that in the United States there's less than 40 lesbian bars we're lucky to have Tia and taies opening a venue like Danny's in our city it has already fundamentally changed what it means to be a safic person in this town uh otherwise nightlife is not a safe place for queer women or non-binary or trans people to exist period danies is one of the only places in this city where people of that Community can comfortably congregate and build connections if you're truly committed to having Boston be a space that's safe for all lgbtq people I think you'll not only approve this license but do everything you can in all of your power to try to keep supporting Danny's queer bar because things like this don't happen easily thanks for your time thank you very much for your testimony are there any other individuals with us who would also like to uh testify in support or opposition of this proposal hi sorry I can't um I'm unable to turn my camera on at this point but my name is Emily and I'm a local Boston comedian and I've been performing in like the Boston space for around four years now uh I also wanted to give my testimony and say that um I've uh been both a like a social friend and also been able to visit Danny's multiple times since this opening and I think that it's not only a wonderful asset to our community U and I think that it can both be used to draw in and host weer events especially in a comedy scene that isn't super welcoming for um for minorities as well thank you very much appreciate the testimony are there any other individuals who would also like to provide testimony hello everybody just French here also known as DJ Frenchie um longtime activist in the community as well as obviously a DJ in the community I've worked in many venues in Boston and around the country um and nobody is more deserving of a li then T and taes and Danny's qu bar um Boston has a long way to go in NTI but this is a good step in the right direction um so I really hope that you guys approve this and thank you for your turn thank you very much for joining us uh I'll ask one last time are there any other individuals who would like to provide testimony on this matter great seeing none the entertainment division will take this matter under advice ment that is the only item before us today uh the division will issue a written decision with that that will adjourn this morning's hearing so thank you all and please do enjoy the rest of your day thank you you as well thank you all for your time thank you