##VIDEO ID:xj6QZhCo0J8## good afternoon this is an administrative hearing before the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing today is Thursday January 9th 2025 this hearing is being conducted pursuant to 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 Boston's website we're joined today by the executive director of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing Kathleen Joyce and director of operations Rebecca Fu I will read each item on the agenda in the order that it appears I will then ask who is present on behalf of the leny Aras who is present on behalf of the Boston police department whether there are any other individuals with knowledge of the alleged incident who wish to testify after that I will swear in all parties and the police report will be read into the record the lcy or the representative will have the opportunity to make a brief statement followed by questions by the um executive director and director of operations all testimony will be limited only to those individuals with a firsthand personal knowledge of the alleged incident we'll actually begin this afternoon with the second item on the agenda as the first lcy is not present with us at the moment calling zaak KF L LLC doing business as garos Columbia located at 28 Benning Street Bennington Street in East Boston date of the incident was December 2nd 2024 loud music emanating into the neighborhood at 67 DB after 11: p.m. the city's noise ordinance restricts noise levels above 50 DB after 11: p.m. who's President on behalf of the LC great thank you Mr brownz and Miss panz who's present on behalf of the Boston Police Department s Detective L gallager thank you can you all please raise your right hand do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do I do I great Sergeant active Gallagher if you could please uh read the um police report to the record for the division good afternoon on 122 2024 at about 11:10 pm. Sergeant detective William Gallagher detective Eddie Hernandez assigned to license premise unit responded to bolaris Columbia at 28 Bennington Street for the complaints of loud music coming from the bar these complaints were made to the licensing board at City Hall as detectives were pulling up they could hear Amplified music coming from Bas Columbia detectives parked proceeded to residential building across the street front front door bious Columbia and utilized a Sounder uh which resulted in 67 DB at 11:10 p.m. Boston city noise ordinance states that after 11: p.m. the decel level in the city of Boston robs to 50 Deb for entertainment detectors proceeded in saris Columbia and inform them of their findings management immediately lowered the volume as result which detectives had observed Sergeant detective Gallagher issued license premise inspection notice number 0764 to blus Columbia the loud music emanating the neighborhood at 67 DB after 11: p.m Mr John Alvarez signed for and accepted the notice I did include in the report a uh still photo of Assan meter across the street point to appius with 67 displayed in the Des reader right there that's it thank you very much stive Gallagher Mr panis Miss panis would you like to address the alleged incident yes we would how are you morning good afternoon everybody members of the board um and Sergeant uh is it true that every time I've been trying to call you and I call you directly and I say hey can you C down and we put the meter we make sure and it's not always coming from me because when you're standing across the street I'm not saying you like because I will never say that but when we standing across the street the street business there's bohos laa and there's mine and we stand I understand that sometime the music is loud but we stand right there and we see and the noise is still not because we have tried multiple devices is that true that's sure we've gone down on number of occasions and there has not been a violation and there has been loud music coming from and then I'm calling you then I'm calling you because I call you and I say look detective can you come down so we can read this that's one number two um if I just want to let the members of the board that we did put another soundproof I send videos inside um to Rebecca Miss Rebecca I sent videos showing her the upgrade that we also did again just to make sure because we one thing I don't want is have problem with the neighbors that's number one and I've been trying to work it but um I also send videos showing that it could be 7 at night or it could be at 2:00 in the night at 2: in the morning and with the music off even across the street it's always going to go 55 to 60 just with the sound because we have a lot of traffic people go down the the street with the music on with the loud music on people stand on the parking lot with music on which is not our parking lot it's it's it's a public parking lot but there's nothing we can do but I have tried the most that I can everything I can do um to to try to get this Sol I also called um the board and said if they across the street they want soundproof windows I'm willing to do it I don't I don't mind the the neighbors said no they didn't want it but I'm just trying to let the board know that I have done everything to my capacity and work with the sergeant so even when he's not called I call him and say Sergeant can you come down and see what we can do that's all I have to say thank you we'll see if there are any questions from the division um director Joyce director Fu any questions uh what kind of entertainment did you have on this particular night we didn't there was no there was no entertainment there was no no we have nothing it was just music we have no entertainment not okay so you just we had background music from yeah the background music it did just ma'am good afternoon Joyce Miss Joyce it's just that every the is there's three businesses I wish one day we can take a walk so you guys can see what this like it's four businesses two and one and it's like it's in the middle so I don't want to say bohemio has laasa hasana it's just the noise in particular in the middle if you sit in the middle you don't you would never say oh it's coming from here it's coming from there and the sergeant um is not his fault neither because they call and for some reason every time they call is just beis to me it's just like the they throw the the um in Columbia we have a saying that it's the the the best tree that gives apples is the ones they throw more it just they always say the name but it's just it's not we don't we're not allowed in that day the the the sergeant can say it there was no no life there was nothing there was just a music playing but I I did did an upgrade to another um song I sent the video to miss Rebecca um so she can show it to you guys I did another upgrade to see if we can still calm the music down whatever I can do whatever I can do to work with you guys that's what I'm trying to do okay we appreciate you that's what we want to do too we want to work with you I just want to try to get a little more information because we have received multiple complaints from Neighbors um I'm just trying to get to the bottom of it the police report says that when um the license permise unit pulled up they hear the music outside Sergeant or detective what would you say could you tell that it was coming from bolaris yeah Miss Choice it was a i an earlier day in the week it wasn't like a Saturday or Sunday where there's usually a lot more Street noise it it was a fairly quiet night out in the street that is and uh when we pulled up we could immediately hear it we parked uh the right of the premise down by the municipal lot then walked across the street and we utilized the sound meter and there was all out with they are I also put another picture I'm not sure you got it but when the door opens it pops up to 75 and uh like Grand m is kind of far away to you know be audible that we don't really hear them on occasion we do hear laraza we have our them to turn it down but really wasn't anything going on that night inside he true it wasn't a disc jocky it was just house music and uh once I turned it down it it was fine and um Freddy I know that when you do get called from either us or the license herac unit you do respond and turn it down what is your um on nights like this the sounds like it was a a generally quiet night in the neighborhood and you were just playing your regular house music do you lower the volume at a certain time or do you keep it the same from until closing consider low I want to say from Monday to Thursday it's usually low because there's there's really not too much going on um I I saw this this this thing that this is a display that we can we might be able to put outside um well not outside like somewhere so that everybody sees it and sees what the doable so we all can bring our music down if that will work um have you like do you go out outside at 11 o'clock and test some places go out at 11 can't hear okay and I said and I and Char um Sergeant Hernandez is not here I have sent them many times somebody was G oh he is oh so perfect he can he can he can V for that I have sent him many times videos and say hey look Serge look look how look where I am look this I'm always trying to work for him he's he's really um good sergeant and and always saying hey look can I send you this video so you can see I send them videos and and pictures of what I'm trying to do how you doing Sergeant Hernandez you f so he he he could vouch for that if I send him videos and all of that okay also the um the neighbors that have complained do they have a contact number inside belar to call you directly if they have a problem yes we miss miss Rea help me with that we gave them a email and also a a phone number it seems to be that it's only one house and as I told Miss Rebecca why don't we get them fixed why don't we get them a a I mean it I'm paying for it and I know the owner of the houses across the street I I'll pay for it soundproof windows it's and that will kill every problem that we have it's only across the street one one person who's calling have you talked to them directly about that because that's not invol I have tried I have tried um and I even knocked on the door um but I I don't seem to find the person because on across the street which would be like 30 they say they don't have a problem because they all work until 2:00 they by the time they get home they're not they all work in kitchens in Boston so they say that they don't have a problem with it then there's 32 and there's only one person in there that never answers the phone or or I mean in the door is the only one that haven't had a contact which I think that's the only person that I have because if in across the street from vades there only six houses so but I've been trying to talk to them and if you guys can have a chance to talk to them and say look we can make this better we can just put soundproof windows and you have no no problems we have no problem with it it's like when when you live next to the airport the the airplanes they change the windows I'm willing to do the same thing I'll change the windows so they don't have a sound prooof and so they don't have a sound um problem because I wouldn't want somebody because at least I fixed the one from the rear we haven't had no problems with the people on the rear we fixed that automatically so I'm trying to do the same thing for the front it would be much easier okay um I'm just concerned like the testimony from Sant Gallagher was that it was a quiet night on the street um it was an early day earlier day of the week but when he opened the door the sound went to 75 so um those are things with your um when you're yes having nights like this that you should plan for double-checking the sound at various times from D various spots especially if the person across the street from your front door is the one complaining um I you should put that in your you know you should yourself 11 o'clock go out and double check that pull up and hear it then you should be hearing it too I will do that um and I know you submitted or somebody from your um Place submitted video of a sound meter I did where was that taken we couldn't tell tree I I sent a new video to miss Rebecca I sent him the video with the sh with the the cross tree I I I I thought I sent her the right videos but then yesterday or two days ago I talked to her and I send the right videos you should have the right videos now okay uh and it it was with the music off completely off in vtis and I sent the video and it still showed I think was 60 I don't know she has it I sent it to her I sent it three I sent up four videos in the last couple days Rebecca did any were those videos the ones that we talked about this morning uh we couldn't tell where he was taking the meter reading from he sent another one so well he sent I think two one was showing the new sound proofing and then the other video was just showing with his music off the noise from other establishments okay can you Des thank you um can you describe for us fornie I know I'm all jumping all over the place but um what you did for the new sound proofing I so so with the with the door is what happens is because it's glass door so what I did was I grabbed a um it's called soundproof um it's like a rubber and we did about 5 in of sound of of that and then we place it on above the door so like that the sound doesn't come out no more okay and also we did the the glass um where the where the door is we put a uh something that every time the door's closed it's really shut so that you can't it won't come out okay I sent a video of that too um and then on this particular night Sergeant when you guys showed up and response the noise complaints had you called ahead to say you're were coming or was this sort of a random this this was a we we had received the complaint from the the lady across the street and she just feels more comfortable going through us she doesn't want the interaction with the you know who she's complain about she's that so she goes to us and uh she had phone numbers and our nights when we can't get there detective Hernandez will contact them via phone or email or text and they they always respond and lower but we do have a good good little system going there but you know it shouldn't be but I I understand you spending all this money but if it was just turned down a little bit we wouldn't be spending the money and we wouldn't be here but we are yeah I think I think I have to agree that I think you have to monitor it a little bit more closely we'll do um especially as the night goes on as it gets closer to 11: p.m. you know they want to have a quiet evening in their own house and you have to be more respectful of the fact that as the night goes on if the outside noise is quieter your noise is going to travel um Rebecca do you have any other questions that I did not cover that you'd like get some answers for okay um I don't have any other questions right now there further questions then the executive director will take this matter under advisement and we'll issue a written decision thank you thank you thank you so much everybody thank you Happy New Years you following the next item the licy is Boston restaurant bar in Grill LLC doing business as Boston restaurant bar and grill located at 1263 River Street in Hyde Park date of the incident was November 26th 2024 it's for music and sound emanating beyond the premise door who's present on behalf of the LC e looks like you've just muted yourself Maggie okay are you able to hear me now we can hear you is it possible for you to turn your camera on so that we can swear you in sure thank you thank you very much if you could please just state your name for the record hello hi can you hear me we can hear you now could you please uh state your name for the record sure my name is margar durn I am the GM for Boston restaurant bar and gril I'm sorry I have a bad cold so my voice is a little rough thank you with us miss talburn and hope you're feeling better soon who is present on behalf of the Boston Police Department uh I'll be reading the report sir detector Hernandez thank you very much can you all please raise your right hand you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do yes I do thank you T herandez if you could please read the report to the record for the division good afternoon uh reading a report written by uh Michael Sullivan on um f Zer about 0057 on 1126 2024 shine detective Sullivan's attention was drawn to the area of 1267 River Street I park AV Boston restaurant bar grill loud music could be heard emanating from outside of the licensed premise establishment this SL music had been heard by the officers of area E8 on the previous weekend 11:23 2024 and 1124 2024 Lieutenant Robert donum reported the sge Sullivan hearing hearing the loud music inside of E8 police station on High Park Al some distance away coming from Boston restaurant bar and grill both nights after one o'clock um at this point Sergeant Sullivan decided to perform the code 35 at 1267 River Street H Park H Park C Boston restaurant bar grill upon arrival at a approximately uh 1:00 a.m. s Sullivan could hear very loud music and a TI jocky speaking as he walked on High Park G towards 1267 River Street once inside of the establishment the music and DJ were very loud despite the fact that the doors and all the windows were closed Sergeant cber entered Boston restaurant Byron Grill and spoke to the on duty manager bebero Cesar who showed Sant Sullivan the entertainment license C Al 54423 from 12312 2003 with no time listed as the cease entertainment time however Su Sergeant Sullivan was also in possession of a copy of an entertainment license for the establishment dated 625 2024 which stated that the um that the cease entertainment license time was midnight in addition the license copy fails calls for noise level shall not exceed 70 DB and may not exceed uh 50 DB between 11: p.m. and 7 a.m. per bus and noise ordinance in addition the license call for live entertainment permitted until 12 a.m. daily it was 1:00 am when siden Sullivan and and officers entered the establishment Boston restaurant Baron Grill LLC was issued Boston Police Department license PR inspection citation 07125 for violation music and sound from licensed premise emanating Beyond premise door butto Caesar and the staff were Cooperative during this process the Lima 421 Alpha holder and the Lima 101 Andis and Gomez assisted with the code 35 and had their body warn cameras activated that is all thank you Mr alurn would you like to address the alleged incident yeah I mean I was informed of the incident um the night of um when I get the call the person we had playing um the DJ we had playing had um because we I personally spoke with him to keep the music at a certain level so when I contacted him he said that his music wasn't um loud but I wasn't present so it's very hard you know I had the conversation with both bio which was the manager on duty and the DJ so they they were saying to me that um a pedestrian not a pedestrian another um DJ report orted them it's not the fact that the music was loud it's the fact that there's some issue between those two DJs so they are you know have some issues going on and that's why they were reported so um I'm not exactly sure um if that's the um excuse me the true or not but ever since then I've been aware of the situation I've been um making sure that the music doesn't go um you know um to a certain level past 11: p.m. on the weekdays thank you anything further you'd like to add before we move to questions okay um I mean as far as the um entertainment license that was the time was updated to um one when we update the iol license um I think that we should have that on record if I'm not mistaken um and I did inform that um the DJ and both the manager on duty beo that all entertainment has to be shut down by 1:00 which is the time that everything uh um has to be shut down like I said I wasn't present um that night so I I read the police report it is stating that at 1:00 is when they arrive so I was told that they were shutting down that's when he was making his last announcement um but like I said it is um it is what is being here said you know the the report versus what I'm being told so Maggie I'm looking at your entertainment license right now for 2025 and it says in the top half of the license that entertainment is over 12 a. so we don't have any record of you extending Your Entertainment license past that so that um we recomend do but that's a whole other process you need to have community meeting and a public hearing I believe we went through that process if I'm not mistaken because I was working closely with the office um because when I first tried to change the entertainment license they would um they had advised me that to make sure that um if I was going to change the entertainment license my alcohol license you know they couldn't um extend my entertainment license time without the alcohol license being you know extended as well um so when I sended the alcohol license that's when I believe I send in the stuff for the entertainment license I can look back to the email and see okay it's two different although I'm I I oversee both and I sign my name to both licenses it's two different processes and two different I understand that um and I don't recall a hearing on that or seeing the paperwork but Rebecca we can we can work yeah I don't recall receiving any amendment to extend the hours to 1:00 a.m. on the entertainment and if I did receive it you know we would have contacted you you would have paid and amended the license you would have received a new one for one if you look at your as Kathleen stated if you look at your 2025 license it's only until midnight only your liquor is until 1 so okay I will look in my email and see because I remember the conversation clearly because I remember we were trying to change the entertainment license first and that's when you know um we were advised that if we let the alcohol you know go through first and then from there we can do the entertainment because they both will be synchronized with the same time but that's fine I'll look back in my email uh um and send you whatever I have and okay and then can you tell me a little bit when you're not present on a night like this and you're having a DJ can you tell me how you you know who's ultimately responsible for monitoring the sound from inside and outside what kind of conversations do you have with the staff to prepare them to to be operating within the legal limits and stuff yes um I mean it's something that you know has always been a concern because I did I do tell them I mean me myself I I can't stand a loud music I'm not going to lie to you so when I'm there I'm always cautious about how loud it is and what's you know what's being done so when I'm not there I speak with BTO which is the manager onite and I always tell him go outside check the sell making sure it's not you know cuz the police station is right around the corner I'm like making sure he's not you know leaving the building because the police are just a walking distance away so if anything happen you know they if if it's too loud they'll hear it from their premises so um I do have that conversation with with with them you know on a regular basis and I do even advise them not to use the um the low because the low is the one that make the sound even louder I said if you guys are going to use a speaker just use the two top speakers to just keep the music at at a minimum especially on a weekday you know um nobody wants to be you know listening to music that loud at that time so um ever since then ever since I got uh um the warning um from the from the inspector I did revisit that with everyone and had a meeting with them and I've been trying my very best to be present at every event even if it's at you know uh um 12:1 a.m. I try my very best to be there if I'm not sick because I realized that was an issue and I don't want that to repeat itself okay do you have any sort of soundproofing inside um the the well where the DJ setup is right next to all the glass windows um even if we have the sound proving we have 1 two 3 four five I bought eight Windows like large windows so it's very hard you know um other than keeping the music Low um you know um it's very hard even with the with the soundproof um wall for the glass to you know for everything to stay inside I just heard the previous guy mention something for the door I'm going to look into that to see if it's something that we can utilize ourself you know to see if we can put it you know what we can do to improve the um premises the the facility so this you know issue is no longer an issue I mean the police came by the other day um they said that you know the music was playing they said they didn't hear they didn't hear it outside which was you know from AF far which was a good thing because I've been you know keeping that in mind I've been mindful of that um ever since we got that warning because honest to God I hate being you know being in the presence of you guys you know having to expand myself for you know for things like that so um I'm trying my very best you know to keep things in order okay is there I'm not familiar with the inside of this location but could you move the DJ boo someplace else if there continue to be issues or no um yeah definitely because where the DJ is is right next to the windows right next to the door so um I'm assuming the sound is traveling you know even faster and uh um and it's louder so not only I can try to move him but I've been trying to keep the music Low lower than what it was um especially on the weekday um although we don't have any houses near us because why we have a crust from us papaginos um the um the post office um the Chinese food place like it's a it's all business you know uh um near us however if somebody's complaining if it's the other DG or whoever it is somebody's being disturb and we don't want to cause any distraction or disturbance to anyone okay good um Rebecca do you have any questions yeah I don't believe this um violation was because of a complaint I think it was just because the police heard heard the music from the station I also received a video from one of the officers just showing them walking towards um the restaurant and you could hear the music very clearly um but definitely what Kathleen said if you can move the DJ or speakers away from the windows towards the back um and just monitor make sure you know if you you're outside your establishment if you can hear like across the street then it's definitely too loud and it's most likely above the noise ordinance I understand there's no residence but you still have to abide by there ordinance yeah definitely definitely and what I've had implemented since every half hour I have somebody go outside um to check and I also have them download an app to kind of like you know um on their phone because I don't have the device yet to kind of see how loud the music is being played and also you know um have them report it to me if I'm not you know if I'm not at the current moment have have them take a screenshot and send that to me you know so I can kind of like have have some sort of um record of what's happening and then with the hours um I do recall when you had your initial hearing for live entertainment you had applied for a 12:00 a.m. and then I know you wanted a 1:00 a.m. but because of the timing and your hearing application was only for 12 that's why we didn't do the one because that would have delayed everything so I think I don't I haven't checked all my emails but I don't think we have the amendment all we if you do want to change to 1: a.m. we just need an amendment form but until that time you can only have entertainment live entertainment until or actually all your entertainment until midnight okay I will check my email to see if I have the amendment in my email somewhere too um if not I'll send it um today um I but I'm gonna get on it right away I'll yeah I'll send you the form thank you so much hope you feel better um with that I don't have any other questions questions anybody else there are no further questions then the executive director will take this under advisement as well and will issue a written decision those are all of the items before the division this afternoon so that will Jour this hearing thank you all thank you thank you very much have a good evening