Neighborhood veto power can conflict with citywide goals to provide a 24-7 urban experience, as a case study from Boston shows.
Shirley Leung reports on the controversy over El Jefe's Taqueria in Boston, where the owner, John Schall, wants a license to stay open until 2 am.
"Schall wants a license to stay open until 2 a.m. at his newest location on the corner of Boylston and Tremont streets at the bottom of a building owned by Emerson College," explains Leung. "With about 1,000 students living in dorm rooms above his restaurant, he tells me, the taqueria can almost be like a 'kitchen in their house.'"
Schall isn't expecting a positive result from the forthcoming licensing hearing, because of the recent success of the Midtown Park Plaza Neighborhood Association in blocking a similar license for a Tasty Burger in the same neighborhood.
The article includes a lot more detail about this specific controversy, as well as the specifics of the licensing process for late-night businesses in Boston.
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