The New Retail Thread

ErnieAdams said:
Taco Bell coming to 872 Comm. Ave. in front of BU West, most recently a 7-11 and half of a Mattress Discounters before that. Guess we can expect to see more of them after their (presumptive) success with the downtown location. This one will be two doors down from Chipotle.
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There used to be one a few blocks away at 700 Commonwealth Avenue. I don't think they'll be an unwelcome addition to the area at all.
 
falcon42 said:
Not to worry, they won't be prosecuted in the end! Check on these cases in a few weeks/months and I'd bet they will be continued without a finding or dismissed. That's the culture that has been set up in Boston now, unfortunately.
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They'll likely get a PPD offer. Which is the right thing for the courts to do...
 
Hi everyone!

I’m writing an article for The Daily Free Press, Boston University’s student newspaper about the rumors of Taco Bell coming to BU’s campus.
Please DM/PM me if you know anything about this, and would like to go on the record with information.
 
janeavery0 said:
Hi everyone!

I’m writing an article for The Daily Free Press, Boston University’s student newspaper about the rumors of Taco Bell coming to BU’s campus.
Please DM/PM me if you know anything about this, and would like to go on the record with information.
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Welcome Jane. Ain't no rumor. Here's the agenda item with the Brookline Planning Board for their application to change the signage at the location: https://www.brooklinema.gov/list.aspx?MID=6444. You could head to Town Hall yourself tomorrow morning and see if anyone there representing the company wants to comment, but chances are good that it'll just be local permitting counsel and not anyone actually from the company. The link also includes an email signup for these agendas as they are sent, which is why I tend to show up here with Brookline retail news.
 
Interesting that 872 Comm Ave is in Brookline. How close is that to the Boston line? One building over?
 
BosDevelop said:
Interesting that 872 Comm Ave is in Brookline. How close is that to the Boston line? One building over?
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The whole south side of Comm Ave from St Marys St to about Winslow Rd is in Brookline. The opposite (north) side of Comm Ave along this stretch is Boston.
 
JumboBuc said:
The whole south side of Comm Ave from St Marys St to about Winslow Rd is in Brookline. The opposite (north) side of Comm Ave along this stretch is Boston.
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The exact town line is actually the front walls/doors/windows of most of those (non-setback) buildings on that stretch. Raises an interesting intellectual point (probably just for me and for nobody else) because if Taco Bell puts a sign out in front, the sign will be anchored exactly on the line and will be hanging over into Boston's territory. So the Brookline Planning Board is regulating signs that aren't in Brookline at all!
 
There's literally a fucking strip of bars 500 ft away and there was another series of bars and clubs on the same block as recently as three years ago.

It's this kind of shit that keeps me quietly saving my money and waiting until I can get the fuck out of this city. I just want no part of the mental retardation that seems to set in the longer you stay here.
 
meddlepal said:
There's literally a fucking strip of bars 500 ft away and there was another series of bars and clubs on the same block as recently as three years ago.

It's this kind of shit that keeps me quietly saving my money and waiting until I can get the fuck out of this city. I just want no part of the mental retardation that seems to set in the longer you stay here.
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That’s an insult to the mentally retarded. They’re smarter than NIMBYs.
 
meddlepal said:
www.bostonglobe.com

Want to grab a late-night taco in Boston? The neighbors won’t hear of it - The Boston Globe

El Jefe Taqueria wants to serve food until 2 a.m., but don’t expect the city’s licensing board to see the light.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

This fucking city.
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What exactly is the "Midtown Park Plaza Neighborhood Association?" Is that the same as the "Downtown Boston Residents' Association?" Nothing really turns up on a Google search, except for a bunch of articles on projects they've opposed.

Can Emerson students who live in the area show up to a Midtown Park Plaza Neighborhood Association meeting and overrule the NIMBY votes? Or would they be discouraged or turned away?
 
There are homeless, drug addicts and shady people in the area, I think I'd agree with the neighborhood association on this. But these people DO live in the very middle of a sizable city and metro area you can't ask for quiet and bucolic streets all the time its just not realistic. Also the answer isn't to roll up the sidewalks the answer is to keep things open to attract normal people to a critical mass. I don't feel in danger when I'm out at 1am on Boylston st, I feel in danger when I'm walking thru the financial district at 1am and I havent seen another human in 5 minutes.
 
JumboBuc said:
What exactly is the "Midtown Park Plaza Neighborhood Association?" Is that the same as the "Downtown Boston Residents' Association?" Nothing really turns up on a Google search, except for a bunch of articles on projects they've opposed.

Can Emerson students who live in the area show up to a Midtown Park Plaza Neighborhood Association meeting and overrule the NIMBY votes? Or would they be discouraged or turned away?
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The Midtown Park Plaza Neighborhood Association has been around for at least 2 decades (They fought against Silver Line III, for example). I don't know anything about their web presence, but they definitely show up at meetings. They represent residents in buildings like the Ritz Towers, One Charles, Kensington, Ava on Stuart Street, etc.) Although they are people who chose to live in the core of the city, specifically the Theater District, Midtown Cultural District, etc., they bizarrely hate late night activity. It is truly a massively hypocritical NIMBY constituency.
 
JeffDowntown said:
The Midtown Park Plaza Neighborhood Association has been around for at least 2 decades (They fought against Silver Line III, for example). I don't know anything about their web presence, but they definitely show up at meetings. They represent residents in buildings like the Ritz Towers, One Charles, Kensington, Ava on Stuart Street, etc.) Although they are people who chose to live in the core of the city, specifically the Theater District, Midtown Cultural District, etc., they bizarrely hate late night activity. It is truly a massively hypocritical NIMBY constituency.
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Right, but is this "Neighborhood Association" open to all in the neighborhood? If i isn't, then it shouldn't be able to call itself a "Neighborhood Association" and the city should not consider anything it has to say to be in any way representative of the neighborhood. Official government decisions are being made on its orders.

It's one thing if a neighborhood association is open to all but only certain types of people decide to show up. It's a whole 'nother thing if the association is never open to all in the first place.
 
https://www.universalhub.com/2020/city-always-sleeps-think-children-downtown

More coverage of the hearing. The NIMBY arguments are pathetically priceless. They claim concern about the welfare of the 1,000 freshman at Emerson living in the building and being subjected to the late night undesirable elements.

But these freshmen have their own entrance into the proposed taco shop. If it is not there, hungry freshmen are going to venture out further on those supposedly unsafe streets in search of food at 1 am. (Huge irony that the mayor's office and city councilor's rep supported the early closing because the streets are unsafe -- missing the fact that it is their job to make streets safe!)
 
[Mod Note: Deleted per the original poster]
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It sounds like you're profoundly conflicted--on the one hand, you said just a few posts above that you can't wait to leave Boston. And yet here you're saying you actually want to invest yourself in the neighborhood/community. I suppose it's not an either/or thing, but, I'm guessing if you did join this association and became a lone dissenting voice, it would only make you more exasperated, being reminded constantly of how much you despise their politics/urbanism philosophy--and that would goad you to try to leave Boston even sooner?
 
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ErnieAdams said:
The exact town line is actually the front walls/doors/windows of most of those (non-setback) buildings on that stretch. Raises an interesting intellectual point (probably just for me and for nobody else) because if Taco Bell puts a sign out in front, the sign will be anchored exactly on the line and will be hanging over into Boston's territory. So the Brookline Planning Board is regulating signs that aren't in Brookline at all!
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This reminds me that for years, I-90 westbound, along this stretch, had signs that said:

WELCOME TO BROOKLINE

then immediately after--no more than 100 yards past, I'm thinking?

WELCOME TO BOSTON

as I-90 traversed that tiny little sliver of Brookline, right where this Taco Bell is going, that divides western Fenway/Kenmore from eastern Allston/Brighton. Those signs always amused me--but then they vanished at some point.
 
Suffolk 83 said:
There are homeless, drug addicts and shady people in the area, I think I'd agree with the neighborhood association on this. But these people DO live in the very middle of a sizable city and metro area you can't ask for quiet and bucolic streets all the time its just not realistic. Also the answer isn't to roll up the sidewalks the answer is to keep things open to attract normal people to a critical mass. I don't feel in danger when I'm out at 1am on Boylston st, I feel in danger when I'm walking thru the financial district at 1am and I havent seen another human in 5 minutes.
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I 100% agree with the sentiment that more people = more safety and it seems like the "concerned neighbors" (who are lying through their teeth about being concerned; they simply don't want this because it doesn't benefit them) lack that basic understanding.

When I lived in São Paulo, I made a pretty big error when choosing my first apartment...I quickly learned that my apartment was located in/next to an area nicknamed "Crackolândia" which directly translates to "The Land of Crack". As you can imagine from the name, it wasn't the nicest place and it could be downright horrifying at times. But even in an area with a strong criminal presence (far worse than anything near Emerson, or 99.9% of the US for that matter), I still felt pretty safe if there were a bunch of people out and about on the street. Of course there's always the chance of crime no matter the situation, but you're far less likely to run into trouble on a lively, bustling street.
 
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