Mayor Walsh appoints Kathleen Joyce as Chairwoman of Boston Licensing Board

BOSTON - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh today announced the appointment of Kathleen Joyce as Chairwoman of the Boston Licensing Board, a regulatory board that grants and regulates various types of food and alcohol licenses for restaurants and other establishments in Boston. The Board is also responsible for holding hearings on violations and license applications.

"The Licensing Board serves an important function in the City of Boston in making sure that our restaurants and entertainment establishments are regulated and in compliance with the law," said Mayor Walsh. "Kathleen has years of experience advising on legal and public policy matters, and I am excited that she will be able to take her extensive knowledge and expertise to Boston's Licensing Board."

As Chairwoman, Joyce serves as the lead commissioner in regulating licenses pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapters 138 and 140, and the Rules of the Board. The board consists of three commissioners who are appointed by the Mayor. Each commissioner serves a six-year term.

"I am proud to be named Chairwoman of the Licensing Board, and thank Mayor Walsh for this incredible opportunity," said Kathleen Joyce. "My entire career has been grounded in providing legal support and promoting justice, and I am honored to be able to serve in this capacity."

Joyce most recently worked as Senior Counsel at the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), the urban planning and economic development agency for the City of Boston. In her role as Senior Counsel, Joyce provided legal support and counsel on real estate, government and policy matters.

Prior to joining the BPDA in 2014, Joyce spent nearly seven years working at the Boston Bar Association, a 10,000 member nonprofit organization, as the Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs, where she worked with organization's leadership teams to advance and coordinate policy positions to promote justice and improve access to the legal system in Massachusetts.

Through her former roles, Joyce has accumulated extensive experience cultivating relationships with and convening various stakeholders to identify areas of common interest and consensus. These stakeholders include legal experts, city, state and federal leaders, and members of the judiciary.  

Joyce is a past member of the editorial board of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and serves as a committee member of The Friends of the Mass General Cancer Center and is a board member of the Dorchester Running Club and her alma mater, Mount Alvernia High School.

She lives in Dorchester and graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and Suffolk University Law School.  She will begin her new role as Chairwoman today on Tuesday, October 9, 2018.

Source: Mayor's Press Office

Friends of Meridian Street outraged at Canton Eatery's request for extended hours

The following is from Paul Howes:

 

It has just come to our attention that there is a meeting at 7pm, Dec.9, 2014 at the Canton Eatery, 339 Meridian Street, East Boston. It says "Abutter Meeting".

This is outrageous that even a consideration of extended hours at this business is considered. Since this business has opened we have lost count of the violations cited by the Boston Licensing Board, Boston Police Department, MBTA Transit Police and the Boston Board of Health Inspectional Services. The owner of the Canton Eatery has been closed down by the Licensing Commission for multiple violations. He has been cited multiple times by the EBPD for noise, parking and problems with late night fights of patrons coming to this establishment after the bars close at 2am. At a hearing at the Licensing Board to cut back the hours of the Canton because of the multiple violations, his representing lawyer stated that he has installed registers that would not accept orders after 1:30am (which is on record) and this never happened. Again there are no women's or men's toilets in the Canton Eatery and there are reports to the EBPD and Licensing Board of patrons using the alleyway next to the Canton to urinate. This will obviously become even a bigger health and safety problem for our families living next to this business in a residential area. The hundreds of complaints and citations written to the Canton Eatery for dangerous double parking, blocking the bike lane used by our children, causing the MBTA buses to pull around into oncoming traffic and causing constant vehicle horn honking and people screaming. The owner has completely ignored the citations and warnings from the EBPD and MBTA Transit Police and Boston Licensing Board. Extending hours is only going to make these problems worse! Review the EBPD reports, the Boston Licensing Board citations and complaints, Boston Parking violations and complaints, MBTA Transit Police violations and complaints and the multiple health code violations. The owner of the Canton Eatery has been a chronic violator of the licensing, parking, trash and health laws since opening. Not to mention that on a daily, nightly basis the front of the Canton Eatery, on the public sidewalk if full of bagged trash bags, empty boxes and pails. Up to 30 bags at a time. Polite letters were sent to the owner of the Canton Eatery requesting the trash be put out after 2am closing so our families, children (a school bus stop right next to the trash) do not have to live in these conditions of large amounts of trash on our public sidewalk. He did not respond and ignored these requests showing again he has no respect of the families and residents of Meridian Street in East Boston. 

THE RESIDENTS OF MERIDIAN STREET, EAST BOSTON STRONGLY OPPOSE ANY EXTENTION OF HOURS FOR THE CANTON EATERY AND AFTER YOUR CLOSE EXAMINATION OF ALL THE VIOLATIONS YOU WILL NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. Leave the politics out of this and do the correct judgment for our families safety and quality of living here in East Boston.

Friends of Meridian Street