• THIS IS THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF BOOZING: Earlier this week, the long-brewing Amethyst Initiative was made very public with a burst of national and local news coverage. The Initiative’s centerpiece is a petition to take a hard look at the nation’s legal drinking age; the undercurrent is a feeling that “21” may be encouraging binge-drinking and a lower age is needed. That petition has been signed (so far) by the presidents of more than 100 colleges and universities across the country, including Clark University President John Bassett (the only Worcester-based president to sign the agreement by press time). Bassett says he didn’t sign initially “because it was clear to me that a number of the leaders of the Initiative, maybe most of them, saw the primary issue as one of the legal drinking age.” Still, Bassett notes that the agreement “doesn’t not specifically say that the drinking age ought to lowered to 18. It does say that our current laws with the drinking age of 21 aren’t working and we need to find a better solution.” Bassett adds: “I think it is the only initiative that I have seen that will make the drinking problem — and I’m referring to the binge-drinking problem that has developed over the last couple of decades — into a national issue. I don’t see any other initiative to put it on the national agenda.”
• THE BEAT WAS GOT: After a hectic summer of shooting, the We Got The Beat cast and crew wrapped filming last Saturday night. The movie, the latest from AAFilms team Jon Artigo and Andrea Ajemian, is now in the editing/post-production phase. The final cast includes Michael Copon (Power Rangers, Scorpion King 2), Robert Hoffman (Step Up 2: The Streets), Ryan Pinkston (“Punk’d”), Ming-Na (“ER”), Ryan Hansen (“Veronica Mars”), and Kurt Fuller (Wayne’s World and everything else).
• LATE NIGHT OUT: Are we gearing up for the next round of late-night dining and outdoor-dining wars? It sure looks like it. This week’s License Commission features a few high-profile cases, including Chandler Street Golden Pizza, which was ordered to close at midnight after a shooting there earlier this year. They’re asking the License Commission to lift that restriction. But they’re not alone: Mais Voce Grill, a newish popular grill/pizza place on Maywood Street next to The Blarney Stone, is requesting a 3 a.m. closing (they don’t serve booze), while Sweet on Shrewsbury Street is asking for outdoor dining without booze.
• PHANTOM CLUBS: And one more high-profile appearance at this week’s meeting: Selim Lahoud, the proprietor (can you be a proprietor if something hasn’t opened yet?) of Byblos Lounge in Union Station and The Boiler Room is scheduled to appear before the Commission for a “status of license” update. Both establishments were supposed to open by now, with the city touting the coming arrival of Byblos last year. Other status updates include The Zodiac Café and The Plantation Pub.
• THIS IS THE SONG THAT NEVER ENDS: Once the City Council votes to approve and ordain a rule, it’s rare you see it overturned the next time it comes up for ratification (following the so-called “public advertisement phase”). But it’s also rare to have a 6-5 vote on such a contentious issue. Opponents and critics of the new street vendor ordinance are keying on that split vote and the combative Council session last week as their main hope of change. The hopes are that at least one of the six who voted in favor of the ordinance agrees to switch sides, especially if an acceptable new-new-new compromise is proposed. One prime target? Councilor Bill Eddy, who is considered the least definitive of the six who voted for the new ordinance. Any public or behind-the-scenes effort has a limited time, though — the ordinance will be ratified on Sept. 9.
• PARK IT: The uproar over the proposal to eliminate free parking for disabled veterans and handicapped drivers may be over. The Off-Street Parking Board voted on Tuesday night to approve a new set of regulations that many are viewing as a compromise. Starting Sept. 1, any driver with handicapped or disabled veteran plates or placards will be able to park for up to two hours for free in the Pearl Elm, Federal Square and Major Taylor garages. Once all four garages go mechanical (only Union Station garage is currently), Worcester residents with the appropriate plates/placards who preregister with DPW will be eligible for the two free hours. Anyone going beyond the two hours would have to pay for the full amount of time. Larry Raymond, director of the Worcester Office on Disability, says that the agreement “was a compromise, but we’re pleased that it now includes all four garages, and it was the short-term parkers we were most concerned about.” o
