good afternoon thank you all for joining we'll just give a brief moment to make sure that everyone has connected to audio and can hear us looks like we're all here good afternoon this is an admin ative hearing before the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing today is Thursday August 1st 2024 this hearing is being conducted persent 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 of Boston's website we're joined today by the executive director of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing Kathleen Joyce I will read today's agenda item into the record I will then ask who is present on behalf of the applicant you'll make a brief presentation regarding your proposal followed by questions by the entertainment Division and testimony beginning with elected officials or their representatives there's only one item on this afternoon's agenda the applicant is Big House LLC doing business as basement located at 100 Stewart Street the application before the entertainment division is to add the entertainment categories of audio device jukebox disc jockey dancing by patrons instrumental and vocal music up to six performers each daily until 2 a.m. who's present on behal of the applicant good afternoon Madame chair attorney green Christen scanland for the applicant signed on with us today is Charlie Kane who's uh big Knight's director of security and Michael knockman who is um the proposed manager of record he's been with the company since 2016 and is uh previously approved by this uh board and the licensing board as manager of record brother establishments as well um I know U Madame chair and attorney green you're very familiar with big Knight Entertainment Group um they have various locations around Boston and Connecticut they run successful operations restaurants and entertainment venues including Big Night live near the garden Empire scorpion bar and the Grand and Seaport um locations at Encore casino as well um and are also familiar with this particular neighborhood where they previously had explorator and Guy feries um kitchen on the corner of chont and Boyston street so this location is just one block down on the corner of neand and um Stewart which they took over from the previous operator who ran um tunnel and then Metro there um there are no changes whatsoever proposed to the previously approved entertainment categories um that the previous operator had at this location additionally no changes to the interior either it's still 39 about 3900 square feet seating for 50 with a 200% occupancy ours are the same as well as proposed for a 2A am closing time um the only um substantive changes that have been made to the premises are to the lighting system and the security system they've just installed the brand new um security system update with 16 cameras and which will retain um the video footage for 90 days at this location um I know some of the um other topics that usually come up with mocal just to get those off the bat and Charlie can certainly elaborate on security policy and procedures but as far as use of promoters they will not use any outside promoters they only promote um for DJs and entertainment that they bring in from within the company um uh yes to cover charges uh as they do at their other entertainment vending locations as well there is already soundproofing that is installed um in that location from the previous operator so I think they were they've been comfortable and did their own testing but Charlie correct me if I'm wrong it doesn't sound like you've done additional improvements to the soundproofing there because it's been it was pretty um substantial prior to their entry into the space um they do also use um in addition to the security staff that they have um during opening hours they have restaurant restaurant restroom excuse me attendance as well um and they have on hand all their evacuation um plans egress plans crowd management dispersal policy that are quite similar to their other establishments but we can um make sure that it's specific to this location and submit that to the board as well that being said um I'll turn it over to Charlie so he can add um his bullet points for the plans for this location too okay good morning um attorney green and cheeran Joyce um so Kristen kind of took a lot of my thunder on this um answer a lot of questions but yeah we just put in a new they had 11 cameras we just put in 16 uh coverage and a state-ofthe-art system that we utilize in all our other venues uh with 90day plus retention it's a minimum of 90 days can be up to actually six months depending um on the amount of usage Etc we also um the sound proofing was checked with uh a landlord which is the W which is owned by the marer corporation and it's been found to be substantially um you know fine for their recommendation and for the hotel and the residences that are in the area um we have improved the lighting uh as she stated we'll have bathroom attendance I am reassigning a Security Supervisor over there to work the Thursday Friday and Saturday nights of operation who's been with the company for two plus years um and he will oversee the operation there I will oversee the first uh few months on a nightly basis as we open to a new neighborhood and a new venue and and we also uh will have the restroom attendance every night we are open uh also as she stated we're not going to use private promoters over here uh we're going to use our own promotions and this is to It's A New Concept for big night we're going to be utilizing local upcoming local National and international DJs in a very small intimate setting trying to be bring a new vibe to that area in Chinatown um you know with a fresh uh a fresh look down there um 200 person capacity uh we are not doing food and um all our policies I can send to I just updated uh finishing updating our security policy um chairwoman Joyce that I was going to send to you within a week on our security policy uh my director of Security's out as I uh stated in a previous email to uh attorney green and he's working on that I should have it done hopefully by next week I can send you our brand new updated policy which covers uh security cameras bag policy incident response ejection policy I also have a very detailed fire and evacuation plan that was approved by the fire department and IC to get our permitting and our license which I can forward to you and I also have a dispersal policy for this venue thank you anything further at this time great uh second Joyce any questions you may have for the applicant a couple questions um will you be having events that are open to all ages or is it generally over 21 no there is no intention um it's not a musical um if we were to do I guess looking in the big picture we did maybe a you know somebody who wanted to rent it for a bomit for or something or some type party that was something like that we put it before the um Mel but we have no intention to doing anything like Big Night Live went under 21 performances at all okay and then you're requesting dancing by patrons is there a dance floor or will you just be moving tables and chairs what are your envisioning for that uh there is an open Dance Floor area in front of the DJ booth okay it is very limited um it's more of an open space I don't know if you've ever been there I was there yesterday of to space numerous times since we sought to purchase and then purchased and I was there yesterday uh for a final walk through for the cameras and some construction and security issues and fire evacuation it's pretty much an open space there are only a couple tables uh it's a very unique different space if you've been in you've been in the Grand and other venues um so there is a dance floor in front of the DJs okay so when you are able to submit the uh um security and the dispersal plan um I'm just asking if you could address um the entrance that's shared with the hotel the previous operator we had some issues there including fights that would start um and then spill into the SP start here and then spill into the hotel lobby and out into the vestibule um so you want if you could address how the hotel won't be impacted Hotel operations won't be impacted by the entertainment there um talk about it now if you'd like but that was we've had some issues with the previous operator there okay I actually was there yesterday like I said and um I did meet with the security and their operations their facilities manager and I have another meeting with them next week with my team my director and uh my senior Security Supervisor to go over all those things okay um and then maybe one I might have missed this dispersal plan at the end of night end of the night um addressing ride shares and you know people pulling up loitering waiting for their ride to show up how you're going to control that on that busy street um and then um there was I think that's the only other um issue I can see we would like address in the submission from the security Danny am I missing anything um one other question is was there any Community process that was done uh for this request we did reach out to um Chu and the mayor's office Neighborhood Services and had a conversation with him he was supportive and didn't feel the need for any further Outreach at this location given the fact that there's essentially no change but um ownership at this location great and I'm assuming that the request is for uh entertainment for all seven days a week yes and that is until 2 am all 7 days yes yes and uh chairwoman Joyce just to get back to your question sorry I didn't get a chance to answer it um but yes we have a disal policy uh and procedure that I'll send to you and I am I have a call and I have a meeting next week with Captain mtin from area A1 um to speak to him relative to the ride share and um learning that new area I've been driving down there for the past three months as we purchase the venue at Friday and Saturday nights trying to see what goes on down there to educate myself and I have a meeting with him sometime next week to go over that ride share and um you know dispersal uh to help the neighbors and the other establishments in the area Okay and like if you could describe for me it's probably easier for you to describe it than to put it in writing the entrance between the hotel and this area how are you maning that security wise uh we're GNA have a stationary security officer in that area Okay because it's kind of open yes and they'll check IDs like will there be queuing there or outside the hotel yes yep yep we're going to work with the hotel uh we going to work on that next week on the meeting uh but we'll be doing the control obviously it's our license so we'll be controlling the iding and the entrance into our venue uh which is going to be from the main entrance uh chairwoman which is at the corner of Stewart and nean right by New England School of Law the main door that's where everybody will be allowed in the only other doors we're going to use is emergency egress which is in the fire and exac evacuation plan okay okay um I may have other questions after reviewing reviewing what you submit um I can follow up with attorney scandin on any questions um but I think that covers it for now thank you yep no further questions on my end either it does not appear that anybody is here to provide testimony so with that said um that will adjourn this afternoon's hearing the executive director will take this under advisement and will issue a written decision thank you all great thank you thanks thank you very much take care by