A “boring” city of Boston may not be the biggest crisis facing the state, but the topic got some discussion Monday at the State House.
The city has a “fun crisis” said Cape Cod’s state Sen. Julian Cyr, who is asking his colleagues to again advance a bill aimed at returning “happy hour” to Bay State cities and towns which want it.
Speaking from inside the Provincetown Brewing Company on Monday, Cyr testified before Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure on behalf of his An Act relative to conviviality and downtown revitalization, which would allow municipalities to opt into permitting happy hours at bars and restaurants in their jurisdiction. This is the third time Cyr has tried to get the plan across the finish line in as many legislative sessions.
“We’re hoping to continue to make the case for a common sense policy that is broadly popular,” Cyr told the Herald. “Maybe the third time is the charm,” he added.
According to the lawmaker, many businesses in his district must frequently close during off seasons in order to make ends meet until warmer weather comes around again. If they had an option to offer discounted drinks and bring more clientele in during the colder months, it might enable some of them to keep their doors open year round, he said.
The same could be said of restaurants and bars in the state’s downtown areas, many of which still struggle to find lunchtime customers after the Covid-19 pandemic put many office workers on a remote schedule, Cyr said.
His bill isn’t a “panacea” and won’t solve every problem confronting bars and restaurants, Cyr said. But he added that it’s better than doing nothing, especially considering the long-standing observation that Boston, despite its size, somehow manages to have no nightlife and is generally “boring” for visitors.
“For all the things we do right, we are still very much hung over from the restrictive alcohol policies which were put in place by my Brahmin predecessors in an attempt to restrict certain cultural activities,” he said. “Massachusetts doesn’t just have an affordability crisis, or a housing crisis, it has a fun crisis.”
The Bay State banned discounted alcoholic beverages in 1984, and at the time the Legislature claimed it was acting in the interest of public health and safety.
Opponents of bringing back some form of happy hour, several of whom spoke during Monday’s hearing, say that the state is better off for not allowing people to buy cheaper booze.
Jessica Moore, speaking on behalf of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, told lawmakers that their group is against any measure which would allow the return of discounted drinks. Stores that offer discounts, she said, can easily undercut the other retailers in their region, forcing everyone to get on board with a program they may not want.
Popular and well established restaurants, she said, would have to compete with “the bar across the street’s predatory pricing policies.”
“There is no protection for restaurants who have no interest in participating,” she said.
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