Comments on: A fresh smackdown

By: DJ Cee Block

DJ Cee Block — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:38:18 +0000

I think Tom’s talking about FTOA, since you and the Shanty have been there much longer than a year.

By: Diane

Diane — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:50:44 +0000

Oh Tom, I hope you’re not talking about the Shanty…

By: Tom the Tour Guide

Tom the Tour Guide — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:42:52 +0000

Last year was the first year they were around, right? They probably got a feel for what they could get away with and decided to push it this year.

Their food and drinks suck anyways. They’ll be gone soon enough.

By: Glen Hughes

Glen Hughes — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:55:50 +0000

I was thinking about the Superbowl incident not the 'can incident' but when I looked back they got a warning not a closure.

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:41:03 +0000

As a restaurant owner I am happy to work with other restaurants and bars to share ideas, best practices etc. to keep people safe while they enjoy themselves. I am also happy to work with the police and the Chamber of Commerce. However, it would take something quite spectacular to cause me to shut my doors and deprive my hard working staff of their livelihood just to prove a point or show solidarity.

(Oh, and the Shanty has not been closed by the board at all this year. In fact, the board apologized for their false accusations after the ‘can incident’. )

By: Glen Hughes

Glen Hughes — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:04:24 +0000

maitai,

My experience has nothing to do with the boards decision or how I feel about the boards decision, it is merely an example of the type of problems that can and do happen. Allowing those types of problems has lead to where Fresh Taste is now.

Business with liquor licenses that have problems often get shut down for a day or number of days for violations. It is standard practice and has happened to Rockafellas, Bangkok Paradise (and the Shanty I think) in recent months and I didn’t see any other bars banding together threatening to go dark on their behalf.

Being proactive many of the down town business have banded together to share information about problem patrons and there is now a policy where if you get kicked out of one bar you are kicked out of all of them. This is similar to what we used to do on Lansdown St.

Hopefully by working together all the businesses can stem this problem and none of them will find themselves in front of the licensing board any time soon.

By: maitai

maitai — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:04:53 +0000

Let me get this right: You had a bad experience with a meathead and that affirms the licensing board’s decision? Are there any other establishments we should shut down because of bad experiences with meatheads? Let’s be objective when discussing crushing someone’s livelihood especially in these dire economic times.

I agree that something needs to be done but restricting business is not the way. The Fresh Taste and O’Neill’s are working with the Salem PD, they are working with the Chamber. Fine them but let’s not force the closure of a business. It’s unfortunate that O’Neill’s and Rockafellas didn’t stand with them and all threaten to go dark when the licensing board handed down their punishment. It seems most agree that it isn’t just Fresh Taste that’s to blame here:

http://www.salemnews.com/archivesearch/local_story_301232924.html

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:19:57 +0000

here, here…