Not that this should come as a surprise to fortune tellers as I'm sure they saw this in their crystal ball, but the Legislative Matters Committee, in conjunction with the city solicitor's office, is putting together an ordinance surrounding the issuance of Fortune Teller's licenses getting a head start by referencing that of Salem, Massachusetts.
Once again questioning what positive service these types of businesses bring to Somerville, Alderman at Large Jack Connolly was very clear that he wants these businesses to go through the same rigorous line of questioning any other license-seeking business has to endure. Taking it a step further, City Solicitor David Shapiro informed the committee that they can have the applicant submit to a CORI background check and have the license issuance contingent upon that check coming back clean. Shapiro is back to the drawing board to draft the ordinance and make it "Somerville Friendly" as he put it at last night's meeting.
This ordinance discussion comes on the wake of a fortune teller opening up shop in Magoun Square that prompted both a passionate plea from Ward 5 Alderman Sean O'Donovan about focusing on the real issues in Magoun and not on a license issuance alone and a late-item order from Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane to begin discussions on putting an ordinance in place for fortune tellers seeking licenses in the city.
On Thursday night, another fortune teller is seeking a license to open up shop on Washington Street. Most likely, this will be recommended to the Licensing Committee for further review and discussion.
3 comments:
Now that all the other pressing issues in Somerville have been resolved, it's good to see the BOA focus their attention on protecting the residents of this city from rogue fortune tellers.
"Not that this should come as a surprise to fortune tellers ..."
This should be the first sentence in ANY story regarding fortune telling. Thanks for making me smile so early in the morning, courtney!
I really wasn't aware that criminal fortune tellers was an issue in Somerville. What exactly is a CORI check going to reveal? Maybe we should be focusing on how to attract better businesses to Somerville instead of denying the ones we already have.
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