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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Armory to Stand Before ZBA on September 5th

If you are signed up to the Armory's email list you are certainly well aware that an important date has arrived as they seek changes to keep the venue financially stable.

The Armory writes, "We believe strongly in the programming that we provide and believe that with the above-mentioned actions, we can live up to our full potential and fulfill our mission to an even greater extent. With your support, we will be able to continue and expand upon our daily cultural, educational, and healthy-living events and thrive as a centerpiece to the local economy. We hope you will sign our petition and also attend the hearing once it is announced in mid-August."

If you support the Armory's requests, you can sign the online petition, as well as, attend the meeting set for Wednesday September 5th at 6pm in City Hall.

1) An increase in occupancy, which will allow us to better serve the needs of the community with such events as the Somerville Winter Farmers’ Market;
2) Expanded hours that will allow us to open earlier and stay open two hours later (allowing us to better work with nationally touring music and theater groups);
3) Outdoor Café seating, which will enhance the on-street vibrancy in our neighborhood;
4) Cooking in our Café, which will allow us to better-cater to our customers, specifically in the cold winter months; and
5) The ability to apply for a liquor license, currently not negotiable within the buildings’ conditions.

The Armory recently received some support from their Cambridge friends in an editorial published on the Somerville Journal website on August 30th. The editorial describes the requests as "reasonable", but does point out the slowness in which the Armory finally resolved ADA compliance issues and a desire to see a permanent director. 

Previously published posts on this topic has brought numerous comments from both sides of the argument--setting the stage for an interesting conversation on September 5th.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, Ward 5, what were the results of the September 5th meeting with the ZBA as to the armory's request for modifying some conditions allready in place?

Anonymous said...

There was plenty of testimony in favor of some of the requests, but the extended hours seems to be the one elected officials don't like.

ZBA did not make a decision that night.

Anonymous said...

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

The elected officials were speaking for abutters and neighbors who have made their wishes known through them.

Without the extended hours being granted the petitioners are back to square-one for all the reasons they pointed out for needing/wanting the extra hours.

Of those who showed up at the meeting and spoke in favor of the petioners, I wonder how many were nearby residents.

Anonymous said...

Of those who signed the petition favoring later hours, etc. it appears most, if not all, were out of towners; some are out of state; and those who signed from Somerville are not from the immediate neighborhood.

Thus they, and their families and tenants, would not be negatively impacted by extending later hours, parking problems,and whatever noise is created inside the building; and by patrons exiting the building with a few drinks under their belt after 1:00 A.M. in the morning.

It appears some person or persons, made a bad business decision by going in there initially as a nightime entertainment center; and now want to bail-out via requesting occupancy modifications originally agreed upon at the expense of the nearby residents.

Simply put, wrong location for such night-time goings on.