Medford is in the process of trying to obtain 10 new liquor licenses for beer and wine to supplement its current 15, which are almost all used up.
The City Council's initiative to allow more restaurants to serve alcohol comes in response to the opening of several new restaurants in Medford over the last several years, Councilor Frederick Dello Russo told the Daily.
Right now, only one license of the city's 15 remains unclaimed and available for an additional restaurant to use, Mayor Michael McGlynn told the Daily. A liquor license can improve a restaurant's revenue and attractiveness to customers.
"We had maximized the number [of licenses] we had available," Dello Russo said. "We wanted to make additional ones available to the city, especially for Medford Square."
Progress in approving the 10 new licenses seems to be imminent. According to Dello Russo, they will probably be approved within the next few months. If they are approved, a distribution date will be set.
"There seems to be very little to no opposition," McGlynn said. "Restaurants make up a substantial portion of the profit on alcohol. When people go in to dine, many want a drink with dinner."
There is also an ongoing debate around changing the minimum seating requirements for restaurants that wish to serve liquor, McGlynn said.
Right now the licenses for only beer and wine require the restaurant to have at least 19 seats. But in order to obtain a full liquor license to serve hard alcohol as well, a restaurant must be able to seat 99 people, according to a March 25 article in the Medford Transcript.
McGlynn said the Chamber of Commerce is trying to enable smaller restaurants to serve cocktails. "The opportunity to serve liquor at a smaller number [of seats] will attract more people to the restaurants," he said.
At one time, restaurants had to seat 250 people to obtain a full liquor license, McGlynn said.
The Chamber of Commerce has not proposed an updated minimum, but that number may be between 30 and 50 people, McGlynn said.
One disagreement around the proposed distribution of liquor licenses involves the idea that licenses would be granted to the city depending on the economic development of certain areas, Councilor Robert Penta told the Daily.
This would mean that licenses could only be distributed in the five major economic areas of Medford because the State House has said that the liquor licenses have to be used for economic development, he said. These five areas are Medford Square, West Medford, South Medford, the Hillside and the Wellington area.
Penta takes issue with the idea of only allowing liquor licenses in certain areas currently experiencing economic growth. "To say economic development is predicated on liquor licenses ... I just don't agree with that," he said.
"I don't think you should quantify the amount [of liquor licenses] by the area of the state or the city ... because not one particular issue makes any development. It's a combination of many," Penta added.
Medford restaurants did not sell hard liquor until the 1980s, Dello Russo said. "I think we've seen historically ... Medford didn't have any type of liquor sold in any eating establishments," he said.
With the development in Medford in the last few years, however, providing alcohol in restaurants has helped tie citizens of Medford to the community.
"It has kept people from Medford in Medford because they are patronizing local places. This way they are able to stay within their own community," Dello Russo said. "As it has been reintroduced into the community, we have seen some positive results ... The restaurants have certainly had success."
Dello Russo painted the proposal as a logical one and sounded confident it would see success. "[People] have an expectation to be able to have a glass of wine with dinner," Dello Russo said.
