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Boston's first Chick-fil-A wins board approval
By adamg on Tue, 02/05/2019 - 11:02am
Zoning hearings went on this morning, but with a nod to events outside City Hall.
Chick-fil-A won permission from the Zoning Board of Appeals today to begin outfitting the Boloco at 569 Boylston St. as a two-story fried-chicken emporium.
The national chain, which currently has no outlets within city limits - a legacy of former Mayor Tom Menino's vow to keep it out over its founder's feelings on homosexuality - hopes to open in mid-2020. It's planning a restaurant with 65 seats on two floors indoors and with 14 seats in a seasonal patio on Boylston Street.
The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay voted to not oppose the eatery after it agreed to move trash storage indoors.
Chick-fil-A will also need approval of the Boston Licensing Board to serve food before it can open.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Menino's keeo-out letter to Chick-fil-A | 42.54 KB |
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Comments
I thought Boloco claimed they
I thought Boloco claimed they had options on the space until 2030?
https://twitter.com/boloco/status/1063047979148414976
What's up with Boloco?
Didn't they post that they still held the lease to that space?
Yep
They said they had a lease through next year and were not inclined to give up on it. I asked Boloco owner John Pepper this morning what changed, he said there are ongoing negotiations and that he's not currently at liberty to say anything.
This is a tough one for me
I love my Chick Fil-A and I love my Boloco. It's weird how this is being played out, but I hope that John Pepper is able to keep a Copley Square location. That would be a win-win for me.
Wonder what the Colonel has
Wonder what the Colonel has to say about all this, somehow I recall this location was a Burger King.
Correct
The BK was there for eons until it got replaced sometime in the early-mid '90s.
Sad
A cool Boston restaurant chain looses out to some national group with no ties to the city and politics which are in opposition to the views of most city residents.
Isn't there a BoA they can replace?
I mean
If Chick-fil-A is so awful, they'll fail, and then Boloco can open there, right? If the owner's political views are so abhorrent, surely, Bostonians will refuse to patronize the place, won't they?
I certainly hope so
...
Ummm, you get that TOURISTS
Ummm, you get that TOURISTS and not locals keep fast food places in touristy parts of Boston afloat, right? This is in Copley Square...
sort of
A few tourists, but mostly the down-and-out, judging by anything I've ever seen at the couple of Wendy's and McDonald's along the Freedom Trail
Presumably it will fail in
Presumably it will fail in Boston as thoroughly and quickly as it did in New York.
Pssssh
Let you in on a little secret: New Yorkers always line up for shitty fast food that has crawled out of the suburbs. You should have seen what happened when Krispy Kreme came to Chelsea. And now? Closed.
Yeah sure
Boston is so much more wicked classy than New York.
Well ...
You see any Krispy Kremes around here?
Chick-fil-A is out of control in NY
There are three Midtown locations that are MOBBED from noon-closing. I frequently see many of my highly progressive colleagues returning to their desks with red and white bags.
yeah...because it's tasty af.
yeah...because it's tasty af.....
Dedham Chick-fil-a seems to be thriving
I drove by the
West RoxburyDedham one last week and the drive thru lane was a mini traffic jam.Granted, these are the great unwashed and uneducated suburban peasants but it makes me think that they might do ok a few miiles down the road in Boston proper.
People don't really care about food more than rights?!
And supposedly it tastes good?
Welcome to Earth
Hope you enjoy your visit.
Most city residents aren't obsessed with politics
and aren't True Believers. And if you use voting stats to back up your claim, the percentage of people who vote in municipal elections is pathetically small. State not much better. Federal elections a little better, but still no where near a commanding majority.
Why is
A bacteria on mars considered life, but a beating heart on earth isn’t?
Because it always comes back
to sex with the "pro-life" creeps. We could have a theoretical discussion about "abortion," but what the forced-birth crowd is really after is making sure that women are punished for having sex. You can deny it, but it's true.
If a 100% effective method of birth control that ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS worked were put forward, the forced-birth crowd would vehemently oppose it because they don't care about preventing abortions - what they care about is preventing sex.
That's why they oppose comprehensive sex education that talks about condoms or the pill, and insist on abstinence - what they care about is who is having sex, who they're having it with, and how to mete out punishment accordingly.
Listen to the tells. Erick Erickson, in discussing the Hobby Lobby case, said his opposition to birth control in health plans was because women don't deserve "consequence free sex."
When creepy people stop seeing sex as something that requires offspring as a "consequence" or punishment of sex, then we can start to debate abortion per se. Until then, we're skirting around the real issue.
Time to go fishing.
I see a lot of red herrings.
False
What you saw were good points that you refused to respond to, because you know I'm right.
Believe it
Or not. Some people really do believe in the sanctity of life and petite toon of the innocent.
Interesting if true
I’d be curious how these concerns for life and innocence carry though to other issues like health care, nutrition and education that don’t explicitly involve sex.
Thank you both
No more discussions of abortion in this thread, which has nothing to do with it.
You got it, Boss.
I was tempted to say something equivalent in my first response, but he hit me on the right day.
OK.
OK.
PREACH!
PREACH!
You couldn't be more right. For the vast majority, it's only about controlling women. How many anti-abortion proponents have had a sudden change of heart when it's their mistress that's in the family way. Control, control, control.
You're damn right it's about control
You're damn right it's about control. Same way the laws on the books right now that enjoin you, me, and everyone's mother from killing other human beings for sport are about control.
If it's a life at 40 weeks, it's a life at 20, 10,...
I suppose I'd agree that it's not anything before implantation, but then you've got the canard about "100% fullproof contraception" as a rhetorical device to claim that if just one tiny embryo gets past the banhammer, it should be OK to terminate since it's just an oopsie. And it would be cruel and whatever to hold any oopsies from "less than 100% effective" contraception over a woman.
Well tough shit. Adulthood is understanding that in life there is no 100% foolproof anything and accepting the consequences of that. You can have your pills and your condoms and whatever, but if you're willing to rub out the residual errors from stuff that's not guaranteed to always be completely effective always and forever, then you're logically willing to do it all the way to the end. And if you're in Virginia (ha!), a little past then too.
Your rights to remain free from responsibility for the lives of your offspring do not extend to trampling the rights of your offspring to live.
Thank you for so remarkably
proving my point. Another guy who’s upset about people getting laid.
Come back...
...when you have a uterus for us to police.
Why is
This important to a zoning approval for a fast food establishment?
Life or not
If it's in a person's body, it's that person's decision what happens to it.
Are you sure it isn't
the decision of James Dobson? Or Tony Perkins? Or how about Ted Haggard? Or Franklin Graham? Doesn't the decision really belong to Jimmy Swaggart? Or Pat Robertson? Maybe we should pull out an Ouija board and consult with Jerry Falwell.
Why do republicans care about
Why do republicans care about a clump of cells the size of a grape seed, but don't give a damn about actual born children? Why do republicans claim to be for "small government" but think its great when creepy old men tell young women what do do with their bodies?
huh?
Is that what size it is in the 3rd trimester? When a woman is dilated and about to give birth?
You strike me as a guy
who spends an inordinate amount of time thinking about dilated women.
You strike me as somoene
Who is really tough on the internet.
Sorry if I came across as tough, snowflake.
You must not be used to things called “disagreements” in real life. But if you’d prefer to speak calmly and rationally about something in person just let me know.
Ok tough guy
Let's meet and discuss.
By God
the scales have been lifted from my eyes. Truly this completely original, well-researched comment has completely changed my mind on an incredibly complicated, morally-fraught subject.
OK, now that I'm converted: we can solve this problem! Don't want the fetus? Get a court order and a sheriff to deliver the eviction notice. If that thing has rights, it's also subject to the laws of the Commonwealth, and I bet it hasn't paid a nickel in rent.
See, the law works!
CHICKEN LIVES MATTER!
What? At least that subject line actually has something to do with this topic...
Um...
Because the bacteria on Mars doesn't die as soon as you remove it from its predecessor.
PS - The chicken you ate for dinner last night had a beating heart too. Have you filled out your organ donor card yet? I'm guessing your issue isn't actually with stopping beating hearts though, is it?
Sing it brother
Chick-Fil-A Stops a Beating Heart!
The Neighborhood Association
NABB will not oppose a fast food restaurant that will bring big foot traffic but will go to war over a couple units of new housing due to congestion. Good stuff.
WTF?
What are you on about? Do you even know?
How would you go about opposing a fast food restaurant that plans to occupy to a space that previously held a fast food restaurant?
You can't oppose on the basis of disgust or creepiness. It's not in the rules, unfortunately.
And I thought the Mayor's main issue with the chicken people was their opposition to gay rights and marriage equality. I've read that a popular form of protest is to pose for a same-sex kiss in front of their sign. I hope to see couples doing this every time I pass the stupid place.
wooooooosh
n/t
Hell yes
Cant wait..... Also, Boloco SUCKS, not to mention Bostons hit is saturation point with Boloco.
Providing balance
Actually Boloco is excellent. Their food is fresh, tasty, healthy and served by people making a livable wage. You go eat your Jesus fried chicken and leave us be.
Boloco $11hr Chick-Fil-A $13
That took me 1 min to research.
Boloco is very good
I go to Boloco occasionally to get their teriyaki bowl, but I've been waiting to try Chick-fil-A.
Saturation point?
I view Boloco as an endangered species. They keep on closing stores.
They close because they suck.
They close because they suck. Simple economics.
I want to know what's happening with Boloco
I could not care less about Chick-fil-A, but there is already a fast food place occupying that space. Did they decide to close or move elsewhere after all?
Scroll up a bit
We might learn what happened at some point, but right now, no.
Hard pass. The South can keep
Hard pass. The South can keep their intolerance and morbid obesity. Can they take back country music too?
Wow, such tolerant views.
Wow, such tolerant views.
Haha yeah
...yee-haw music sucks.
I hate to break it to you,
I hate to break it to you, but the South doesn't have a monopoly on any of those three things.
We all know how tolerant you
We all know how tolerant you are. If we didn’t know before, we know now. Not called for and try to enjoy the one nice Winter day in Boston and stop gripping.
Didn't you mean to say "shit
Didn't you mean to say "shit hole states" somewhere in you intolerant rant?
Dedham last month - best Fast Food service ever
Ate in Dedham chick fill A recently.
Staff was the most courteous and attentive that I've ever seen at a fast food place, despite appearing similar to the young part timers that work fast food everywhere.
I Don't love the owners' religion or politics, but I also think if that's the basis we're going to use to choose our restaurants and service providers, then we're all screwed as a society.
What Menino got totally wrong
What Menino got totally wrong was that as much as Chik-fil-A's owner was pro-life, the company itself by has a reputation as a great employer that treats its employees very well.
Menino had to backtrack on his open threat to (illegally) withhold permits. It's a shame if the unspoken threat was still lingering over the company until now.
I'd much rather keep the Boloco
which sold Original Bowls to Patriots fans for $6 today, and seemed pretty busy.
Well, fans who went the Super
Well, fans who went the Super Bowl couldn't get Chik-fil-A during the game, because Chik fil A is closed on Sundays, so giving them access to Chik film A wouldn't be so bad, either.
early work
I thought Chik film B was more developed.
May the ghost of Thomas
May the ghost of Thomas Menino haunt this chicken stand , may their chicken be dry, their sauces be expired and there be a steady stream of drunk gay men making out in front of the windows in protest.
Dammit, that was the BEST of all Boloco locations
With the little room downstairs, was always able to get a seat.
Ssshhh
Don't let the secret of the downstairs seating out.