Revere bar rollback meet Feb. 21

REVERE – The Licensing Board will discuss the proposed hour rollback to 1 a.m. for liquor serving establishments on Feb. 21.?My guess is it will come up for a vote,” said Board Chairman Michael Pepe, adding the board will send establishment owners notice by mail of the 5 p.m. City Hall hearing.Pepe and board members Thomas Henneberry and Linda Guinasso listened for 70 minutes on Jan. 10 as Mayor Thomas Ambrosino and a half dozen other city officials told them rolling last call back an hour could reduce the number of drunk drivers on local streets and other types of crime.But bar owners and their attorneys echoed the complaints of Lynn counterparts who opposed the Lynn Licensing Board?s decision last Dec. 19 to establish a 1 a.m. closing. Lynn bar owners are fighting the rollback in Superior Court. They say the rollback would eliminate one of their most lucrative hours for doing business at a time when property taxes are on the rise and state laws have forced bars to spend money on sprinkler systems.About a dozen liquor serving establishments currently stay open until 2 a.m. Police Chief Terence Reardon and Capt. Michael Murphy said clubs and bars that have had their closing times rolled back to 1 a.m. by the commission for license violations have seen dramatic drops in alcohol-related problems.Murphy said police calls to the Lido Entertainment Complex dropped by 80 percent after the former Wonderland Ballroom was ordered to close at 1 a.m. Police were called 20 times to the Lido in 2007.He said 43 percent of the drunk driving incidents police respond to occur between midnight and 4 a.m.