Lynn council tables VFW license transfer

LYNN – Residents living near the Hells Angels compound on Fayette Street say the bikers have been good neighbors, perhaps better than the war veterans who hope to make the address their new post.The City Council on Tuesday tabled a petition from George Rivers, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 507, which sought to transfer the organization’s liquor license from its current location at 90 High Rock St. to 19-21 Fayette St.The High Rock building was sold Monday to KIPP Academy Lynn, which broke ground on the site for its new middle- and high-school campus. The post members have been trying to move to the Fayette Street address, a bunker-like structure where Hells Angels from the Lynn and Salem chapters hold weekly meetings. The bikers have agreed to lease or sell the building to the VFW.Attorney John Hartley said the military veterans have used the post in the Highlands since it opened in 1945 at the end of World War II. During those 65 years, the post has served veterans returning from the Korean War, the Vietnam War and more recently from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.”They have been good neighbors,” said Hartley.Fayette Street-area residents offered a different view. Ted Chambers said he and others are opposed to the extension of hours from noon until 1 a.m. “We have not been dissatisfied with the Hells Angels,” he said, adding that the bikers were quiet, used the clubhouse only one night each week and posted a man outside to direct traffic during the meeting.”It’s essentially going to be a bar in a residential neighborhood,” he said before raising issues over parking congestion, speeding, and the likelihood of a bad automobile accident occurring annually along the street.”The property abuts at least two residential properties. I’d like to see a better use for the property,” Chambers said. “I just don’t think it’s appropriate for the neighborhood.”Lynn Police Sgt. Rick Carrow, head of the department’s Special Investigations Unit, told the council, “It would be a public safety nightmare.” Carrow said entering and exiting the property is dangerous for motorists.Noreen Grant, another neighbor, said school children and the elderly walk the streets at midday. “You’re looking at a major catastrophe,” she said, emphasizing that the veterans would be drinking at noon.Resident Elizabeth Taylor said a vote in favor of the liquor license transfer, permitting a bar to operate in a residential neighborhood, would stand as an example of “sad public policy.”Approximately 15 other residents did not speak at the podium but raised a hand to be counted among the opposition.Ward 2 Councilor William Trahant Jr. asked to table the matter so that he and Ward 3 Councilor Darren Cyr can hold a neighborhood meeting within two weeks. “We want a chance to talk to the neighbors,” Trahant said.The council voted unanimously to table the hearing.