Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Quincy City Clerk Nicole Crispo joining us for two things. An update on the latest Board of Licensed Commissioners meeting and a preview of the upcoming state election. Nikki, how are you?
[00:00:09] Speaker B: I'm good, Joe, how are you doing great.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Summer quickly passing us by here.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Yep. Hope you had a nice Fourth of July and full election mode, as my
[00:00:23] Speaker A: great grandmother used to say, on the Fourth of July. Well, summer's over.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Yep, yep.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: But you did have a board meeting.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Yes, we did.
Yesterday.
The board of License Commissioners meeting was at 4pm Five things on the agenda. First one hearing regarding the request of the Quincy Chamber of Commerce for a one day liquor license for the Taste of quincy Festival on August 4th from 5pm to 9pm at 29 Hancock street, which is the best Weston Adams Inn.
Executive director Sharon Driscoll was there and talked about this chamber event which is always a huge success in Quincy and such a great way to be able to, you know, taste a little of so many varieties of food in our restaurants here in Quincy. So in addition, Patty Barry's Bear Truck will be there and Widowmaker as well. And that went through five to zero.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that's always a great take.
They have it, I know, out on the gazebo there right over the Nepons River. So it's a nice.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: It's always a huge event.
And agenda item number two here regarding the request of Terry D', Italia, 304 Victory Road for three one day liquor licenses for July 17th, 18th and 19th from 11am to 7pm during the tall ship visit to Marina Bay.
So you know, as you know, that's this week.
And Denise Haja couldn't be there, but she asked her husband Mario Casamasina to be there and they basically wanted to be able to offer aperol spritz.
And so they did contact counselor Riley and she had no concerns. There were no concerns from anybody there in the audience or on the board. So that went through five to zero as well.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Oh, very good. Sounds like a lot of fun. It's a Dutch tall ship. I won't try and pronounce the name of it, but it arrives at Marina Bay on Thursday and then it's open for public tours Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Yeah, should be a nice event.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Should be. Yeah.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: Agenda item number three here regarding the request of Tinker Group llc, doing business as Juny for a common victual license for a sushi restaurant at 1205 Hancock St. B2 is the space.
Proposed hours 11:30am Excuse me. To 11:30pm Proposed manager Ken Leung and attorney Russell Chen was there and Said that This is a 25 seat sushi restaurant and the group has years and years of experience.
There were no concerns from anybody there in the audience and no concerns from board members. Councilor Jacobs was contacted and provided a letter of support.
So that went through five to zero.
Okay, agenda item number four here regarding the request of Berkacci's LLC doing business as Angelina Pizza at 1437 Hancock St. For a change of license category on their restaurant license from wine and malt to all alcohol beverage.
And Mr. Boccacci was there has had Angelina for a number of years in in the downtown area and asked, you know that he be upgraded to the all alcohol beverage license. There has not been any issues there or concerns with the wine and malt.
There was no one there speaking in opposition.
The board members had no question questions, concerns.
So that past five to zero Councelor McKee was contacted by the applicant and had no concerns.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Okay, very good.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Agenda item number five here regarding the request of Asian Cafe Corp. 15 Beale street for a change of their doing business as name on their alcohol beverage restaurant license. From aging cafe to sea udon. And DY Guan was there and just said it was business as usual. No changes to the COR to. Excuse me, to the business. Same menu, same hours. It's just the name.
So that went through five to zero.
And our next hearing will be on August 18th.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: I know.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Just here we go flying by here. Yeah, exactly.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Certainly is.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Goodness. So and as you mentioned full election mode. Because the state primaries. September 1st.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: September 1st.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Can't be any earlier.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: It cannot get any. Well actually we have at it in August.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Really?
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Before? Yes. Okay. But not this time. This time we're going to be September 1st, 7am to 8pm the polling locations will all be open across the city. We also provide last day to register to vote in person. August 22nd till 5pm here at City Hall.
That online you can Register up until 11:59pm on August 22nd.
Early voting starts on August 22nd and 23rd here at City Hall. 8:30 to 2:30.
August 24th through August 28th. 8:30am to 4:30pm Last day to request a ballot by mail will be August 25th.
And the postcards from Secretary Galvin. The mass mailing should be hitting your mailboxes as we speak. I got mine yesterday.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Okay, and what do those postcards, what are those for, Nikki?
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Those are for vote by mail. You can request a ballot for both the September 1st election and the November 3rd final election.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Okay, very good.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: And if you don't use it after the September 1st primary, they'll do another mailing.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: For the November 3rd.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Okay. So you don't use that one for the final election. You get a new one.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: All righty.
And I know that there were concerns about folks who didn't return their city census forms. How's the, how does the inactive voter lists look?
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Better.
Better. The cards went out and they're coming back.
We're updating as we speak.
But, you know, there is that concern. You can always call if you don't remember if you sent it back or if you have any questions. Concerns. 617-37611, 424344.
Call the election office. We're always here to help. 8:30 to 4:30, Monday through Friday.
Or you can certainly email us and we'll get right back to you.
But like I said, the postcards went out. They're coming back fast and furious. And we're getting those updated as soon as we can.
It's just important dates. They're all on our webpage. They're on the Secretary of State's website.
And we're happy to help in any way we can.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Okay. Very good.
And the Dropbox outside city hall for mail in ballots.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Yeah. As soon as we get the ballots here.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: We'll do our first mass mailing, which is all the cards that are coming in, they. They could start coming in as early as January 1st. They're good for a calendar year.
So all the ones that we have set up in the queue, once we get that first batch of ballots, we'll get those right out in the mail to the people that requested them.
And then we'll mail every day going forward right up until, I think it's the 28th.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: Is the last day to mail okay?
Or it might be the 25th.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: The 25th is the. Is a Tuesday before last day to
[00:10:21] Speaker B: request the ballot by mail.
[00:10:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: And you, can you make that request online?
Yes, you can. Okay.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: Okay, here we go.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Full election mode.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: We are in full election mode around here.
You know, it comes so quick, especially when it's September 1st.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: We're doing some new and important things that I can tell you about where we have new polls pole pads for translation.
They have 88 different languages.
You can talk right into the pull pad, and it'll.
It'll decipher whatever language you. You press.
So we're excited about that. The translation has come so far.
And we'll have those out at the Polling locations as well as of course, the poll workers in. In all our signage.
Another initiative we're doing is the. With the signage, trying to get more signs at polling locations, letting people know, direct them into where to vote.
All that stuff is available on our website.
It's under polling locations.
Oh, another exciting thing at the Quincy Lodge of Elks.
We're going back upstairs this year.
I don't know if it's permanent, but we did ask if we could go back upstairs and they were nice enough to have us.
So we'll be back upstairs and you know, we'll let people know that ahead of time. We'll have signs out there saying vote back upstairs rather than the lower level. So we're excited about that.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Is that for the primary and the final election?
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Yes, it is.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Yes it is. Yeah.
And, and working on some polling locations like Point Webster School.
We worked one year on the lighting and this year we'll work on the signage.
Same with Hunt street, location of North Quincy High and Clifford Marshall where you have to go up and behind there to get into the main. You know, we want to put out some more signs there to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to vote on election day. But do know that there are those other ways, which is vote by mail and in person voting here we will take for the final and do some early voting at Central Middle School, but not for the primary.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: For the final.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: Okay, very good.
What happens, Nikki, if somebody is inactive and votes by mail or what happens with that?
[00:13:55] Speaker B: So we take, we take their signature and verify it and then we would update it so that they could vote by mail.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Because I know if you, if you show up in person to vote and you're on the inactive voter list, you can take care of it right there. Right?
[00:14:13] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Okay.
Okay.
Anything else?
[00:14:19] Speaker B: I think that's it.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: That's enough for now. That's enough for now.
Yeah. The November ballot is going to be a lot longer. I think there are seven or eight ballot questions this year. So that's at least.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Yeah, at least. The good news is that on that front is that we updated the voting equipment last year so it's the latest and greatest.
So it's twice as fast as it was before.
So even if it is a four page double ballot, we hope the processing will be the same as a two page ballot.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: You know, so that was our goal with that initiative last year to upgrade our voting equipment with the latest and greatest.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Excellent. Good to know. Because we don't want long lines at the polls, that's for sure.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And if. If, you know, if there's something that's hindering you and you can't get to the polls, there are, you know, other options which we'll make available, you know, through the social media, through QA tv, through the Quincy Sun.
And.
And if anyone has any questions, they can certainly call here.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: Sure. Okay, great. Appreciate the update. Always great to catch up, Nikki.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Okay, take care.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: All right, we'll see you in August.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: Okay, bye. Bye.
