Endangered

Kells Blames Violence on ‘Bad Element’

The Kells
The Kells Photo: paul_irish/Flickr

Yesterday’s Boston Licensing Board meetings were a doozy, reports Universal Hub. First, The Kells, which has been the site of no fewer than three recent violent incidents, including a fatal stabbing, blamed the crime on a new crowd from “different parts of the city we didn’t see before.” What’s attracting these new folks to the Kells’ neighborhood? Rap concerts! That is a super-classy thing to say, and not racist at all! It’s also disingenuous: as a Universal Hub commenter points out, The Kells hosts a plethora of hip-hop DJ nights.

Later in the day, at a hearing on The Breezeway in Roxbury and Blue Wave, Boston police officers admitted that violent incidents at both bars could be related to the recent reduction in hours at Packy Conner’s. Seargent Joseph Horton said that the Breezeway has attracted the attention of gang members, “the ones who used to go to Packy’s,” and another officer testified that there was an uptick of violent incidents in Fort Point directly following Packy Conner’s reduction in hours.

Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski, who you might remember from November, when he claimed that The Kells was “not a trouble spot,” has a solution for the bars: “There has to be some system of identifying gang members and keeping them out of the place, it’s as simple as that, or you’re going to have a problem.” It’s unclear how, exactly, Pokaski thinks the gang members should be identified (some sort of inter-bar watch list?), but we suspect it’s not really “as simple as that.”

Kells Blames Rap Concerts in Allston for Recent Spat of Violence [Universal Hub]
Police: Efforts to Curb Violence at Roxbury Bar May Have Led to Increased Violence Elsewhere [Universal Hub]

Earlier: Is The Kells A Trouble Spot?

Kells Blames Violence on ‘Bad Element’