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BAKE SALE & FLEA MARKET FOR ST. FRANCIS HOUSE

The North End Friends of St. Francis House will hold our 6th annual Bake Sale and Flea Market on Friday March 19th and Saturday March 20th at the Nazzaro Community Center at 30 North Bennet St.  The event will go from 8am to 6pm on Friday and 10am to 2pm on Sat.  We will have all kinds of homemade baked goods and wonderful pastries and cookies from all of the bakeries and pastry shops in the neighborhood.   We will also have Mary Romano’s world famous eggplant sandwiches, meatball and sausage sandwiches.

We will also have tons of great flea market items for you to buy.  We will also be collecting spare change.  No amount is too small (or too big).  If you would like to send in a donation, make checks payable to St. Francis House and mail to John Romano 247 Burlington Avenue, Wilmington, Mass. 01887.  All of the proceeds we raise those two days and collect ahead of time will be matched by an anonymous donor, so your donation counts twice as much as you give.  For more information call John Romano at (617) 880-9901 or e-mail at patjr@comcast.net.

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ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center
Participates in the Annual Feinstein $1 Million
Giveaway to Fight Hunger

NOW THROUGH APRIL 30th

Please send monetary donations, gift certificates for food, or non-perishable food items to the: 

ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center
1 Michelangelo Street
Boston, MA 02113
(off Charter Street - in former Michelangelo School building)
(617) 523-8125
North End ABCD Website

All donations will support our food pantries in the North End and West End that serve the elderly, immigrants, unemployed, families, and anyone in need.  The NE/WE NSC’s tax ID number for your convenience is 04-2304133. Please call the number above with any questions.  Thank you for caring about your neighbors in need!

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Local Inspections
« Lucia Applies For Live Entertainment License | Main | North End/Waterfront Weekly Police Journal Log - September 25, 2009 »
Friday
25Sep2009

Fortune Teller Violates License Conditions

DateFriday, September 25, 2009

Neon signs were up within 24 hours of the license being granted that specifically prohibited them. After just receiving her license last week, the fortune teller at "Sophia's" (215 Hanover Street) is already violating the conditions of her license. Residents are reporting neon signs in the windows and signs on the sidewalk, both prohibited actions per the Licensing Board. Several folks also noted that she was operating well before her license was actually granted.

The Licensing Board granted Sophia Anderson a Fortune Teller license Sophia told the City's Licensing Board she would not have a sidewalk board, yet here it is.a few days ago with the conditions of a 9pm closing time, no sidewalk boards and no neon signs. Within days of receiving the license, she has violated all three conditions.

At the Licensing Board hearing, the psychic objected to the conditions, citing discrimination against gypsies, tellers and astrologists. She claims she has spent thousands of dollars on the signage. The Licensing Board upheld its provisions at the meeting and told her to take them down. So far, she has refused to comply.

Sophia's license has a 9pm closing time. This photo of the blaring neon and people inside was taken at 9:20pm on Friday, September 25.The two neighborhood groups were mixed on issuing the fortune teller permit, which is the only one in the North End/Waterfront area. The residents' association, NEWRA, voted in favor of the permit while the neighborhood council, NEWNC, voted against it. NEWRA also conditioned its approval with restrictions on signage that are currently being ignored.

Signage was discussed by Sophia and residents at several public meetings where she held up printed signs and agreed several times that she would not use neon or even have lights on the window signs. She also agreed as a condition to NEWRA's support that she not have sidewalk boards.

Per the Licensing Board, complaints can be faxed to 617-635-4742 or made in person at City Hall, Room 809A. The Licensing Board's email is not working. 

My thoughts: So, not only is the whole "psychic" thing a fraud, in my opinion, but from her statements at City Hall and the neighborhood meetings, we now know that she lied to get her license. As a NEWNC and NEWRA member that voted against the license at those neighborhood meetings, I was afraid something like this would happen.

See also:
Fortune Teller Coming To Hanover St?
Fortune Teller Appears Before NEWRA's ZLC Committee
NEWRA Supports Fortune Teller Permit, Really?
NEWNC Goes to the Movies, Hears Fortunes & Zoning Issues

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Reader Comments (11)

Doesn't she believe in karma?
September 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAstounded
This is what happens when NEWRA and NEWNC have opposite votes. Time for a united neighborhood. One voice, one goal or else this nonsense will keep happening.
September 26, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJoyce Stephens
Those members of NEWRA who voted to support Ms. Anderson’s application did so in good faith, taking her at her word. If she felt the conditions requested of her were discriminatory, she had plenty of opportunity to object when she was speaking to neighborhood residents at the Sept. NEWRA meeting.

Ms. Anderson’s answers to questions regarding her signage were obviously lies--very short-sighted lies. It doesn’t take psychic ability to predict the neighborhood’s outrage at being treated with such contempt.

If Ms. Anderson does not abide by the terms of her llicense, it should be revoked.
September 26, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterStephanie Hogue
Isn't it she is also making upset the people who would also like having neon? She going to get bad food she go eat at people not like her places. I'm very interesting in update story soon.
September 27, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterPeter Nikolaevna
Thank god, we need to stop ugliness like the cantina italiana sign and promote more beauty like the paesan's sign on Salem last year. This is so silly. Good luck further creating "ye olde north end".
September 28, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterPierce
This has nothing to do with "ye old north end" and everything to do with blatant violations of the conditions put on her license by the City of Boston Licensing Board and zoning regulations concerning signage. If you like neon, move to Rte 1 or Hampton Beach.
September 28, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJoyce Stephens
When one agrees to conditions on a license and violates them, there is an issue--irrepsective of one's personal feelings on signage (or whatever else is violated). Ideas about signage and license requirements are two totally different things. However, neon is certainly not moving forward from "ye olde Boston." Neon is emblematic of cities whose main attractions include vice, and whose distinctions are few. Boston is an international leader in medicine, education, technology, architecture, legal, biopharm and research. The Genome project is here, Akamai (not Al Gore--ha ha) "invented" the Internet. If you're looking for neon, this is not the place to find it. I would take growth and progress in fields that matter over the neon signs of lovely places like Reno. There are some who would turn this nook of the city into a regular ho bin if they could.

While I would not suggest moving, and would extend warmth and welcome to you, I would suggest using some critical thinking before just throwing alphabet soup around. Not only are you confusing two issues, but you mock us by calling our plight "silly." Life is sometimes about nipping things in the bud. Preservation and conservation are ironically two hallmarks of progress.

As for my personal feeling on neon, the only place I really like it is on the outlines of Dallas's skyscrapers. It works there. But on the street they have "no neon" policies in almost every district and strict limits on neon even in Deep Ellum, the party district.

Neon is probably the worst place to try to show yourself as progressive, or thoughtful, in any regard. Not to mention tasteful. Keeping Boston beautiful and close to its "olde" character is a wonderful thing, and is inextricably linked with smart progress.

Silly is as silly says.
September 28, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBrian Brandt
Boston is becoming like Paris in the worst way possible - an outdoor museum. While I could care less about a neon sign, it is perhaps indicative of the old money and nimby attitudes that seem so prevalent in this city. The whole area has puritanical hangover.
September 28, 2009 | Unregistered Commentercentral squared
Hello people, "Sophia Anderson" is obviously a Gypsy. They do have a little public image problem when it comes to truthfulness. Does anyone on the licensing commission ask the BPD to run a background check on these people to see if the name she is using corresponds to a social security number, drivers license etc. for the name she used on her application?
September 29, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSurprised?
I Was at the meeting and nobody told sophia anderson not to put neons thay asked her what kinda signs and she told them so i went to her office after seeing all this and asked her she said she didint want to put neons but Bissness Was Slow So She Made a Choice To Put Neons She Remembers What She Told The Neberhood Concil about The Signs But No One Told her That She Cant Not Have Neons Thay Only Asked Her If She Will Or Will Not Have Them The Only Thing That She Aggred To is Not Telling Furtunes In Restrants in The North End And Most Every Bissness In The North End Have Street Signs And A Lot Of Them Have Neons so is it the Fact Shes A Gypsy Sophia Had Removes The Neons Signs After 6 Hours And The Street Sign And She Showed Me Her Licence And it states that her hours of operation Are Till 11:00PM So You Guys Need To SLow Down Give It A Break Stop Disscreanateing
September 29, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterNick Veraii
I just noticed your article about representatives coming to the North End regarding street improvements. Is there anyone addressing the issue of the rat infestation on Salem/Wiget streets. The residents cannot step outside their door without being swarmed and nothing seems to be getting done. City inspectors have repreated told neighbors that trash must be barreled. Is there no one that can make this an ordinance? This area can no longer be ignored, can the Assocation provide any assistance?
September 30, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJoanne DePalma
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