Your Take: Readers Respond to Domino's Approval

Readers generally upset about the outcome, but some are looking forward to late night pizza and wings.

Thursday’s Boston Licensing Board decision to allow a Domino’s Pizza to open on Main Street in Charlestown sparked sharp conversation across Charlestown Patch, Facebook and twitter. Most of those commenting on the development were opposed to it, but not all. “Can't wait for some late night buffalo wings from Dominos in Ctown I won't be #avoidingthenoid,” tweeted Paul Myers. Meanwhile Kathleen Giordano, posting on our Facebook page, questioned the democratic process that allowed Domino’s franchisee Rob Rivard to get the board’s approval. “So much for democracy in action,” she said. Commenters on the decision article itself slapped arguments back and forth. Frequent posted “Just a person!” impugned the intelligence of anyone who believed …

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Licensing Board OKs Domino's on Main Street

The license will allow Domino's to remain open until midnight three days per week.

It won’t be long, now, before you’ll be able to satisfy your late-night hunger by ordering a pizza through Dominos.com. The Boston Licensing Board approved, Thursday, the common victualer’s license Domino’s Franchisee Rob Rivard applied for to open a location at 277 Main Street. The board said its approval will allow the business to operate until 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and midnight Thursday through Saturday. Rivad, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, said during several public meetings that his other locations have long served Charlestown by phone, but more orders now come in online. Domino’s corporate headquarters, which controls Dominos.com, he said, won’t allow a location to deliver outside of its zip code. The …

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Sean Boyle

11:04 pm on Monday, July 16, 2012

Honestly though, what's the point of opening up a Domino's if its only going to stay open til 11 pm? If we're gonna have a Domino's let them stay open til 2am. That's the only time it would get business anyway since everything around here is closed by 10-11 pm ...besides Speedies. Go big or go home.   more ›

Domino's Owner Says Support Dwarfs Opposition

Boston Licensing Board hears the franchise's application for a license to open on Main Street; decision slated for tomorrow.

Nine Charlestown residents attended a hearing of the Boston Licensing Board, Wednesday, to oppose the application for a Domino’s Pizza to open on Main Street. The residents largely repeated arguments heard at Charlestown Community Council meetings, saying that they believed Charlestown had enough pizza businesses already and that the town would rather not have a national chain on Main Street. Franchise Owner Rob Rivard noted that the residents who spoke at a May Charlestown Community Council hearing represented a small fraction of the neighborhood’s population, and that the number of customers he already serves in town dwarfs that of the vocal opposition. He and his consultant, Bill Mohan, said that the franchise could have circulated a …

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Domino's Heads to Licensing Board July 11

Here's how to voice your concerns or support in person or by letter.

The Charlestown Neighborhood Council has had its say on the matter of a franchise owner who would like to bring a Domino’s to Main Street. Now, the Boston Licensing Board gets its say. Rob Rivard, the franchise owner, and his consultant, Bill Mohan will present their case for a common victualler license to the Licensing Board on Wednesday, July 11. The hearing starts at 10 a.m. in room 809a at City Hall, but it’s probably not worth arriving at that time. According to the licensing board, Domino’s is currently scheduled as the eighth matter to go before the board that day. If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can communicate your concern (or support) for the matter via email at LicensingBoard@cityofboston.gov or by fax at (617) 635-4742.

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Matt M. Casey

12:52 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012

I just called the licensing board. The man who answered the phone said that, yes, the board would consider emails received today. But you probably want to act fast.   more ›

Council Officially Opposes Domino's Plan

The council will send a letter to relevant city boards.

The Charlestown Neighborhood Council has officially declared that it will not support Rob Rivard’s effort to bring a Domino’s Pizza to Main Street in Charlestown. The council voted 9-4 against supporting the proposal at Tuesday’s meeting—the last meeting of the full body until September—and then voted unanimously to communicate that vote to any city boards that Rivard or his company may appear before in the near future. Tom Cunha, the council’s chairman who also ran last Thursday’s hearing on the matter, echoed residents’ concerns when he said that he thought Rivard and his team could have tried to find an address outside of the town’s main business district. “Main Street is a thickly settled area with cars parked on both sides of the …

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Matthew Damon

11:27 am on Friday, July 13, 2012

Joseph, Do you see now that you don't know what you are talking about. Domino's got their license, regardless of the CNC (which many people pointed out that the CNC does not have the power to grant or deny a license). The CNC does not have any power other than to be an advocate for the residents. The CNC had a public meeting, the people that showed up were against a Dominos on Main Street. The …   more ›

'Domino's is the Wal-Mart of Pizza'

Community members speak against the pizza chain that would like to open on Main Street.

Visit Dominos.com and try to order a pizza in Charlestown, and the site will tell you that you can’t. “We're sorry - we currently don't offer delivery service to the address you entered for online orders,” the site says. That, said Rob Rivard—the man who would like to bring a Domino’s to 277 Main Street—is why he wants to open a location in Charlestown. Each Domino’s franchise, Rivard explained, has an online delivery map defined and controlled by Domino’s’ corporate headquarters. His franchise has asked for years to have its territory expanded to include Charlestown, but the company won’t do so, he said, unless he opens a location in town. That corporate rule worried Mal Watlington, one of several residents who spoke against the proposed …

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Karen Catizone

9:32 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013

So to add to what I just said-that is more than likely why it' we never see a "Mom and Pop" type business at the Mall. What small business could survive paying the outrageous rent they charge PLUS having to give the owners a percentage of their yearly earnings to boot!   more ›

5 Things

Five Things: Domino's Meeting Scheduled

And better living through bicycles.

Today is Tuesday, May 15. Here are five things you need to know: 1. Domino’s meeting scheduled. The Charlestown Neighborhood Council's Basic Services Committee will hold a public hearing on the application of Domino's Pizza to open a take-out pizza shop at 277 Main Street. The meeting will be held at 7:00 PM on Thursday, May 31st at the Mishawam Park Community Center. 2. Spaulding meeting today. The hospital will hold another coordination meeting at 7:00 pm tonight at the Constitution Inn 5th floor conference room. 3. Better living through bicycles. Two national authorities on the topic of freeway removal and traffic calming will speak today on how we originally ended up with highways cutting through our cities. 4. Comment of the day. I …

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Visions for Vacancy: Domino's on Main Street?

Would you like to see a Domino’s Pizza on Main Street? That’s what could be headed our way. Bill Mohan, a consultant for a local Domino’s franchise, told Charlestown Patch this week that he has been in talks with the realtor for 277 Main Street to potentially install a store there. In a statement, the Charlestown Chamber of Commerce said it objects to a Domino’s making its home so close to Toni Ann’s Pizza, but Mohan said that “this isn’t Domino’s national conglomerate that’s coming into town.” “We’ve been delivering in Charlestown for 20 years,” Mohan said. Charlestown lacks late-night food options, Mohan said. He also said he didn’t believe that a Domino’s would compete with local stores and added the location would employ 18-20 people. …

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Seamus O'Sullivan

12:25 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012

Fact: People who turn non-political discussions into political rants on online comment boards are the lowest form of internet life.   more ›