City's nightlife czar plans on investing in and ‘reimagining' Boston

Over a year ago, Corean Reynolds became Boston's first Director of Nightlife Economy.

Segun Idowu, Boston’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion, announced the appointment in a press conference saying, “Her goal will be to focus on the macro-level on how we create long-term solutions to have a more vibrant and sustainable nightlife here in the city, and how we're redefining nightlife to be something that's more than clubs and more than restaurants and bars."

This week, she shared what she's assessed about Boston's nightlife during her 13 months in the role and how she plans on helping the city's social scene continue to grow.

Read excerpts from the interview below, and watch the full interview above.

NBC10 Boston: You've been in the role for a bit over a year now. What have you assessed about Boston?

Corean Reynolds: Boston is a fun city. I want to make that super clear.

I've assessed that there are some hurdles and some narratives around the issues of bringing people together in unique ways. We have some state issues that serve as a barrier, as far as access to liquor licenses or changing our happy hour laws or extending liquor sales. Those are some issues. We have issues regarding the workforce as far as transportation. Those are the main issues. We just want to make sure that folks see a path to City Hall, a path that they may not have had in the past.

Boston is a 2 a.m. city. What have conversations looked like for you when it comes to convincing establishments, if you have done that, to stay open a little later and keep the people outside?

I want to demystify this idea that you can't have fun in a 2 a.m. city. There are many cities across the U.S., major cities that, you know, bars close at 2 a.m. For example, L.A. closes at 2. A lot of bars in Chicago close at 2. We're trying to encourage innovation. How can we have the most fun up until that marker while also thinking through, again, the policy, how can we look at what we can change to encourage growth in the nighttime sector?

For example, there is an ordinance that forbids entertainment, amplified noise, you name it, between the hours of 2 and 6 a.m. That's something that we can address on the municipal level.

We can't extend liquor operations, but we can extend entertainment if we rethink what this ordinance looks like. The idea of potentially imposing a "sober hour," if you will, that extends entertainment until 3 a.m., allows establishments to go a little bit later, but it also allows for more safety throughout the city.

So this "sober hour." Is that something you're considering piloting?

Yes.

From a public transportation standpoint, what conversations have you had on that level, if any?

Our transit system is a regional transit system, and Boston is one of the many markets that the MBTA serves. The addition of a Boston representative on the MBTA board is super important.

What I've been doing in the last year is creating the strong enough case for late-night extended versions, having those conversations, and bringing these issues of the late-night workforce. This is also another equity issue as far as who is our transportation serving. It shows that there are inequities. Compiling that and presenting that information to the powers that be that control our transit system has been a part of this role in part of the last year. And then on the flip side of that, thinking through different innovations.

We've created a proposal for potential late-night transit independent of the MBTA. How do we expand upon that proposal? How do we realize that proposal? How do we find investment for that? That will be super important in the year to come.

[Boston] is very much a college town, a lot of [the lack of] diversity doesn't necessarily mean diversity of race. A lot of times it ends up being diversity of age. Have you had conversations about the 30-plus crowd or even 40-plus crowd about where they would like to be? But also thinking about people of color as well and finding spaces where they feel comfortable?

I think a thriving nighttime economy and a thriving nightlife ecosystem serves a lot of different people, right? It serves folks who don't want to center their night around alcohol. It serves folks of all ages, all generations, all ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, etc.

We are trying to think through how we can invest in those particular buckets and beyond. We have made an investment in Dani's Queer Bar, which will be opening up soon. I look forward to checking that out.

What we've seen is a growth of diverse-owned businesses. When you think of Grace by Nia, that's a brand new spot that just opened up. Hue, Estella, The Pearl -- the list goes on and on. These are businesses that didn't exist 10 years ago. We're seeing a growth in this market and we're seeing growth in representation in nightlife.

I think the trends will skew toward more lounges. That's what I'm hearing from the 30-plus, 40-plus crowd. They want more lounges, not as much dancing. We've got places that serve that. But I see in the works folks growing that concept out. I look forward to supporting the work of these entrepreneurs and establishing that in the city of Boston.

We'll be investing in all types of spaces and reimagining the city, using the city as a canvas to see what can really happen in the city of Boston. We'll be doing direct investments in that. I'm extremely excited about that.

Corean Reynolds
Director of Nightlife Economy for the City of Boston

What is your biggest priority as you enter this second year?

I look forward to investing in more nightlife activity. We'll be investing in all types of spaces and reimagining the city, using the city as a canvas to see what can really happen in the city of Boston. We'll be doing direct investments in that.

It'll be free and open to the public. What does it look like when your grandmother and her grandchild are partying in the same space? What does it look like when we're doing more cultural events in the evening time? What does it look like when we activate our downtown on the weekday? What does nightlife look like during the weekday?

As well as investing in resources for our nighttime workforce. I want our workforce to feel empowered when they're doing their job. I want them to feel like they have opportunities for professional development and I want them to feel heard. Investing in trainings for them and ensuring that they feel equipped with the knowledge they need to create a safe environment for all patrons in the bar is at the top of my list as well.

Is there a specific timeline to those investments or is that just over time?

You will see this rollout in the next week or so.