Cambridge, MA, landmark "Gas With a Smile" requests waiver in conversion to Hess Express

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Gas With a Smile, purveyors of gasoline and repair services at 2055 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, MA, USA

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Cambridge, Massachusetts – Gas With a Smile, an independent gas station on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge has filed with the city for a hearing with the license commission to amend its license to do business as Hess Express. According to the Cambridge Department of Human Services, the Christos Poutahides No. 6 Family Limited Partnership, which owns the station, has asked that they be allowed not to offer repair services at the site. A hearing will be held on March 29, 2005, at the Lombardi Municipal Building at 831 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge.

According to a guide published by the city, a "Garage and Gasoline License" is required "for a commercial or residential parking garage with space for 3 vehicles or more to keep and store flammables."

Gas With a Smile was shut down by the city fire department in 1999 for failing to upgrade its underground gas tanks to comply with federal regulations passed 10 years earlier.

Hess Express gas stations are owned by Amerada Hess, which operates approximately 1250 gas stations on the eastern seaboard of the United States.

A closer shot of the sign advertising the service station's business

Sources

• "Human Services: City of Cambridge Department of Human Services Event Detail". City of Cambridge Department of Human Services website,

• Roberta Holland "Gas tank regulations force small stations out of business". American City Business Journals, Inc., January 8, 1999

• "AHC Retail Marketing". Amerada Hess website,

• City of Cambridge "Step by Step Guide to Starting a Business in Cambridge". Cambridgema.gov website,

• Benjamin Barnes, License Chairman "Cambridge License Commission Garage and Gasoline License". Cambridgema.gov website,

• "M.G.L - Chapter 148, Section 13". Mass.gov website,

• "M.G.L - Chapter 148, Section 56". Mass.gov website,

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