Student lands big late-​​night gig

The city of Boston has cre­ated a task force to inves­ti­gate oppor­tu­ni­ties to enhance its night­light and create a more vibrant late-​​night culture—and Northeastern under­grad­uate Marvin McMoore has a seat at the table.

McMoore, SSH’15, is one of two col­lege stu­dents on the late-​​night task force, which is com­prised of 24 mem­bers rep­re­senting Boston’s busi­nesses, law enforce­ment, restau­rants, and stu­dents. He’s excited to play an inte­gral role in this endeavor and rep­re­sent the city’s many col­lege students.

“I want to give the city’s col­lege stu­dents a voice and let the task force know about our views,” he said.

The task force, formed by Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, has already met twice; it is exam­ining, among other issues, neigh­bor­hoods that would ben­efit from later closing hours, trans­porta­tion acces­si­bility, expanded enter­tain­ment options, and law enforce­ment needs.

McMoore said the task force’s focus isn’t just about extending bars’ hours. It’s about making the city more attractive to recent col­lege grad­u­ates and young professionals by sup­porting a safe and vibrant late-​​night culture.

“At North­eastern we recently fin­ished with finals and when stu­dents were done studying at Snell at 3 a.m., we had no place to go to get some­thing to eat,” McMoore explained. “For recent grad­u­ates, if they don’t have a job in Boston or family in Mass­a­chu­setts, an attractive nightlife is one way to keep them in the city.”

McMoore noted that keeping areas of the city open later is fea­sible, pointing to the MBTA’s late-​​night subway and bus ser­vice pilot program on Fri­days and Sat­ur­days as a foundation for pos­sible changes.

His mem­ber­ship on the task force aligns with his pas­sion for civic involve­ment, which has blos­somed at Northeastern. In 2012, he worked on behalf of Ed Markey, who was run­ning for U.S. Senate. Markey’s camp hired McMoore to be a stu­dent rep­re­sen­ta­tive and travel to other col­lege cam­puses in Massa­chu­setts to pro­mote Markey’s candidacy.

McMoore’s study of political science and international affairs at North­eastern has helped pre­pare him for his new respon­si­bility. He has taken courses ana­lyzing the growth and decline of cities, and his involve­ment with Northeastern’s College Democrats has allowed him to work on cam­paigns and with residents.

Ear­lier this year he was elected pres­i­dent of the Col­lege Democ­rats of Mass­a­chu­setts, which will work to get students involved in the upcoming midterm elec­tions. He is cur­rently on co-​​op at Northeastern’s Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security, working as a research associate.

McMoore believes his expe­ri­en­tial learning oppor­tu­ni­ties as well as the con­nec­tions he has made fac­tored into his being invited to serve on the task force.

He said he expects the task force to meet sev­eral times in the coming months, though there is no timetable to imple­ment spe­cific changes. “I’ll sit on this task force for as long as the mayor wants me to,” McMoore said.

– By Joe O’Connell