Broken pipe dreams for Somerville shopkeeper

His shop, Bone Appetit, tucked in a storefront of a former video game retailer a couple of blocks from Davis Square, was essentially two businesses in one.

Beyond the rainbow stacks of food bags, kitty collars, and animal supplies was Buzzy's Gifts, a 100-square-foot antechamber where Bazzolo stocked hand-blown glass water pipes and other smoking related items such as rolling papers and cigarette rolling machines.

The cramped gift store, named after Bazzolo's father, has proved to be the fulcrum of a vexing dispute that could turn into a full-blown legal battle over the pipes and bongs.

The dispute with police and the city began early last month when a Somerville Police Narcotics Unit sergeant visited the store with a copy of the state ordinance banning the sale of drug paraphernalia. The officer said Buzzy's was selling illegal items, and that he could confiscate the colorful pipes, shutter Buzzy's, and arrest Bazzolo's son, who was manning the store that day, Bazzolo said.

In a statement from the Somerville Police department, Deputy Chief Paul Upton said the visit "gave [Bazzolo] an opportunity to correct the situation short of Court action" and to make him "aware of the potential consequences if the illegal items were not removed from sale," the statement said

Upton said the sergeant described the visit and encounter as "cordial and informative, lasting about twenty minutes. The store owner was not arrested and no legal action has been taken.  We are informed that the bongs and pipes have been removed," Upton said in the statement.

Wary that his nest-egg could be dismantled by police if he did not comply, Bazzolo -- soft-spoken and affable  -- packed up the pipes, papered over Buzzy's window, and did what many in his position have been forced to: obtain legal counsel and prepare to fight to sell his wares.

"I won't say that every week I don't fear that what I worked so hard for would be gone," he said.

Bazzolo's attorney has prepared to sue the city seeking damages for the closing, and is in talks with Somerville's legal department ahead of a potential civil action, although no suit has been filed.

"I just want the business back open," Bazzolo said. "I don't hold any animosities."

Income from Buzzy's accounted for about a quarter of his profit, Bazzolo said, enough that if lost indefinitely, it could put the rest of his business at risk, he said.

"It's definitely important for me financially," Bazzolo said.

The City of Somerville says such store owners peddle the pipes knowing their customers will use the  expensive, hand-crafted objects for smoking illegal drugs. Officials now also challenge Buzzy's store permits, saying the gift shop is an illegal business within a business, violates zoning ordinances, and doesn't comply with compatible usage rules.

In a phone interview, Michael Meehan, spokesman for the city, said the police sergeant was cordial, informed the store owner of the law about paraphernalia, and that it was possible the police then referred the matter to the Inspectional Services Department, which made a visit the next day.

Besides the city's position that Bazzolo's merchandise is illegal, Meehan said, at issue is the compatibility of the dog food store and head shop, which he said city ordinance regulates.    

“If you have a sub shop, and you sell deli meat," that's a compatible use, said Meehan.

Bazzolo's attorney, Joshua Krefetz, contends that the zoning of the location -- for retail use -- is the determining factor, and that retail is retail.

Krefetz, who successfully represented an Allston shopkeeper who was arrested on paraphernalia charges and whose similar glassware store was closed by police last year and has since reopened after a successful legal challenge, says the clamp-down is an unlawful attempt to close what officials see as activity that abets drug use. He has prepared a legal challenge to the city's dual contention that the store sold illegal items and that the zoning was wrong. 

And while no lawsuit has been filed, the city said it holds firm that the store was illegal. Krefetz would not disclose the amount his suit would seek, but said the sum is not an attempt to fleece the city, and would cover damages Bazzolo has incurred.

"From [the Inspectional Services Department] it's a zoning aspect. From police, its whether these items are intrinsically illegal," Krefetz said in an interview.

"In Massachusetts there is nothing intrinsically illegal about glass pipes, water pipes, or cigarette rolling machines," he said.

Krefetz, in letters to the city, cites case law that defines “dual purpose items, that is,  capable of both lawful use and an unlawful use.”

State courts have recognized that many people use the items to smoke marijuana, but say the pipes are not on their face illegal paraphernalia, making their sale legal as long as the store owner has no knowledge or belief that his customers will use the items for illegal purposes.

Krefetz has not filed a lawsuit, and the city is holding firm on its position that the store is illegal. The discussion is ongoing, said Krefetz, who awaits a legal response from Somerville solicitor Francis X. Wright Jr.

In an interview, Krefetz declined to reveal the details of his talks with the city's lawyers, and said he does not want to appear as if he was threatening the city, but the course is the only leverage Bazzolo has to organize a legal reopening, free from the fear of closure.

“I hate to sound like a jerk,” said Bazzolo, standing behind the empty cases where his merchandise was once displayed. “This was my future.”