Imposed on an unwilling city by the state government, the Boston Licensing Board represents a legacy of bigotry, a usurpation of Boston’s right to govern itself, and a disdain toward the consequences of its decisions on Boston’s residential communities. It’s time for reform.

For those inexpert in the Byzantine bureaucracies of the state and city, a brief primer. The Boston Licensing Board is charged with responsibility for issuing and overseeing all beer, wine and full-alcohol licenses in the city. Unlike virtually any other board or commission in the city, however, the members of the board are not chosen by the mayor. Instead, the governor has sole authority to appoint the three members of the board. The reason? Decades ago, the Yankee-controlled state government determined that the Irish-controlled city could not be trusted to issue itself licenses to drink. So the Licensing Board was created, and it has sat since, a creature of the state government.

The history of the Licensing Board is offensive in and of itself. It is also offensive to those who believe, like I do, that the citizens of Boston should be able to govern themselves. That notion is particularly true when one considers how fundamental liquor licenses are to the quality of life in any particular neighborhood.

Proposals to shift back to the city the authority to appoint the members of the board have never caught fire in recent years. In part this is because in the past a number of appointees, including the current chair of the board, were genuinely willing to listen to residents’ concerns about a particular application. But it also is due to wily politicking on the part of the board. Each of the members is paid $60,000 annually, and each has an enormous stake in maintaining the status quo. There is widespread fear among city councilors and residents’ groups that any support for a change in the board would be met with severe retaliation.

But in the past couple of years, more citizens’ groups and public officials have begun to conclude that a change is necessary. Some of this stemmed from the Supreme Judicial Court’s 1996 Toscano decision, which ruled that side agreements between neighborhood groups and liquor license applicants were no longer enforceable. That decision removed a key tool residents historically used to mitigate the adverse effects of any license.

But the real push for change has come about because of two most recent appointments to the board. Both appointees are vocally supportive of the liquor industry and recent months have seen a series of hearings where the new members were unwilling to give any credence to residents’ concerns.

And case number one for the reform plank is the board’s most recent decision granting a three-day license to a group to hold a virtual open bar over Marathon weekend. It is almost beyond telling how awful this decision was and how callous the board was of the concerns of residents, marathoners and city officials. The board fully intended — but for anonymous calls made to my office and Rep. Paul Demakis’ office — to make its decision in this request with no public input whatsoever. The board granted the license for 500 people, and seriously considered more than 1,000, for an event that was little more than a college drinking party. Sponsored by Miller Beer and Jack Daniels, the bar would have featured fruit punch laced with Jack Daniels on each of the three floors of the former Strawberries location on Boylston Street.

Furthermore, the attitude of the two commissioners who granted the license was openly mocking of those who opposed it. When the applicants were unable to explain how they would control crowds or provide for public safety, one commissioner fed the applicants possible answers to those concerns, saying, “Come on now, I’m looking for you to make me comfortable with this.”

This board is a disaster, and the fact is that its structure — being gubernatorially appointed — ensures that it will continue to be unaccountable to the citizens of Boston. The days of Yankee-Irish bigotry are over. It’s time to let Bostonians run Boston.