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Some North End restaurants to briefly close, protesting city’s outdoor dining rules
A group of North End restaurants are reportedly shutting their doors on Thursday afternoon to draw attention to Boston's ban on on-street outdoor dining there.
A group of North End restaurant owners are reportedly planning to close for a few hours on Thursday in protest of Boston’s outdoor dining restrictions, the latest chapter in an ongoing feud between the city and some restaurateurs.
The owners will close their businesses from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, a potentially busy window right before a series of NCAA March Madness games at nearby TD Garden. The co-owner of Vinoteca di Monica, Jorge Mendoza-Iturralde, told The Boston Herald that he will be participating because the city’s policies are impeding business owners’ attempts at staying profitable and competitive.
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The owners are hoping to meet directly with Mayor Michelle Wu, inviting her to a meeting at that time at Saint Leonard’s church on Hanover Street, per the Herald. They will be posting signs on their doors urging people to attend the meeting.
Last month, the city announced that it would be replicating its policies from last year. North End restaurants will once again only be able to acquire outdoor dining permits for “compliant sidewalk patios,” not on-street seating. City officials cite the neighborhood’s high density of restaurants and foot traffic, its narrow streets and sidewalks, the lack of resident parking, and “other related considerations.”
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The Wu administration is leaving the door open to crafting “additional neighborhood-specific guidelines throughout the 2024 outdoor dining season,” which officially begins on May 1.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, 21 North End restaurant owners demanded millions in damages related to the on-street dining policies. In 2022, on-street outdoor dining was available if owners paid the city a $7,500 fee. The North End was the only Boston neighborhood subject to this fee. The owners are seeking compensation for those fees, as well as costs related to storing items previously used for al fresco dining and lost income.
The owners later added 100 pages of grievances to the lawsuit, alleging the city used “retaliatory” tactics against them due, in part, to their Italian heritage.
Last week, angry restaurateurs protested outside the annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in South Boston. At last year’s event, Wu joked about the North End and the legal battles over outdoor dining there.
“It’s been the site of many firsts in my life, and I used to live there. I had my first date with my Italian-American husband there, we had our wedding rehearsal dinner there, celebrated the baptism of our firstborn son there, and recently I was served my first subpoena there,” she said at the 2023 breakfast.
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